Customer Reviews

Black Eagle

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

From the end of the Cold War comes a movie that was probably written at the height of the Cold War, went through several years of production and finally came out right at the end of the Cold War and this probably killed any chance it had at success. I mean, who wants to watch a movie about Russians spies fighting US spies when you can get down with that sexy East German girl in your chem class while listening to the Scorpions' song "Winds of Change" or that cool Jesus Jones ditty, "Right Here, Right Now"? As a result, this enjoyable action movie is a hidden gem that few people remember. On to the plot...

SHO KOSUGI, Star of tons of Japanese Ninja films, plays a CIA spy who is called into action when a secret US plane, an F-111, goes down in the waters off Malta. This sequence is probably the cheapest of the entire movie as we only get to LISTEN to the plane going down instead of WATCHING the plane crash. Guess they had to spend that extra money on Jean-Claude's body wax. Speaking of JC, Mr. Van Damme plays the Russian martial arts expert/ body guard who is brought in by the KGB to try to steal the top-secret warhead off the F-111 before the CIA can get it. The only catch is, first they both have to find where in the ocean the plane crashed...

Along the way, Sho kills multiple Maltese citizens and various KGB agents all while Jean-Claude romances a young lady on the KGB's tugboat. In fact, all of the killing makes JC's character a lot more sympathetic than Sho's, which I'm sure the producers did not intend. Anyway, lots of action and things blowing up later there is the final showdown with Sho and JC which...well, you'll have to watch the movie to see what happens. Take my word, though, it's a great fight scene.

As the movie progresses, the viewers are treated to scene after scene of the gorgeous Maltese countryside: churches, forts and of course lots of the beautiful blue Mediterranean. Malta is the real star of this movie. However, almost all of the actors are attempting to speak English as a second language and as a result of the conflagration of Japanese, Belgian, Maltese and fake Russian accents, entire sections of the movie are almost unintelligible. I challenge even someone with a digital comb-filter, mondo-sound TV to understand what the heck Sho and JC are saying to each other in the final fight scene. But, since I'm here trying to defend this film, let's just call that a "minor production glitch."

All-in-all this is a good action movie that can be bought for a cheap price. Sounds like a great combo to me. Since this is an international production, watch out for bootlegs that are floating around. Also, don't buy the SLP tapes churned out by "GoodTimes" movies back in the 90's. Awful quality.

Those of you who read my other review of a Malta-filmed movie, "Final Justice," be on watch for a couple of actors and locations featured in that movie. The evil bar-owner has a big role in this movie as does the heroic cab-driver. Where the heck is Hellena Abella? Ah, well, only Malta knows and Malta ain't telling...

Low budget Martial Arts movie of late 80s early 90s.
Plot isnt the best but certainly worth getting for the 2 main fight sequences between Kosugi and Van Damme. Highly enjoyable!!!

Totally fake, unrealistic, plotless. I love action movies, but this one just didn't have any action in it. You could see the missed punches and fake reactions--I can't believe that anyone would pay money for this movie

I would say the plot is good, but the action and fighting scenes are not in favour for action-movie goers.

First of all, as a Van Damme fan, this movie is definately one to see (if you must seek joy in seeing van damme die) for die hard van damme fans and that who hate him. For me, the movie feels like a Columbo epidose (the dramatic music) but the film is average, showing few plot, fight scenes or action. The biggest action scene is an explosion of a small wooden boat and a chase scene with cars going as fast as 25 mph! Plus the dvd features are limited and there is NO "Making of..." feature, only a theatrical trailer and some production notes (too short). Could have done with more DVD features for a region code free DVD.

Black Eagle was released a few months after Van Damme became a star with Bloodsport. The film could have made Van Damme a wash up but luckily it didn't. The martial arts chorography in the film is very sloppy and the fight scene between Sho Khogusi and Van Damme is weak. Skip this one

In this espionage action film, a Japanese ninja fights the newest genius to hit the big screen, Jean-Claude Van Damme. They fight with high kicks, jump kicks and twirlies! Van Damme has shown the next best thing since sliced bread, the 360 degree kick. Breath-taking choreography. Sho Kosugi is brilliant and his two sons and kick some stern. Don't mess with those tigers! The "Black Eagle" played by Sho Kosugi, must uncover a secret base that a secret government is hiding. Originality! I was intrigued with this film and Van Damme's performance. A new deity.