Uncommon Valor stars Gene Hackman as a retired US Army Colonel who still wants an accounting of his son who was listed as Missing In Action when the Vietnam War ended in 1973. Rumors on rumors pile up as to whether we still have men kept as prisoners of war from the late conflict in Southeast Asia. Hackman thinks he has a lead and he goes to multi-millionaire Robert Stack who also has an MIA son with a plan of action that involves leading some veterans as a volunteer mercenary force to get their comrades out.
I'll say the same thing I said about Rambo II which touched on the same subject. Does it make any kind of rational sense that the Vietnamese or in this case the men are being held in Laos would keep prisoners of war after the conflict has ended? My guess is, sad to say that prisoners that we could not account for being held by the enemy at the conclusion of the war would probably have been just simply murdered.
But the idea that we could go back and win one in the extra innings of war certainly had appeal which accounts for the popularity of Uncommon Valor and Rambo II. At least Gene Hackman was not going to do it singlehanded the way Sly Stallone did.
Bearing all that in mind, Uncommon Valor is a nice action war film if taken on its own terms. The men that Hackman selects, all veterans from the conflict, Randall Cobb, Fred Ward, Tim Thomerson, Reb Brown, and Harold Sylvester are all professionals. The film never goes down to the rollicking and somewhat dopey hijinks of the A-Team. They have one youngster on the mission, a young Patrick Swayze on the cusp of stardom. He's there to rescue his father if possible.
The cast has a nice chemical camaraderie to it. Uncommon Valor is a decent enough action film, not to be taken too terribly serious.
I'll say the same thing I said about Rambo II which touched on the same subject. Does it make any kind of rational sense that the Vietnamese or in this case the men are being held in Laos would keep prisoners of war after the conflict has ended? My guess is, sad to say that prisoners that we could not account for being held by the enemy at the conclusion of the war would probably have been just simply murdered.
But the idea that we could go back and win one in the extra innings of war certainly had appeal which accounts for the popularity of Uncommon Valor and Rambo II. At least Gene Hackman was not going to do it singlehanded the way Sly Stallone did.
Bearing all that in mind, Uncommon Valor is a nice action war film if taken on its own terms. The men that Hackman selects, all veterans from the conflict, Randall Cobb, Fred Ward, Tim Thomerson, Reb Brown, and Harold Sylvester are all professionals. The film never goes down to the rollicking and somewhat dopey hijinks of the A-Team. They have one youngster on the mission, a young Patrick Swayze on the cusp of stardom. He's there to rescue his father if possible.
The cast has a nice chemical camaraderie to it. Uncommon Valor is a decent enough action film, not to be taken too terribly serious.