This seemed to be a breakthrough film for Cannon Pictures - but really it ended up as being a peak. It led to a long association with Chuck Norris which ultimately probably wasn't great for Norris' career - though who knows what would have happened had he worked more with outside people. Probably more of the same.
In the late 70s and early 80s part of Norris' success was he spoke to the culture - patriotism and white man action hero yes but also het addressed the trauma of Vietnam, in a way that say other action heroes weren't. This is a case in particular - it's got Chuck heading back to Nam to rescue some POWs.
As an action film this is okay. The structure is weird - the first third is shenanigans in Saigon with Chuck slipping out at night to beat up some people including James Hong. Then act two he's in Bangkok beating up more people. It's only the last third that involves retrieving POWs - and that's relatively easy, whoosing up the river in a boat, grabbing them and coming back.
So it's not one of the top rank Norris movies - not up with say Lone Wolf McQuade or Code of Silence - and its success I feel was more due to timing than anything.
Mind you it does have two all time great moments for 80s action films - Chuck leaping out of the water with a machine gun and taking out some Vietnamese, and some smug Vietnamese announcing there are no POWs left and Chuck bursts in the room carrying some... that's great exploitation.
Jean Claude Van Damme was a stunt man.
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