Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)



This time it'll be a parody film, Hot Shots 2! Directed by Jim Abrahams.

The movie begins when a rescue team is trying to ambush the enemy headquarters, but end up getting caught and imprisoned. It turns out they were sent to rescue the previous rescue team(s), whose mission was to rescue hostages from a prison camp. The President Benson (Lloyd Bridges) decides to send yet another rescue team. Because they suspect their missions are being sabotaged, they send the best soldiers they have. Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) is chosen to lead the squad, but he is retired and living a simple workers life in a monastery, so they send a CIA agent Michelle (Brenda Bakke) and Toppers old superior, Colonel Walters (Richard Crenna) to persuade him. Eventually Topper agrees, and they're sent to Iraq for their mission.

Since it is an over the top parody film, it's hard to judge the technical flaws or plot holes, because most of them are obviously left there on purpose. About the comedy aspect of this movie, it's nice how it points out almost every cliché and mistake an action movie can have, and there are actually a few pretty clever jokes aswell. Ofcourse there are also many jokes that are either out dated or over used in other parody films, they might be funny on the first time you watch the movie, but later on they tend to become boring.

What I liked in this film, is that it isn't filled with over the top stupidity, like many other (new) parody films. It actually has got a plot. They have Richard Crenna (the same actor who played Rambo's trainer and superior officer in the First Blood movie) playing the superior officer of Topper, despite it's just a minor detail, I think it adds quite a lot to the parody value. I also liked how Lloyd Bridges played the president, being a bit goofy senior politican, and a complete nutcase at the same time. Charlie Sheen does also good work as a "Rambo+Steven Seagall mixture".

Overall, this movie does a good job blending together all the great action films of the late 80's and early 90's. Considering the genre, it is an entertaining movie, and compared to other parodies of the same concept, in my opinion it stands out being "the better parody movie".

15 comments:

  1. It's not bad but after a while it got to me, my favourite of the genre has to be Top Secret with Val Kilmer.

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  2. HA i didn't even notice that was charlie sheen on the cover lol. this movie is obviously winning

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  3. such a great movie so much winning there :D I should watch it again

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  4. I loved that movie, time to watch it again.

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  5. for a second i thought stallone was on the cover

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  6. I watched this when I was a kid, not really kid appropriate, but it was awesome. I watched it around the same time I watched Robin Hood: Men In Tights. I had awesome parents.

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  7. Charlie Sheen in his parody roles, WINNING!!

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  8. In conclusion, Charlie Sheen was funny... and then he joined Two and a Half Men (not funny) and now he's funny again.

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  9. Soooooooo over-the-top I don't even like it =)

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