5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This is the worst of all JCVD movies, September 11, 2008
This review is from: Black Eagle (DVD)
The Jean Claude Van Damme Review Matrix (JCVD-RM)
1. Who is he? Andrei, a knife throwing KGB agent sent by the Russians to steal the top secret U.S. equipment
2. Which family member/friend must be avenged? This early in JCVD's career, the mandatory paint-by-numbers plot pieces like this were not in place yet.
3. Does he take his shirt off? Half of the movie is on a ship in the water. You think he'd miss the chance for some rays?
4. Does he have sex with a C-List actress? JCVD goes for a little anonymous redhead in this one.
5. Is there a tournament? Perhaps if a race is sport, and all tournaments are sport, maybe it's a tournament. Otherwise it's just the Americans versus the Russians
6. Is training needed for this tournament? Only acting training
7. Does he do the splits in training or in the tournament? This may be the only movie in which a character not only does the splits while wearing a suit and a tie, but he also does it in khakis.
8. Does he punch someone in the balls? To be honest, I can't say I remember it happening. However, given the fact that I dozed off during several scenes, it's entirely possibly that JCVD performed a fistectomy.
9. Does he do a series of flying or 360 kicks? In every single fight.
10. Is his enemy unbeatable? Hardly. He's just a little Asian guy with big hair and a black belt.
11. Does he overcome an injury or other hindrance? Aside from being a Belgian, acting as a Russian, and speaking in broken English...not really.
12. Does he win? It doesn't matter - the viewer loses.
Some planes go down over the Mediterranean, and three were carrying top secret laser guidance systems. The rest is a race to get them before the Russians. Somehow, a Japanese guy codenamed "Black Eagle" goes in for the United States and a Belgian guy goes in for the Russians. And that's probably the movie's biggest problem; it's nearly incomprehensible the majority of the time because of various language barriers that aren't overcome.
A fan of JCVD, action, or good movies will be severely disappointed. He's barely in the movie, and the rest is just bad. When you begin to crave the acting talents of JCVD, then you know the rest of the movie is slop. This is definitely a blemish on his career; I'm just not sure if it's wart or a zit.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This was the slowest and most non-action, action movie ever., July 8, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Black Eagle (DVD)
To start off, this movie lacks any direction, also there is no build up of excitment, no rising interest, and little or no action till the very end. I love Van-Damme movies and especially actioners of all types but I found myself desperately trying to stay awake through this. Watch this movie if you have alot of time to hopelessly squander.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A forgotten Jean-Claude Van Damme film that should stay that way 'til kingdom come., October 25, 2009
This review is from: Black Eagle (DVD)
Now don't take this into the wrong direction. I like Van Damme as well as Sho Kosugi, but even they couldn't save this film from being so boring and so abysmal. I was so bored by this film, that not only did I fall asleep during the film, I couldn't even finish the thing.
An F-11 holding a device that the United States government cannot afford to lose crash lands in the Mediterranean. The KGB lead by Andrei (Played by Van Damme), unfortunately, are much closer to finding the device than the CIA. The United States government decides to send in their best man, Ken Tani, The Black Eagle (Played by Kosugi). Tani decides to head to Malta with his two kids (Played by Kosugi's own children) to find the device before the KGB does.
I have nothing else to say about this crap except that even if you're a Van Damme superfan, don't bother, and just leave it in the $3 bin at BigLots! I'm actually quite surprised Van Damme's career wasn't ruined by this travesty. Then again, he was just getting started.
Not Recommended.
DVD Extras: An okay full frame presentation (Take pride in the fact that I said that, by the way) along with the movie's trailer and production notes that no one really cares about, much like the movie itself. Also, the back of the DVD says that there's a Making-of featurette included, but there's no such thing on the DVD, but for a "film" like this, it's no big loss.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
