Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993, Rated PG-13, 88 minutes) available from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Stars: Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Brenda Bakke, and Richard Crenna
Plot: In this send up of all those big shoot-em-up Rambo/Robocop/T2/Commando-type movies, Topper Harley (Sheen), retired from active service again, is pulled out of his odd-job at a monastery by the CIA, who want him to lead a rescue mission in Iraq, to rescue the previous rescue team, who were sent in to rescue the last rescue team who went in to rescue hostages left behind after Desert Storm. Got it?
Features: Widescreen presentation, 2 Featurettes: “An Adventure in Filmmaking” and “Early Awareness”, and the Original Theatrical Trailer.
Final Word: The sequel to the wonderfully wacky Hot Shots! uses Rambo as its model for nonstop send-ups (though director Jim Abrahams can’t resist inserting a Saddam Hussein lookalike, given the film’s post-Gulf War release). This time, Lloyd Bridges, who was an admiral in the first movie, has become president (take that, Colin Powell!) and needs someone to take care of the threat posed by a certain mustached Middle Eastern dictator. Who better than ever-reliable Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen)? In addition to trying to take out Saddam commando-style, Topper must juggle two women: Valeria Golino, from the original, and CIA babe Brenda Bakke, who knows a thing or two about close-quarters combat. If anything, this may be funnier than the first.
Rating: 4 briefs (out of 5)