Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993) 20th Century Fox/Comedy RT: 88 minutes Rated PG-13 (language, comic violence, sexual content) Director: Jim Abrahams Screenplay: Jim Abrahams and Pat Proft Music: Basil Poledouris Cinematography: John R. Leonetti Release date: May 21, 1993 (US) Cast: Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna, Brenda Bakke, Ryan Stiles, Rowan Atkinson, Jerry Haleva, David Wohl, Mitchell Ryan, Michael Colyar, Gregory Sierra, Clyde Kusatsu. Box Office: $38.9M (US)/$133.7M (World)
Rating: ** ½
The good news is Hot Shots! Part Deux is better than its predecessor albeit marginally so. That’s due in large part to co-star Richard Crenna doing a perfect send-up of his character in the Rambo films. This installment, once again directed by Jim Abrahams and once again Zucker-less, spoofs the jingoistic action movies of the 80s, most notably Rambo III (1988).
Personally, I prefer those violent action fantasies over the rah-rah Tom Cruise vehicle Top Gun (the main target of the first movie). Maybe that’s why I like Hot Shots! Part Deux better. It could also be that Abrahams and co-writer Pat Proft seem a bit more assured this time around. A great many gags still fall flat, but not quite as many as the first time around. Lloyd Bridges, promoted to President of the US, does a better job as well. He incorporates aspects of Reagan and Bush (Sr.) to create a humorous facsimile of a Republican Commander-in-Chief. Still, he’s basically rehashing his character from the first movie with continued references to his many artificial body parts. This, however, is not a reflection of the movie as a whole. I wouldn’t necessarily call Hot Shots! Part Deux a complete rehash. There is a difference between Top Gun and Rambo.
The movie opens with the attempted rescue of American soldiers being held prisoner in Iraq. They show up at the palace of Saddam Hussein (lookalike Haleva) where the dictator is getting ready for bed. It’s an amusing sequence, check out some of the things in his refrigerator. The team is captured because the Iraqis were prepared for them. It’s suspected there’s a saboteur within the ranks, so Colonel Waters (Crenna) decides to seek outside help for the next mission. That would be Topper Harley (Sheen), once again retired from the Navy.
The war hero now resides at a Buddhist monastery and turns Waters down flat. The next mission turns out to be another failure and Waters is captured. Topper changes his mind and leads a rescue team into Iraq. He suspects that one of his men, Harbinger (Ferrer, RoboCop), is the unknown saboteur. They meet up with their contact in the jungle and it turns out to be Ramada (Golino, Rain Man), Topper’s ex-girlfriend. We soon learn what caused them to break up, namely a scenario straight out of Casablanca. Making matters more complicated is the attractive CIA agent (Bakke, Under Siege 2) that accompanies the rescue team. She and Topper are romantically involved, but now that Ramada is back in the picture ….. oh, you get the idea.
In addition to the Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux also goofs on Casablanca, Basic Instinct, No Way Out, Apocalypse Now, Platoon and Lady and the Tramp. For me, the funniest moment is when Sheen (in full Platoon mode) encounters father Martin (in full Apocalypse Now mode) on a river. Their brief exchange is classic.
I laughed more frequently this time around, but it was still wasn’t the same kind elicited by Airplane and The Naked Gun. Most of the cast appears to be in on the joke, but Crenna tries to play it straight. That’s a large part of the effectiveness of Airplane. Sheen does a near-perfect impression of Rambo replete with long hair. The major difference is that you understand every word he says. Rowan Atkinson (Mr. Bean) comes off as annoying; I’m glad that his role was so brief. Abrahams and Proft deliver a few funny scenes. One in particular pokes fun at the high body counts typical of the genre. They also do a great send-up of the infamous limo scene from No Way Out. Bridges gets a shout-out for recreating the infamous Bush vomiting incident. Like I said, the makers seem surer of themselves this time.
Still, Abrahams needs the brothers Zucker. Together, they create comedy magic. Separately, not so much. I still wouldn’t call Hot Shots! Part Deux a particularly good movie, but it’s a step up. The makers get points for not simply recycling material from the first movie. Look how that worked out for Airplane II: The Sequel (1982). It’s funny as long as you don’t expect too much from it.
