5 Questions: Braddock: Missing in Action III

Cannon Films may have had the reputation of being schlockmeisters. And some of that reputation was deserved. To their detractors all Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus did was make mindless action movies on a budget.

But fans of Cannon Films like myself believe that Cannon Films actually some of the most memorable action movies of all-time. And it is my belief that Cannon made movies that could raise some thought provoking questions. Here are five such thought provoking questions that came to mind as I watched 1988’s Braddock: Missing in Action III…

1. Are we supposed to completely forget the events of the first two Missing in Action films?

If Braddock was imprisoned all those years, he would not have been present for the Fall of Saigon and he certainly would not have had the chance to get married and impregnate his wife. I was around in the 80’s, I don’t recall a huge demand for a third Missing in Action movie, but when the original was your studio’s top grossing film, I guess you keep churning them out and to hell with continuity… Menahem wanted paid!

2. Why didn’t Braddock wait for CSI: Saigon to properly identify if that body was truly that of his wife?

This may have been the one scenario where being Chuck Norris is not a good thing. Chuck Norris is such a confident man that Norris’ confidence carried over to his character James Braddock. So the mere site of his wife’s bracelet on the arm of a body being wheeled out of the blown up apartment building he and his wife called home was enough for Braddock to believe his wife was dead. Most men would likely have freaked out and ripped the sheet off and want to see with their own eyes that it was their wife, but not Braddock… oh no, Braddock doesn’t need some forensics guys to tell him anything, just like Chuck Norris doesn’t need some forensics guy telling him anything.

3. How awesome was that shotgun/rope set up in General Quoc’s torture room?

The question should be, why didn’t General Quoc (Aki Aleong) just kill Braddock and Van right along with Mrs. Braddock in the jungle, but we all know that would violate basic action movie rules. (Although if Braddock was shot dead in the jungle, Cannon would have still come up with a way to have Chuck star in Missing in Action 4) But back to that set up, it was a good piece of business and if General Quoc came up with it, he really should have given up on keeping the war going and gone into engineering.

4. This question is for all the parents out there reading this, after seeing Braddock: Missing in Action III,  would you trust Braddock to babysit your children?

It is child endangerment city for the orphanage kids with Braddock in charge. He loads them up in a truck that is being chased by a helicopter and narrowly gets them out of the truck before the helicopter blows the truck up. Braddock marches the orphans for miles through the jungle without any rest, food or water. Braddock then takes the kids up in a plane only to have to make a crash landing. Sure Braddock eventually got all the orphans to safety but those kids are probably going to be screwed up for the rest of their lives. Thanks Braddock.

5. Finally, did the producers set out to have a song that sounded more depressing than the “It’s A Long Road” song from the Rambo movies by using the “Freedom Again” song in Braddock?

You be the judge…