Featured Blu-ray Review: Black Eagle

April 16, 2018

Black Eagle - Buy from Amazon: Blu-ray Combo Pack

Black Eagle

Black Eagle is one of Jean-Claude Van Damme earliest roles. It is so early that he’s not the good guy. He’s not even the main villain. He’s the main villain’s muscle. Is this film worth checking out for fans of the Muscles from Brussels? Will fans of 1980s actions films be entertained?

The Movie

The film begins with the viewer listening to radio chatter of an American F-111 Aardvark’s bombing run. When it returns from its mission, it is shot down by ground-to-air missiles and crashes within the Mediterranean Sea near Malta. Worse still, the Russians heard everything and were able to get a reasonable estimate of where the plane crashed. Normally, it would be detrimental for the Russians to recover the bomber, but not a complete disaster. This one had a top-secret laser guidance system. If the Russians got it, the Americans would lose a vital advantage they have. Steve Henderson is sent it to observe the situation, because he’s the best man available. The Chief wants the best man, period. That man is Ken Tani, code named Black Eagle. He is supposed to get two-weeks uninterrupted vacation with his family, which is part of his deal. The Chief doesn’t care about his deal.

With that, a CIA agent, Patricia Parker picks up Ken Tani’s two sons and takes them to Malta, so the three of them will be in close proximity during Ken’s mission. This seems like a bad idea and they did this without telling Ken first. It does force Ken to go on this mission.

It’s a good thing Ken Tani is on the job, because Steve Henderson is almost immediately captured by the Russians, led by Col. Vladimir Klimenko. Steve is to be interrogated, but he manages to get a gun off one of the Russians and this leads to Andrei killing Steve to stop him. Steve was supposed to be the best man available and he was caught nearly immediately, because they are on the open sea and there’s no where to hide. This explains why Ken is also spotted nearly immediately. Fortunately, Ken has a secret weapon: Academic Nonsense. Col. Vladimir Klimenko quickly spots Ken’s boat, but when he asks what they are doing there, Ken starts rambling about commercial fish and depleted fish stocks and 20 seconds in Col. Vladimir Klimenko is practically begging Ken to stop talking.

We are about 30 minutes into the movie and the best scene is Ken Tani talking about commercial fishing. This is not a good sign for an action film.

Black Eagle is some prime, vine ripened, 1980s action cheese. That is when it gets going. Unfortunately, the pacing is quite bad and the film takes way too long for any action to happen. It goes without saying that the acting among the two action leads are a little wooden. Both Sho Kosugi and Jean-Claude Van Damme are very early in their acting careers. In fact, this is only Jean-Claude Van Damme’s second movie role; although Bloodsport beat it to theaters here. Sho Kosugi does have a few action scenes that are well executed, while the big fight between the two action stars is excellent. It just takes too long to get there and it is not enough to redeem the movie as a whole.

The Extras

First of all, there are two versions of this movie, a 93-minute and a 104-minute uncut edition. The uncut version has worse pacing, so keep that in mind.

The extras begin with a 21-minute long interview with the star, Sho Kosugi. There is a 36-minute long Making Of featurette that features interviews with Sho Kosugi, as well as the director, screenwriter, other members of the cast. It doesn’t include Jean-Claude Van Damme; however, that actor is the focus of the next featurette. The final featurette is on the script. The four featurettes have a total running time of over 100 minutes. Finally, there are 11 minutes of deleted scenes. This is more extras than I was expecting.

The Verdict

If you are a fan of Black Eagle, then the Blu-ray Combo Pack is easily worth picking up, because it is loaded with extras. If you are a fan of the two leads, then it is worth checking out, but more as a novelty than a movie you will want to watch repeatedly.

Filed under: Video Review, Black Eagle, Eric Karson, Kane Kosugi, Sho Kosugi, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Vladimir Skomarovsky, Michael Gonzales, Doran Clark, Shane Kosugi, Gene Davis