Product: Black Eagle (1988)
Rating: 1.0
Horrid-looking martial arts bore fest...
Could someone tell me who Sho Kosugi is? This guy plays the main character of this crummy movie, "Black Eagle," where he goes up against Jean-Claude Van Damme while defending America against the Soviets in a plot so ludicrous that the people confused by "Mission: Impossible" would gnaw off a limb from utter boredom and confusion. Now, Van Damme's not a great actor. He's decent in most of his films, but he's not great. Heck, I wouldn't even call him good. However in this film he does a terrific job for a few reasons. A) He has about three lines, B) He only needs one facial expression through the whole film, and C) No one else in this film can act!!! What we get are blank stares, monotone deliveries, and very uninteresting dialogue. Now the action scenes: they stink too. There are a gazillion chases in this movie, all of them uninteresting (I fell asleep during a car chase, woke up and it was still going on), the much-hyped one-on-one fighting between Van Damme and this Kosugi guy is great at first, but the final battle loses the edge and just can't seem to get very innovative. "Black Eagle" may have been a good choice for Van Damme so early in his career. Now if they would've made an entirely different movie, perhaps there would've been something there to enjoy.