HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX

Avoiding subtlety at all costs, HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX, perpetuates the manic, burlesque humor that is the hallmark of contemporary Hollywood comedy. This episode revolves around the well worn story of an evil Middle-East dictator who captures American troops from Desert Storm, and only one man can get them out, Topper Harley (Charlie Sheen). Richard Crenna reenacts his role in the RAMBO movies by playing Colonel Denton Walters who tries to enlist Topper for one “last” dangerous mission. He is accompanied by CIA operative Michelle Huddlestone who falls in lust with Topper right away. Making fun of movies from APOCALYPSE NOW, RAMBO, BASIC INSTINCT, and even the WIZARD OF OZ, the plot moves from joke to joke so fast that one hardly notices when it misses a beat.

In short, HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX is a mindless, silly movie. The violence is cartoon violence, where people get hit and their bodies retain the shape like claymation figures. In the climactic shoot-out scene, we see a running tally of dead bodies on the screen and people die just by having bullets thrown in their direction. The really objectionable scenes come when Topper and Michelle make fun of BASIC INSTINCT. We see obscured upper female nudity, and near the end, Michelle starts shooting off guns and pretending to ride an electric bull machine. To top it all off, the film contains a few obscenities, some profanities and crude sexual references which only spoil the comedy.