Missing in Action Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		3.5
Overall		4.0

Missing in Action Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov February 11, 2023

Joseph Zito's "Missing in Action" (1984) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The supplemental features on the release include archival audio commentary recorded by Joseph Zito and filmmaker Michael Felsher; archival program with screenwriter James Bruner; and newly remastered original trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

If you viewed films during the 1980s, as they were made and released, it is guaranteed that you had an encounter with Joseph Zito’s Missing in Action. Even though it was made with a modest budget, Missing in Action was heavily promoted before and after it reached theaters and before and after it was released on VHS. Despite what the critics wrote, at the time Missing in Action made perfect sense, and the great irony is that it still does. (I will explain why at the end of this article).

After the end of the Vietnam war, Colonel James Braddock (Chuck Norris) joins a government team investigating reports about the existence of a secret military camp in the jungle where American soldiers are held captive. When the government team lands in Saigon, now renamed Ho Chi Minh City, Braddock secretly leaves his heavily guarded hotel and reaches General Tran (James Hong), the communist government’s mouthpiece, who reveals to him the location of the camp. Shortly after, Braddock travels to Bangkok and reconnects with fellow veteran-turned-black marketeer Tuck (M. Emmet Walsh), who agrees to help him operate the fastest speedboat in the area as they look for the abandoned American soldiers. As communist officials prepare to declare that there are no American soldiers on Vietnamese soil, Braddock and Tuck secretly reenter the jungle.

Norris is the only legit star before Zito’s camera and this is without a shadow of a doubt the biggest ‘weakness’ of Missing in Action. Indeed, Norris plays an outraged American patriot with such unmistakable enthusiasm that he instantly irritates everyone that does not find it justified. This is and always has been the source of all ‘troubles’ in Missing in Action since the film was released in 1984.

But this anger is neither illogical nor overplayed. Why? Because it is fueled by an injustice of the kind that a good man cannot tolerate. However, Norris is not only a good man but a former prisoner of war who barely managed to escape his captors, so the misery he had to endure -- before, during, and after his capture -- has effectively destroyed his ability to be the kind of ‘civilized soldier’ his critics want him to be. (For what it’s worth, even if he had attempted to be one, Norris would have never met the expectations of his greatest critics). Once you accept that it is so, just about everything Norris does in Missing in Action begins to make perfect sense.

In previous years, one of the most common criticisms that was thrown at Missing in Action was that the entire rescue operation it chronicles is pure fantasy, the sort of doomed mission that only writers writing for Cannon Films would have thought of and attempted to legitimize. How could Norris, acting simply as an outraged American citizen, travel to Thailand and organize a rescue operation while working with shady characters willing to find and sell anything for the right price? A proper, successful rescue operation would have been greenlighted and managed entirely by the U.S. government. In previous years, rescue operations exactly like the one seen in Mission in Action were very much a fact of life, and in present days they are still organized and managed by people like Norris. In fact, many recent rescue operations, like the one former Force Recon Marine Chad Robichaux organized in 2021, have been far more ambitious. (See a report on Robichaux's operation here. A report on another similar operation can be read here as well).

It is true that the action is uneven. Some of it is very well done and some of it looks quite messy and even ridiculous. But it does not make Missing in Action a bad film. Believe it or not, as it is shot the action produces a proper sample of what Norris’ rescue mission would have looked and felt like if it was one hundred percent real -- a Russian roulette-style mission that only an outraged patriot would have considered launching.

Contrary to old reports, the period footage from the Philippines, where the overwhelming majority of Mission in Action was shot, looks very good, too. The seediest bits of it remind of Peter Bogdanovich’s work in Saint Jack, which features footage shot on location in the old red light district in Singapore.

Missing in Action 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, Missing in Action arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from a new 4K master that was struck from the original camera negative. I think that this master is gorgeous and undoubtedly offers the most satisfying presentation of Missing in Action that I have seen to date. (For what it's worth, I have this older Blu-ray release in my library and still think that it offers a very fine presentation of the film as well). There are only two areas that could have been managed better. First, in some darker indoor and nighttime footage a little bit of black crush again sneaks in. This is a reoccurring issue on new 2K and 4K masters that are prepared for Kino Lorber Blu-ray releases, so if it is addressed, I think that virtually all of these releases will be definitive home video releases. Second, the encoding could have used some specific optimizations to ensure that grain exposure is as good as it should be. In Missing in Action, there are quite a few areas with notable native density fluctuations, so some specific optimizations would have made the visuals look even more impressive. The rest I like a lot. Delineation, clarity, and depth are almost always outstanding, so on a larger screen Missing in Action can look very, very good now. I experimented and upscaled the release to 4K and found the upgrade in quality to be quite dramatic. The saturation levels of the primaries and supporting nuances are very good as well. The footage from the brothel, for instance, looks a lot more impressive. In the jungle, quite a few shootouts boast superior depth as well. Image stability is excellent. Despite the presence of a few tiny blemishes, the visuals look very healthy, too. All in all, I think that the new 4K master has produced a very solid organic presentation of Missing in Action. (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).

Missing in Action 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.

If Missing in Action was produced by one of the big old Hollywood studios, its soundtrack would have been pretty impressive. No, there is nothing wrong with its soundtrack, but it is not the powerhouse it could have been. Why? Because there is a lot of wild action footage that could have been mixed extremely but it is just fine. Dynamic contrasts, in particular, could be somewhat uneven, so keep this in mind when you sit down to view the film. The dialog is very clear, sharp, and always easy to follow. The upper range is very healthy as well.

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

• Commentary - this audio commentary was recorded by director Joseph Zito and is moderated by filmmaker Michael Felsher. Mr. Zeto explains how he was approached by Cannon Films with an offer to shoot a Mission in Action film (there is an important distinction here because the original film was apparently different), how its production was initiated in the Philippines, and what it was like to work with Chuck Norris. There are plenty of interesting stories about the top brass at Cannon Films and the local team in the Philippines that assisted Mr. Zeto during the shooting process, as well as many funny stories, like the one about the late actress that "always wanted to be in a Chuck Morris" film. The commentary was recorded for Shout Factory's Collector's Edition of Missing in Action in 2017.

• Interview with Screenwriter James Bruner - in this archival program, screenwriter James Bruner recalls how he relocated from Wisconsin to Southern California and began writing screenplays and eventually got lucky to have his screenplay for An Eye for an Eye made into a film. Mr. Bruner explains that after that he was approached by Chuck Norris with a request to do a film about the Vietnam war and discusses the drama that surrounded the two Missing in Action films that were shot. At the end of the program, there is interesting information about the conception of Braddock: Missing in Action III. The program was produced for Shout Factory's Collector's Edition of Missing in Action in 2017. In English, not subtitled. (26 min).

• Trailer - a newly remastered original trailer for Missing in Action. In English, not subtitled. (2 min).

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

Isn't it ironic how some of the true stories about outraged war vets that went back to Afghanistan to save Americans and allies that were left behind turned out to be much wilder than the one that is told in Missing in Action? Contrary to what has been said in the past, Missing in Action gets many, many things right, and Chuck Norris is very convincing as Colonel James Braddock. It is true that some of the action in this film looks quite messy and occasionally even ridiculous, but it is exactly the type of action a legit Russian roulette-style rescue mission not managed by the U.S. government would produce. Kino Lorber's new Blu-ray release of Missing in Action is sourced from a very beautiful new 4K master and retains the excellent recent programs with director Joseph Zito and screenwriter James Bruner that the folks at Shout Factory produced a few years ago. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.