The Lesser Rambo

Viewed from the perspective of 2026 it’s easy to say that no one wanted a Hot Shots! sequel. The original film, released in 1991, was made on a budget of $26 Mil and went on to recoup a pretty respectable $181.1 Mil. It’s parody of Top Gun hit all the notes people wanted, with a solid performance from Charlie Sheen grounding the whole thing. It’s a film that really shouldn’t have worked but, thanks to Sheen, as well as the steady hand of ZAZ member Jim Abrahams, the film somehow went on to be one of the more successful entries in the parody genre.

At the time, though, Top Gun didn’t have a sequel (so far no one is begging for a Hot Shots! Maverick continuation) so it wouldn’t seem like a Hot Shots! sequel would work. What could you possibly use as material to continue the story of Topper Harley (Sheen), the wildcard fighter ace? Well, a lack of good ideas has never stopped a studio from greenlighting a sequel before (just look at Airplane II: The Sequel), and so Abrahams went into the writing room with his Hot Shots! creative partner, Pat Proft, and the two devised a sequel. A very RamboThis film and media series, based on a book by David Morrell, follows the adventures of a Vietnam veteran just trying to make his way in a world that no longer wants him.-esque sequel.

And the thing is: the film was a success. History remembers the movie as the film that tanked this franchise, a devastatingly bad film that sank any further Hot Shots! movies. Looking at it, though, from a financial and critical standpoint at the time, the film was successful. Hot Shots! Part Deux made $133.8 Mil against its $25 Mil budget, and got decent reviews from critics at the time. Both Siskel and Ebert rated it well stating that the film did exactly what you expected, and you either found it funny or you didn’t (they both did). By all counts, this film was a hit, so why do we remember it as a terrible film?

Well, frankly, that’s because it is. Comedy is one of those things that can work in the moment but age poorly over time, and the problem with Hot Shots! Part Deux is that much of the comedy in the film was funny back in 1993, when the film was released, but has since become stale and tired. No one in 2026 is going to laugh at jokes about Hillary Rodham Clinton, Saddam Hussein, or Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Meanwhile, its main plot, a rehash of the main elements of Rambo: First Blood Part II and Rambo III worked for audiences back when those films still felt fresh, but four decades removed most people aren’t clamoring for Rambo jokes. Hot Shots! Part Deux was very “of the moment” without hitting that timeless aspect the best parodies are able to find.

Hot Shots! Part Deux finds Topper Harley in Thailand (curiously where the Rambo series would find its own main character in its fourth venture, in an instance of the original seemingly copying the parody), having moved there after the love of his life, Ramada Rodham Hayman (Valeria Golino), suddenly left him on the eve of their running away together. Emotionally devastated, Topper has found peace living among Buddhist monks, helping them around their monastery while working on his own soul.

He’s called back into action, though, when his former commanding officer, Colonel Denton Walters (Richard Crenna), along with CIA agent Michelle Huddleston (Brenda Bakke), come with a mission. Apparently the U.S. has been trying to free hostages from Iraq but each team they send in gets captured, leading them to send another team to free the team that went in to free the previous team (etc.). They need Topper, the best of the rest, to take the job. It’ll be him, alongside a crack team of specialists – Miguel Ferrer as Commander Arvid Harbinger, Michael Colyar as Williams, and Ryan Stiles as Rabinowitz – to work their way through the jungle, find the compound, and save their men. And if, in the process, they happen to take out Saddam Hussein (Jerry Haleva), well that’s just another feather in their cap.

I’m not going to say Hot Shots! Part Deux is without some humor. There are plenty of jokes that are amusing in the film. The best land due to delivery and execution, often thanks to the straight-faced comedic timing of Sheen. As with the previous film, Sheen is the best part of the sequel, carrying a number of scenes that really shouldn’t have worked. You can see why the actor continued getting called in for parody work, such as in the Scary Movie films, because this guy really does have just the right acting demeanor for this kind of comedy.

Hot Shots! Part Deux has plenty of chuckle-worthy moments. And back in 1993 I’m sure people were likely very amused seeing parodies of Rambo III, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Star WarsThe modern blockbuster: it's a concept so commonplace now we don't even think about the fact that before the end of the 1970s, this kind of movie -- huge spectacles, big action, massive budgets -- wasn't really made. That all changed, though, with Star Wars, a series of films that were big on spectacle (and even bigger on profits). A hero's journey set against a sci-fi backdrop, nothing like this series had ever really been done before, and then Hollywood was never the same., and more, all mixed in with a plot about taking out Saddam Hussein. These are the kind of, “I get that reference,” set pieces that many parody films tend to lean on. They work in their time period, but now, over three decades later, most of these bits feel very aged and tired. We no longer think a lightsaber fight is amusing just on its own.

More jokes and skits lead to groans than laughs. In and of itself that would be bad enough, but you also have to factor in the quantity of material on offer as well. Hot Shots! Part Deux is not a packed film. There are plenty of instances where the film goes for story over humor, without anything amusing even going on in the foreground or background to add humor to the moment. This leads to long stretches where the film is just a lesser Rambo III, as if just copying that action movie is, somehow, supposed to be funny. The film needs more material shoved into every moment, every scene, just to perk things up. It doesn’t have that, and it ruins the comedic pace.

What I come back to, again and again, with the parodies that I’ve watched so far is that the best of them choose a specific film to mock, using the structure of that movie to pack all the jokes into their script. Hot Shots! Part Deux is mostly a Rambo series parody, but without a specific story they’re following beat-for-beat. It leaves the writers scrambling to put together something that’s both cohesive and funny, and their script isn’t able to rise to the occasion for either side. It’s just a flat and boring script.

A few good moments aren’t able to raise this otherwise limp movie, especially not now that we’re three decades removed from the time and place when people would have caught it in its best light. Hot Shots! Part Deux is a very 1993 parody film, and while that might have worked at the time it’s pretty clear, going back to it now, that it just didn’t have the juice to stay relevant. Hell, by 1994 it probably already felt limp and tired, which is likely why the studio, 20th Century Fox, had no interest in even developing a third one (whether or not Abrahams was even on board with that idea). For the rest of us, this is a parody film best left forgotten.