{"id":16599,"date":"2011-04-18T13:24:52","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T20:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16599"},"modified":"2021-01-30T13:55:37","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T20:55:37","slug":"missing-in-action-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16599","title":{"rendered":"Missing in Action (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Where are the American M.I.A.s?&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Poster-193x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"193\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-16600\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Poster-193x300.jpg 193w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Poster-82x128.jpg 82w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Poster.jpg 580w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 193px) 100vw, 193px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nAn embittered veteran (Chuck Norris) returns to Vietnam to rescue missing prisoners of war, enlisting the help of his buddy (M. Emmett Walsh).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Chuck Norris Films<\/li>\n<li>Prisoners of War<\/li>\n<li>Revenge<\/li>\n<li>Veterans<\/li>\n<li>Vietnam War<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary&#8217;s inclusion of this &#8220;huge [Chuck Norris] hit&#8221; in <em>Guide for the Film Fanatic<\/em> is suspect at best, given that he labels it &#8220;surprisingly passionless and boring&#8221;, and laments its &#8220;predictable&#8221; storyline. He notes that there is &#8220;not enough dialogue&#8221;, and argues that even for a Norris film, the &#8220;action sequences seem familiar&#8221;. He further adds that &#8220;the lack of regard for human lives is appalling&#8221;, that the film is &#8220;directed with no feeling for [the] subject&#8221;, and that &#8220;Norris looks like he needs some Geritol&#8221; (ouch). <\/p>\n<p>So why, pray tell, does he deem this piece of cinematic drek must-see? Presumably its box-office status (close to the time of <em>GFTFF<\/em>&#8216;s publication in 1986) was enough to cause Peary to believe that all film fanatics should at least be familiar with it &#8212; but this is certainly no longer the case. In truth, this really is a painfully boring &#8220;action&#8221; flick, one which (I don&#8217;t mind admitting) I watched in fast-forward mode throughout the entire second half, without missing much. (As Peary notes, even the action sequences &#8220;take forever to develop&#8221;.) <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m23s233.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m23s233.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"707\" height=\"383\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-67089\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m23s233.png 707w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m23s233-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m23s233-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m23s233-498x270.png 498w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 707px) 100vw, 707px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>And, since Norris &#8220;uses guns more than karate&#8221;, there aren&#8217;t even many fight sequences to look forward to. By the way, I&#8217;m not a total Norris-snob &#8212; in fact, I&#8217;ve given a must-see &#8220;thumbs up&#8221; to his next film, <a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=2092\"><em>Code of Silence<\/em> (1985)<\/a>, and recommend that you consider this film your required &#8220;dose of Norris&#8221; (whose iconic status as the ultimate in laconic action heroes has, interestingly, continued to grow exponentially in recent years). <\/p>\n<p>There is some minimally campy humor to be found throughout the film, in terms of how often Norris finds excuses to go bare-chested in front of the camera, for instance, or in his consistently &#8220;soulful&#8221; gaze as he contemplates what he knows he <em>must<\/em> go back to Vietnam (the &#8220;pearl of the Orient&#8221;) to do: <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m02s17.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m02s17.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"715\" height=\"389\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-67091\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m02s17.png 715w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m02s17-300x163.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m02s17-128x70.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/vlcsnap-2011-04-15-12h59m02s17-496x270.png 496w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 715px) 100vw, 715px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&#8212; but there&#8217;s not nearly enough of this to make it worth subjecting yourself to the entire film. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Some beautiful on-location scenery (in Thailand)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Scenery.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Scenery.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"712\" height=\"382\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-67090\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Scenery.png 712w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Scenery-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Scenery-128x69.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/Missing-in-Action-Scenery-503x270.png 503w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 712px) 100vw, 712px\" \/><\/a>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo; despite its dubious notoriety, this one definitely can be skipped. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0087727\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.thespinningimage.co.uk\/cultfilms\/displaycultfilm.asp?reviewid=98&#038;aff=13\">Spinning Image Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?res=9801E5DF1F39F934A25752C1A962948260\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Where are the American M.I.A.s?&#8221; Synopsis: An embittered veteran (Chuck Norris) returns to Vietnam to rescue missing prisoners of war, enlisting the help of his buddy (M. Emmett Walsh). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Chuck Norris Films Prisoners of War Revenge Veterans Vietnam War Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary&#8217;s inclusion of this &#8220;huge [Chuck Norris] hit&#8221; in Guide for the Film Fanatic is suspect at best, given that he labels it &#8220;surprisingly passionless and boring&#8221;, and laments its &#8220;predictable&#8221; storyline&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=16599\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16599"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67094,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16599\/revisions\/67094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}