Black Eagle

It's imperative that you approach this film in a mood to be amused by a movie so bad, so clichéd, that it's quite funny. This film is the cinematic equivalent of a quattro formaggio pizza, literally dripping with cheese. Van Damme features very little in the movie and when he does, its in such a banal villain stereotype that one just has to chuckle. His death cry almost sounds like a cry of relief.

And as for the script, it's pure corny laughs throughout...

"The unidentified aircraft has turned out to sea" "Get me the police!"

The police? It's like one of those farcical multiple choice quizzes for imbeciles. An unidentified aircraft is encroaching on your sovereign airspace, do you (A) lock anti-aircraft missiles on the bogey, (B) scramble air force interceptors or (C) call the police. Yeah, police - good call. They've been itching for a chance to use those rocket powered jet skis!

Yes folks, this movie is jammed packed with the best of the worst. Great, grimacing camp fun. Enjoy!

Granted, this is not a great movie by any measure. Its plot, acting and direction are enjoyable but not really memorable.

And I'm no expert in martial arts movies, so I can't review Sho Kosugi and Jean-Claude Van Damme fighting performances in this flick.

But I nevertheless find it to be an entertaining and refreshing movie because:

a) It is slow-paced compared to movies churned out by Hollywood nowadays. I can't stand shaky cam photography nor "frantic" editing. I find 1980s pop-corn flicks quite relaxing.

B) It is full of nice sights of Malta, a location you very rarely see in motion pictures. Its fortifications, distinctive architecture, sunny beaches, beautiful landscapes... It's quite refreshing to enjoy the beauties of an oft-overlooked location in movie-making. Malta is the real star of this picture.

C) Doran Clark. She's a beautiful woman and quite convincing as the CIA agent "babysitting" the two kids. Why we haven't seen her in more movies is beyond me.

Terry Plumeri's gripping score deserves a mention as well.

All in all, this flick is a guilty pleasure, but for good reasons.

Playing a cross between James Bond and Jackie Chan, Sho Kosugi is likable enough, but unlike Jackie when he does a stunt the camera is too far away from him and it's hard to know if he is doubled or not (if you stick around for the end credits, you'll discover that he WAS doubled on at least two occasions), and unlike Bond the action of the movie is limited to one location (Malta) most of the time, plus there isn't too much of it. Jean Claude Van Damme makes an awesome villain, but his two major showdowns with Kosugi are rather disappointing. In the role of a female CIA agent, Doran Clark handles her two opportunities for action capably - she should have gotten more. The funniest thing about this film is that Kosugi shows little chemistry with his on-screen kids, even though they are his kids in real life as well! (**)

This movie looked really cool on the DVD-cover. In addition, this is in 1988, the same year that van Damme starred in Bloodsport. Because of this, the movie had a great potential. Unfortunately, potential doesn't mean anything at all. This movie was in fact a VERY bad one. The plot is surprisingly equal to a Bond movie. An American airplane with a new laser guidance system crashes in the Mediterranena sea. The movie takes place on Malta, where both Soviets and Americans want to get their hands on this airplane. The lead in this movie is not van Damme, but instead Sho Kosugi who plays some kind of American agent. It was surprising to see van Damme as some kind of bad guy, and as a Soviet. The action scenes in this movie are very bad. So is the story, and totally this means that the movie sucks.

this action movie staring Shô Kosugi and Jean-Claude Van Damme was not all that exciting,but it was watchable enough.there isn't really a lot of action in the movie.Van Damme plays one of the villains here and has two showdowns with Kosugi.both fight scenes are OK,but not thing spectacular and of very short duration.the movie itself wasn't boring,but it wasn't exactly exciting either.it's one of movies where you can take it or leave it.i doubt i would watch again anytime soon.it has a rating of 3.2 here on this site.i would rate it a bit higher than that,as i didn't find it awful,just underwhelming.for me,Black Eagle is a low 5/10