Braddock: Missing in Action III Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Braddock: Missing in Action III Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 16, 2023

Aaron Norris' "Braddock: Missing in Action III" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include exclusive new audio commentary by critics Mike Leeder and Arne Venema and vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

A lot of people that had something to do with the conception and production of Braddock: Missing in Action III have conceded that the film could not be made as intended. Apparently, there were too many reasons why preliminary ideas and plans were changed, but more than three decades later it is unclear if most of them are legit. For example, the Cannon Group wanted Joseph Zito to direct Braddock: Missing in Action III, but the idea that he would have delivered a dramatically different and better film is utterly ridiculous. Why? Because at the time Zito and Chuck Norris were quite simply not on the same page and could not work as a team, so all other reasons that supposedly made it impossible for Braddock: Missing in Action III to be a different and better film are irrelevant. Also, at the time the Cannon Group had plans to use Braddock: Missing in Action III to launch a profitable franchise and both Zito and Norris had completely different disagreements with the people that ran it, so in addition to the personal drama between them elsewhere there were other equally important and consequential disagreements.

The truth about Braddock: Missing in Action III is that it is a pretty good genre film. No, it is not as good as the original Missing in Action film, but it is not the cinematic catastrophe its critics have described in the past. It is a typical Norris film, one that boasts plenty of intense, flashy, and yes, silly action of the kind that Norris fans demanded. It has fine characters too, though as expected Norris is always in the spotlight and there is just not enough meaningful material for the supporting actors to impress.

So, where does Braddock: Missing in Action III stumble?

It has an easily detectable awareness of what is expected of it, which is not the same awareness the original film had. Indeed, Braddock: Missing in Action III is a classic safe action film that was supposed to appeal to a much bigger audience than the one that saw, liked, and made the original film a hit. (Remember, at the time the Cannon Group wanted to create a Missing in Action franchise, so targeting a bigger audience with Braddock: Missing in Action III was of utmost importance). As a result, the nature of the action and the drama that fuels it are not identical to the ones from the original film. To be clear, it is not the visual aspect of the action and drama that is different, it is their resonance, which is incompatible with looser material of the kind that would have been suitable for a mature audience.

Rather predictably, in Braddock: Missing in Action III Norris plays a war hero and a loving husband and father. He returns to Vietnam to rescue his wife (Miki Kim) and son (Roland Edward Harrah III) but after they reunite his mission becomes a lot more complicated. This time, while protecting his wife and son, Norris must help a foreign missionary (Yehuda Efroni) and a large group of children leave Vietnam as they are chased by a deranged communist general (Aki Aleong) and his thugs.

The best material in Braddock: Missing in Action III comes very early. As Saigon falls to the communists, thousands of people are seen moving to the U.S. Embassy and trying to get on any one of the remaining helicopters. Meanwhile, different parts of the city are heavily bombarded by the communists and the chaos on display is rather extraordinary. Norris attempts to locate his wife but after a massive explosion destroys the building where she was residing someone pulls out a disfigured body and he is told that she has been killed.

Braddock: Missing in Action III Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Braddock: Missing in Action III arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an exclusive new 2K master that was struck from a 35mm interpositive. Needless to say, this release offers a technical presentation of the film that is not identical to the one that this release from Shout Factory offers. I have the latter in my library and was able to do some direct comparisons.

On my system, the overwhelming majority of the visuals reveal a better dynamic range, though it is not consistent. Why? In some areas, there are native density fluctuations that minimize the effects of the improvement, and elsewhere some discrepancies in the color values do something similar as well. Still, delineation, clarity, and depth range from very good to near excellent during daylight and darker/nighttime footage. Grain exposure could be better, but there are no traces of problematic digital work and as a result all visuals have a very attractive appearance. (This is not always the case on the previous release). Image stability is very good. Color balance is stable. I like the color temperature, too. However, occasionally it feels like blue and blue nuances should be a bit more prominent while green and green nuances ought to be slightly better balanced. Still, I like how the film looks now and think that in terms of color balance this presentation is clearly more convincing. A few small blemishes remain, but there are no distracting large cuts, debris, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

Braddock: Missing in Action III Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

The dialog is always clear and easy to follow. I would describe dynamic intensity as very good, too. However, I think that from time to time the audio could be a bit fuller, possibly even better-rounded as well. I could be mistaken and this may very well be the optimum quality we could get for Braddock: Missing in Action III, but at least during a few action sequences the lossless track reveals a slightly dated quality. For what it's worth, it is exactly how it sounds on the Shout Factory release of Braddock: Missing in Action III as well.

Braddock: Missing in Action III Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - presented here is an original U.S. trailer for Braddock: Missing in Action III. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

• Commentary - in this exclusive new audio commentary, critics Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. I liked this commentary a lot because the two commentators point out a lot of crucial details about Braddock: Missing in Action III that are routinely ignored by its biggest critics. For example, it is a rather remarkably solid directorial debut with a pretty stunning opening that depicts the fall of Saigon. Also, even though in my opinion Missing in Action is a better genre film, in Braddock: Missing in Action III Chuck Norris gives a superior performance. (It is not a coincidence that at the time he considered his best work). Finally, Aaron Norris does a lot of really, really good things with a screenplay that evolved after Joseph Zito left. The commentators share plenty of interesting information about the various supporting actors that worked with Norris, too.

Braddock: Missing in Action III Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Chuck Norris lost his elder brother during the Vietnam war, so there was a very unique emotional element in his involvement with the Missing in Action films. I consider the first film in the trilogy to be the best but think that Norris' best performance is in Braddock: Missing in Action III. Why? During the fall of Saigon, I detect the emergence of something very genuine in Norris' performance that remains obvious until the very end of his character's mission. I could be mistaken, but I assume that this is the reason Norris always thought very highly of Braddock: Missing in Action III as well. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release is sourced from a very good new 2K master and features a wonderful exclusive audio commentary recorded by critics Mike Leeder and Arne Venema. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.