One night, an American special forces team storms Saddam Hussein, Jerry Haleva's palace and a nearby prison camp in a bid to rescue captured soldiers from Operation Desert Storm and to assassinate the dictator, but they are met by a prepared defense and end up captured themselves. This botched mission turns into the latest chapter in a string of failed rescues that leaves the President and his advisors increasingly convinced that a mole is sabotaging their efforts. Colonel Denton Walters, a hard-edged military strategist, argues for recruiting a legendary war hero to lead the next operation: Topper Harley, Charlie Sheen — though Harley has retired from the Navy and retreated to a quiet Buddhist life in a small village in Thailand.
Walters and Michelle Rodham Huddleston, CIA, descend on the retreat to try to tempt him back into action. Harley is reluctant at first, craving peace over peril, but another botched mission spirals into crisis, and he agrees to reconsider. He will not go alone: he is joined by Williams, Michael Colyar; Rabinowitz, Ryan Stiles; and Arvid Harbinger, Miguel Ferrer — the only escapee from the prior fiasco, whose presence becomes a test of loyalty as Harley suspects him of playing a saboteur’s role.
The quartet parachutes into a dense Iraqi jungle near the heavily guarded hostage camp and links up with their contact, Ramada Rodham Hayman, Valeria Golino. She helps them toward a fishing boat she has prepared for their transport. Along the way, the memories they share with Ramada deepen the mission: she reveals that she was married before meeting Harley, and that her husband, Dexter, is alive and imprisoned in Iraq. She volunteered to join the rescue to save him, but was told to keep that secret, a confession that strains her bond with Harley and clarifies why he chose to retire from active service. Dexter Hayman, Rowan Atkinson, becomes a catalyst for the emotional stakes of the operation as they push toward the camp.
Disguised as river fishermen, the team advances, but a tense encounter with an Iraqi patrol boat slows them down. In Washington, President Thomas “Tug” Benson, Lloyd Bridges, weighs in with fresh support and orders more forces into Iraq. Back in the field, the rescue party presses on, and Harley’s group finally breaches the camp to begin freeing the prisoners. In the heat of the firefight, Harley discovers that Harbinger is not the saboteur after all; the saboteur’s sabotage was more deeply rooted in disillusionment with the war itself, a revelation that steels Harley’s resolve and keeps the mission on track.
With the prisoners freed, Harley returns to the palace to locate Dexter. The escape is chaotic and dangerous: as they pull out, Michelle Huddleston is revealed by Ramada to be the saboteur who had previously thwarted the rescues, and she is arrested. Dexter, meanwhile, is found and carried out on Harley’s shoulders as the threat to their exfiltration grows. The retreat escalates, and Benson himself arrives to help secure the extraction. Saddam, once again in control of the scene, tries to shoot them as they pull away, but a bold act—Topper and Ramada dumping extra weight out through the open helicopter door by pushing a piano—shifts the balance just enough to survive.
In a final, surreal climax, Benson and Saddam clash in the air as the helicopter pulls away. Benson defeats Saddam with a blast from a fire extinguisher, and the dictator, paired with his canine companion, appears to crack and melt, only to reform later as Saddam with the dog’s head, fur, nose, and ears. The mission’s survivors make it back to safety, Dexter in tow, and the emotional toll of the day lands squarely on Ramada and Topper’s shoulders as they fly off into the sunset. In the aftermath, Harley’s leadership and Ramada’s faith in their bond endure, and the movie closes on a note of hard-won reunion and tentative hope for a quieter future together.
