The Chuck Norris Collection

This is a classic set. All of my friends are jeleous. I would recommend this set to anyone as the price is good.

Chuck Norris isn't missing in action, action is where you find him.

First the tragedy: we, Sid the Elf, had to review Missing in Action III as a part of the Don't (explative deleated) with Chuck collection. Come on Amazon! You're better than that baby. Any movie that contains the line, "I don't step on toes, Lil' Jon, I step on necks" needs to be featured on the Amazon page. It's not even sold separately. That's amazing. This film was good enough to be viewed and loved by Sid, so you know its golden diapers. The star was Chuck enough said. We were thinking it was impossible for the man to have anymore enemies to beat or necks to snap, but we were wrong.

This time Braddock goes up against his most ruthless and terribly acted foe yet. Sid has learned that the terrible actor who cackled maniacally after every threat is a distant cousin to Mr. Chan, from the one and only Death Ringof course. This is a man who shockingly gunned down Chuck's malnutritioned POW wife and tourtured Chuck and his son who inexplicibally called Braddock by his last name. And that wasn't even one of the 10 most inexplicable things in the film. You gotta love the Norris style. The man took all great things 80's and made them his own. For a solid 5 year stretch, when you thought of the blonde mullet, a picture of Chuck, topless and shaking water from his hair popped into your head. Beautiful. Rumor also has it that in Chuck's contract, there was the famous explosion quota and the clause that at least one cheesy 80's love song had to be used in the film. And the best thing about Chuck's films: he never deviated. You pop in a Norris classic, like Missing in Action III, you know what you're getting. But this one had a little something extra. We don't know if it was the granade implanted in the guy so when he hit the ground he would explode, the extrodinary ammount of footage of Chuck with no shirt on, or Norris's and his co-stars' especially terrible acting. But it was amazing nevertheless. So, on Sid the Elf's recomendation, watch Braddock: Missing in Action III. It's Norris at his finest.

My new review of this box set is simple: Chuck Norris blows away terrorist and VC scum. The body count is very high in the MIA films, and watching Mr. Norris use a flame thrower on VC was amazing filmography.

The ending of MIA II was great, quoting Braddock before he detonates the VC base, "This is for me!" Great, its great suspense. Norris has some great quotes in the movies that classifies it as 80s.

This is a great set for the classic Chuck Norris fan or someone who would like to become familiar with Mr. Norris' work. There are five movies in this set, so it gives you a nice taste of what Chuck has to offer.

The Delta Force: This movie follows two Middle Eastern terrorist on a public airplane. These two terrorist intimidate the passengers, with threats and their guns. I would have to say that some of the scenes with the terrorists on the plane were a bit unsettling considering the whole 9/11 attacks would come less than 20 year later from the release of this movie; this gives an entire new meaning to art imitating life and/or foreshadowing. The first half of the movie is the terrorism on the plane, until The Delta Force is called in. The Delta Force is a special government unit to fight terrorism and for the brave. Sadly, The Delta Force is only in this movie, perhaps if there was a real Delta Force there wouldn't be some of the turmoil that goes on in the world. I digress; the second half of the movie is where Chuck Norris and Delta Force go to rescue the hijacked airplane passengers and to fight militant fundamentalist terrorists. This equals a great deal of violence, guns, explosions and fighting. Overall a movie that is a bit on the long side yet provides some great entertainment.

Delta Force 2: The only relationship between this movie and part one is Chuck Norris' character. I found this movie to be overall more enjoyable than part one. It isn't quite as long as the first film, so it jumps right into the meat and potatoes. In this movie Chuck is fighting a Columbian Drug Lord (Billy Drago). However things get personal as CDL/Billy Drago hits Chuck where it hurts, in a manner of speaking. There is plenty of over the top violence in this movie, as well as hand to hand combat. This movie doesn't seem to take itself as serious as its predecessor. Overall a great action film that can be enjoyed without seeing its precursor.

Missing in Action: The first of the P.O.W trilogy featuring Chuck Norris as Braddock begins right here. Braddock served in the Vietnam Conflict (since it was never declared a war) and still is haunted by the incidents that happened to his fellow U.S. soldiers and himself. Braddock knows that many of his friends are still M.I.A (Missing in Action, get it). So after Braddock travels back over to the realm of Vietnam for some sort of publicity stunt for the Vietcong Government to prove to the U.S. Government that there are no American soldiers who are M.I.A; Braddock then breaks away for his true agenda. He then teams up with an old war buddy (M. Emmet Walsh) and they go back into their former combat zone to save their friends. Overall, a movie that is straight to the point. There is plenty of action, bombs and minimal dialogue from Chuck.

Missing in Action 2: The Beginning: This movie is actually a prequel to Missing in Action. It explains how Braddock and his company were captured by a group of Vietnamese soldiers. Braddock and company are neglected, tortured (mentally and physically) and just plain out vexed. This builds a great deal of tension between characters, so when the zenith comes and Braddock begins to fight back, it is pretty astonishing. Soon-Tek Oh plays the lead villain as Colonel Yin and does a great job playing a bad person. Overall, a great movie with plenty of character development for a somewhat campy B action movie, don't worry the character development doesn't take anything away from all the violence. As for the entire Missing in Action Saga, I feel this is the best movie in the series.

Braddock: Missing in Action 3: So with respect of keeping a strong flow, M.I.A 3 would really take place after M.I.A. and Braddock is now back in American uh....being Braddock. He is approached by someone who tells him that his wife and son are still alive over in Vietnam. Braddock says that isn't true because he saw his wife's dead body. Just to recap, this film starts with a flashback and shows Braddock married to a Vietnamese woman and then she appears to be killed to Braddock, but she wasn't. Braddock also didn't know that Mrs. Braddock was pregnant. This sort of creates a bit of a conflict with M.I.A. 2, because it was stated that Braddock's wife was back in the United States. How many ways can we spell loop holes? Anyway, Braddock again goes back to Vietnam to find his "undead" (not a zombie though) wife and his son. I have to say that the first forty-five minutes of this movie is almost exactly the same as the first forty-five minutes of M.I.A. I really felt this déjà vu thing going on when I watched this movie. When Braddock does find his son, the movie sort of turns into a mixture of Rambo and Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, has to be seen to be believed. Overall, a pretty solid movie if one omits some of the Swiss cheese holes in story continuity. The action was still pretty good and Chuck didn't disappoint. Yet I did feel that the Missing in Action franchise was a bit out steam after this movie, so it is a good thing that this was the last film.

All the movies in this box set are full screen, except Missing in Action, it is offered in full and widescreen. The full screen versions didn't bother me too much since they weren't pan and scan. The picture is pretty clear and the audio is pretty crisp. The movie preview/trailer for each film is included on this set but that is it as far as bonus features go.

This collection of movies has one thing going against it and that is the lack of location diversity. All of these movies pretty much take place in a jungle or desert, which isn't a bad thing. However, it doesn't give a new viewer of Chuck Norris' work much deviation in plot or surroundings. I DEFINITELY suggest buying this collection of movies, but I would also watch "Code of Silence" and some selected episodes of "Walker, Texas Ranger" to see Chuck Norris in non-jungle/desert environments.

Great collection of some of the cheesiest Chuck movies out there... you get just what you expect from these: unbridled roundhouses and twin 9mm uzi action... enjoy.