Hot Shots! Part Deux

Starring: Charlie Sheen, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges, Richard Crenna, Miguel Ferrer, Rowan Atkinson, Brenda Bakke
Directed by: Jim Abrahams
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Comedy, Action
1993

Times Seen:
Tim: 3

Summary: Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) must come out of retirement to save a number of American soldiers held hostage by evil Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Review:

Tim: The first Hot Shots! movie was a pleasant success- a movie far better and funnier than I would have originally anticipated. This film, the sequel, continues that tradition of spoofing action movies while managing to be a good movie in its own right. This film isn't as fresh or new as the original, and there are fewer hilarious jokes, but it is still a funny, entertaining movie.

I like the shift of focus to spoofing the Rambo movies this time. This allowed for a whole new set of jokes, without feeling like this movie was copying off the original. Indeed, this movie is very different from the first film, which is quite refreshing. We still get the same type of humor, but the feel of this movie is fundamentally different.

The cast is once again a strength. Charlie Sheen is just so enjoyable as Topper Harley. He obviously bulked up for the role, and manages to pull off a pretty good Sylvester Stallone lookalike here. I really enjoy him in these comedic films, and he works well here. Valeria Golino is back, and again, does a good job, but stops short of being excellent. Lloyd Bridges again reprises his role, but I was disappointed to see much of his humor decreased in this film. I am not sure if it was the move to the U.S. Presidency, or if his character's antics only worked for one movie, but he doesn't bring the same level of humor to this movie as he did in the original. I quickly grew tired of him here. I do like the newcomers- Richard Crenna was a brilliant casting choice. Miguel Ferrer and Rowan Atkinson both bring some humor to the film as well.

Like the first movie, this film manages to spoof a number of action movies while still telling its own interesting story. There are a number of funny scenes here, from the movie death count to the lightsabre duel near the end. There are some truly hilarious lines- the "the other man is an extra" line and the clever lines about this being a sequel are actually really, really funny. The problem is that this movie doesn't have quite the same level of laughs as the original. This movie is very funny, but slightly less funny than we expected.

I really enjoyed Hot Shots! Part Deux. While not quite as good as the original, it is still better than the vast majority of spoofs out there. This is a film that manages to be both very funny and very entertaining. It is a solid movie, and one that I could watch over and over again.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Hot Shots!, Major League, Top Gun, Airplane!