Robert McElwaine After the success of the 1991 comedy spoof Hot Shot which carried on in the same vein as such movies as the Airplane and Nake Gun movies, Pat Proft along with Jim Abrahams attempted to replicate the same winning formula that helped them score the same box office bonanza. So along came Hot Shots Part Deux, which one might be so cynical as to say was just another attempt to ride the coattails of it's predecessors popularity. After all, raking $181 million on what was a a $26 million budget, you don't have to be an economist to know that it had turned in a nice profit. Two years later, we see Topper Harley now living in a Buddhist monastery and eking out a modest living in Thailand is approached by Col Denton Walters (Richard Crenna) and CIA representative Michelle Huddleston (Brenda Bakke) who want him to be a part of a mission in Iraq. The purpose of which is to bring back the men, who went in to to bring back the men who went in to assassinate Saddam Hussein. Topper refuses but when Denton and his soldiers are captured in the midst of their mission, our hero springs in to action to lead the troops who are now being sent to bring back the me previously sent to to bring back the mean who went in to bring the men. Are you following this now? That pretty much sums things up and while no where near as funny as the first outing, failing to deliver the same ratio of gags that hit the right mark there's still some fun to be had from Hot Shots Part Deux. While it's a wry and presumably affectionate parody of the Rambo movies (as opposed to the first which spoofed Top Gun) it also lampoons No Way Out, Home Alone, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars, Basic Instinct and Terminator 2 to name but a few. Opening with a on screen literary narration, which leads in to frankly clownishly surreal, yet uneven opening which sees Saddam Hussein cosily preparing himself for bed as a U.S. task force is meanwhile infiltrating his heavily guarded palace. A scene involving him undressing for to where we see him removing his shirt to See bra-lines where a brassiere was once worn summing up the offbeat tone that Pat Proft and Director and co- writer Jim Abrahams are aiming for. While it's no where near as funny as the first outing, it partially does what it sets out to do, and it's great to have seen the late Richard Crenna wonderfully sending up his own character, Col. Trautman from what was then the iconic action trilogy. Charlie Sheen does an efficient job of playing things straight as should it be while clearly playing the right note of absurdity, as the comedic tone should allow. As for the rest of the cast which includes Miguel Ferrer who sadly passed away fairly recently, Valeria Golino, Ryan Stiles (who incidentally would go on to have a recurring role alongside Charlie Sheen in hit sitcom Two and a Half Men) and Rowan Atkinson more than adequately hold up their end. The best laughs come however from Llyod Bridges, who frankly I think the film might have benefited from more of his presence. Overall the film just doesn't have quite the same level of overall freshness in it's creativity with some set- pieces and gags being trite. However as you would come to expect from Jim Abrahams who also helmed the first movie as well as Airplane and The Naked Gun trilogy he manages to keep things running at a well oiled pace and adeptly shooting it's elaborately comical set-pieces. Flawed but an over-all noble effort which not hitting the heights of it's prequel it's worth a look if given the opportunity. Just don't expect to be rolling on the floor in tears of laughter with the same frequency as it's prequel.

John Brooks This is comedy at about the level it should be at. It's not everything to simply come up with a spoof concept, and throw in remote drone jokes in the film for about 1 1/2 hours, those jokes need to actually be FUNNY, and this here supplies funny moments throughout. It's inspired, it's got rhythm, and the surrealistic humor makes sense, rather than just being absurd notions with no real spirit like most such spoofs do.It's better than the first one, and if not for a subpar final act, the whole film stands well together and sustains a good level in the spoofing job.A good comedy. Worth one's time, if that person wants to merely laugh a bit for 1hr30. 6.5/10.

SnoopyStyle An American special forces team is captured on an assassination mission after the Iraq war. A rescue team is itself captured. The missions were sabotaged. President Tug Benson (Lloyd Bridges) is losing support in his re-election bid. Col. Denton Walters (Richard Crenna) is to lead the rescue and Benson wants Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen). Topper is working at a monastery in Thailand and doing dimsum fighting. He is still haunted by Ramada (Valeria Golino). Walters and CIA Michelle Huddleston (Brenda Bakke) try to recruit Topper but he refuses. Walters is captured and Topper returns to rescue him. He is surprised that Ramada is in country as the local contact.The first section is bland without Topper Harley. It takes awhile for the comedy to be really funny. The mission is much more compelling and funnier. The second half is better as Topper goes full Rambo. Killing comically is hilarious slapstick. The movie takes off with the fun slapstick and Golino has a good comic vibe with Sheen. Her natural accent just makes it that much funnier. Martin Sheen makes a hilarious short cameo.

Scott LeBrun "Hot Shots! Part Deux" beats the odds to be pretty good, not just as spoofs go, but as spoof *sequels* go. Granted, it's not always very funny, but enough of the verbal and visual jokes work to make this solidly entertaining comedy fare, and a worthy sequel to the hilarious first movie. It goes about making fun of the corpse littered action escapism films of the 1980s, which of course were a genre just ripe for parody. Charlie Sheen returns as hero Topper Harley, now living in Thailand after getting his heart broken by Ramada (Valeria Golino). He's approached by the CIA to undertake a top secret mission in the Middle East where he must rescue the rescue team who went in to save the rescue team who tried to retrieve some hostages.Also returning from the first film are Lloyd Bridges, who once again is an absolute riot; somehow, his idiotic character Thomas "Tug" Benson has become the President of the United States. Jerry Haleva makes an encore appearance as Saddam Hussein, and gets more to do this time, including a climactic duel with Benson. New characters include those played by lovely Brenda Bakke, Richard Crenna (who gets to poke fun at his own "Rambo" series role), Miguel Ferrer, Rowan Atkinson, Mitch Ryan, Ryan Stiles, Gregory Sierra, Andreas Katsulas, and Clyde Kusatsu. So there's a lot of familiar faces here, including some other famous faces in gag cameos. (The best one is by Sheen's dad Martin.) One of the brightest jokes is the "bloodiest movie ever" one; among the movies and shows parodied are "Basic Instinct", "No Way Out", "Lady and the Tramp", "Terminator 2: Judgment Day", and Bridges' own series 'Sea Hunt', but mostly co-writer and director Jim Abrahams, an old hand at this sort of thing, keeps his focus on skewering the mindless macho action flick.Overall, this is a very enjoyable comedy, no matter if some of the humour is dated (such as referring to then first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton). It manages to hold up pretty well on repeat viewings.And war is indeed fantastic.Eight out of 10.