Hot Shots! Der zweite Versuch (1993)

Hot Shots! Der zweite Versuch: Directed by Jim Abrahams. With Charlie Sheen, Lloyd Bridges, Valeria Golino, Richard Crenna. “Rambo” parody in which Topper Harley leads a rescue team into Iraq to save Iraqi war prisoners and all of their previous rescue teams.

“I donu0026#39;t know if Iu0026#39;ve ever seen a comedy as zany or as randomly silly as u0026quot;Hot Shots! Part Deux.u0026quot; Then again, Iu0026#39;m not all that familiar with the comedy genre, but I can say that between this movie and its predecessor, every pratfall, every parody, every little joke has been done. Part Deux is even crazier and more random than its nonsensically silly prequel and itu0026#39;s even less intelligent, but strangely enough, itu0026#39;s a lot more enjoyable. I thought the first u0026quot;Hot Shots!u0026quot; was a promising hit-and-miss satire; Part Deux succeeds.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eLike its predecessor, Part Deux sets its plot as a parody of one specific film, but makes satirical parodies of dozens throughout its running time. The first movie was a parody of u0026quot;Top Gunu0026quot; but made references to dozens of other movies from u0026quot;Dances With Wolvesu0026quot; to u0026quot;Gone with the Wind.u0026quot; Likewise, the sequel is a parody of u0026quot;Rambo IIIu0026quot;, but thatu0026#39;s just the setup for all of the jokes that follow. Like Rambo, Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen) is retired to the Far East when his former commander (Richard Crenna) comes in and asks him to join a rescue mission to save hostages from Iraqi captors. Sheen at first refuses but when Crenna is captured as he was in u0026quot;Rambo IIIu0026quot;, Sheen heads in after him along with a misfit group of soldiers. And meanwhile, Admiral Benson (Lloyd Bridges) from the first movie has been promoted to president of the United States and continues his idiotic and incompetent running of the country.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNow this is precisely the sort of comedy that a movie-lover like myself enjoys. Why? Well, not only because it is so zany and buffoonish that one canu0026#39;t help but laugh at it, but because itu0026#39;s like a big mincemeat of movie references. The setup is a parody of u0026quot;Rambo IIIu0026quot;, but I spotted parodies of u0026quot;Casablancau0026quot;, u0026quot;Platoonu0026quot; (which also starred Charlie Sheen), u0026quot;Lady and the Trampu0026quot;, u0026quot;The Wizard of Ozu0026quot;, u0026quot;Terminator 2u0026quot; and so on. And just when I thought they were going to between two movies forget to parody u0026quot;Star Warsu0026quot;, sure enough I got my fix for that. And thatu0026#39;s not even the limit of it. The movie also makes jokes and points fingers at some of your favorite actors. A brief example is an enemy patrol boat that comes into the shot. The boatu0026#39;s name is u0026quot;The Behn Gazaarahu0026quot; as a tribute to actor Ben Gazzara. If youu0026#39;ve seen lots of movies and you love the movies, this is the comedy for you because you can sit back, relax, have the time of your life laughing, and point your finger at the screen whenever a parody comes up and say u0026quot;Yeah, that was from (insert movie title)!u0026quot; u0026quot;Hot Shots! Part Deuxu0026quot; opens up with a joke and closes with a joke and at least ninety percent of these are gut-busting in their effect. There are some jokes throughout the film, such as a few of the Saddam Hussein jokes toward the beginning, that were not all that funny, but around and after that were some of the zaniest, silliest, most random pratfalls Iu0026#39;ve ever seen. But itu0026#39;s also funny because it doesnu0026#39;t just make a simple parody and joke, but keeps pushing it one step ahead. Instead of just simply parodying the spaghetti-kiss scene from u0026quot;Lady and the Trampu0026quot;, it carries it to the next step with Charlie Sheen pushing a meatball across the plate with his nose and then the scene morphs in a parody of u0026quot;Casablanca.u0026quot; Itu0026#39;s also not just enough for the movie to create a character like Richard Crennau0026#39;s character in the Rambo series to be Sheenu0026#39;s former commanding officer. But to have Richard Crenna himself play the character and wear the same outfit and the same makeup and speak in the same rhythm and manner.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAnd if there is one other element in this movie that I loved, it was the Lloyd Bridges character. Like the admiral he played in the first u0026quot;Hot Shots!u0026quot; Bridges plays the president of the United States, Thomas u0026quot;Tugu0026quot; Benson as simply a complete idiot, somebody so stupid that they could never, in real life, get a job running a grocery store let alone a country. And Bridges looks like heu0026#39;s having a good time playing the character, which in turn makes it very funny for the audience.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn closing, u0026quot;Hot Shots! Part Deuxu0026quot; is a tremendously enjoyable satirical comedy and precisely the sort of parody that I find entertaining. The key to its success is that itu0026#39;s so unbelievably random and silly and nonsensical. Whereas so many comedies I know try to do the same thing but just fail, it passes with flying colors. This is one funny movie.”