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

Ken Tani (Sho) is a CIA agent assigned to Malta where a highly sophisticated plane with a destructive weapons system has been found underwater. His goal is to get to it before the evil Russians. The most evil-est Russian of them all is a man named Andrei (Van Damme) and he'll stop at nothing to prevent Tani from getting to the plane before his KGB brethren. To ensure Tani does his job, his two children, Denny and Brian (Shane and Kane Kosugi) have been flown to Malta and put under the care of Patricia Parker (Clark), a woman who brings them to museum after museum with a bunch of tourists in order to bore them out of their minds. Well, according to Survivor, it's "East vs. West, it's the paradox that drives us all." Will Sho overcome against Van Damme? Don't bother finding out today! Black Eagle is pretty much universally acknowledged as one of Van Damme's weakest films, especially from among the early part of his career. Well, we would just like to humbly add our voices to the chorus. The simple fact is, Black Eagle just isn't very good. And it's very easy to explain why: it doesn't work as an action movie, and it doesn't work as a non-action movie. It's like two big gears with a wrench right in between them that's stopping them from turning. The movie seems like it was made to cash in on the action movie boom of the day, and it was made by people with no grasp of how to make an effective action film. That's a fatal formula. Any supposed "action" is limp at best, and what occurs in the meantime is inept and no viewer could possibly care what these people are talking about. When there's no non-action going on, the movie is filled with moronic dialogue no one could possibly get invested in. It brings us no pleasure to say these things. We wish Black Eagle was better, we really do. But we have to tell the truth.You'd think a movie starring Van Damme and Sho Kosugi couldn't possibly be lame. It's a reasonable thing to think, and surely just about everyone who saw the box art for this movie while perusing their video store had the same feeling. But there's not just one, but TWO anti-climactic, very brief fights between the two. All the makers of Black Eagle had to do was make a movie about Sho taking down goon after goon in his own inimitable way, until the big fight at the end with Van Damme. You'd think that would be a no-brainer. But oh no, they couldn't just do that and satisfy the fans. They had to come up with a bunch of nonsensical claptrap to frustrate audiences. Straining for positives, we found that the movie had some pretty shots of Malta, and to be fair there are a handful of unintentional "laffs" that keep you going until the end, but Black Eagle is truly for Van Damme and Sho completists only.For instance, we have the world's largest "No Smoking" sign, and Van Damme's pants are hiked up to the max (and in other scenes, especially some of his hilariously unnecessary scenes where he's doing a split, he appears to be an old-fashioned strongman, which is very silly). Sho has some nutty moments of his own, especially when he's on the deck of a boat, screaming utterly incomprehensible dialogue to other characters on an upper level of the boat. Not only is it unnecessary that these characters be so far apart, space-wise, but Sho screams all his dialogue while wearing nothing but a Speedo and glasses. Talk about a stylish combo. Sadly, this is the only movie where Van Damme and Sho were together. You'd think they would have reconvened at a later time to make a better movie. Maybe there's still time.Packed to the rafters with stupidity, Black Eagle is unlikely to appeal to its main potential audience - action fans - and will alienate every other potential viewer as well. Unless you're in an especially masochistic mood, we say avoid Black Eagle.

Black Eagle starts as high ranking American military dude Dean Rickert (William Bassett) is informed that fifty million dollars worth of F-1-11 (yes that's F one eleven) fighter plane with a state of the art SX-1 laser tracking guidance system aboard has landed in the Ocean somewhere just off the coast of Malta, his best man Steve Henderson (Gene Davis) is put on the case as the sneaky red Soviet Russians are already there trying to steal it. Unfortunately the Russians lead by Colonel Vladimir Klimenko (Vladimir Skomarovsky) kill Steve, Rickert then sends in Father Jospeh Bedelia (Bruce French) & his other best man besides Steve, a Japanese dude named Ken Tani (Shô Kosugi) to retrieve the SX-1 & teach those Russians a lesson they will never forget...Directed by Eric Karson one has to say that Black Eagle is a poor spy thriller in the vein of James Bond but unlike James Bond there's barely any action in it, the plot sucks & it stars a funny little Jackie Chan wannabe. The one & only thing of any great note with regards to Black Eagle & it's one & only claim to fame is that it was one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's first films, I am sure it's plastered all over the video/DVD case to try & sell a few more copies but in reality he isn't in that much & gets about five lines of dialogue during the thing. If your a fan of JCVD then I suppose you will feel compelled & obliged to see Black Eagle but be warned it's pretty tough to get through. The script by Michale Gonzales & A.E. Peters is a really poor low rent James Bond spy thriller with the Americans trying to beat the Russians to their super laser guidance thing & sending a whole two people to get it including a poor mans Jackie Chan & a priest. There's a fair amount of pointless running around Maltese locations & plenty of near misses as the Jackie Chan wannabe stays one step ahead of those Russians. It's pretty forgettable stuff all the way, the action scenes are few & far between, the dialogue is poor, the character's are poor & it's pretty slow going as well.Director Karson probably wasn't working with a huge budget but Black Eagle is really lacklustre stuff all the way, there's not one memorable fight or action scene in it apart from the very slow car chase where the bad guy's are actually chasing the good guy's in a Lada! I have to admit some of the Maltese & Italian locations look very nice but I'm not watching Black Eagle for the scenery, I want action & frankly it fails to deliver the goods. When Ken dives under the Ocean (& holds his breath for about ten minutes) he finds the F-1-11 jet plane down there completely undamaged & in one piece! Wouldn't it have been smashed to pieces on impact with the Ocean if it had indeed crashed? I think so.Technically the film isn't much to look at, it's got no style & is pretty forgettable on all fronts. Actually shot on location in Malta & Italy which is where most of the budget probably went. The acting sucks, I think Shô Kosugi is trying to be Jackie Chan but fails miserably. JCVD only speaks about twenty words (he apparently still got paid $70,000 though) & still sucks although he does do the splits a couple of times.Black Eagle is a poor, poor film which I barely got through. Probably JCVD's worst film although he can't be held totally responsible, one to avoid unless your a masochist.

no matter how great a fan of any action hero you may be this movie is not action, this is posing one thing and calling it action. this film had practically zero action scenes worth watching. in fact this entire film was not worth watching. no matter how big a fan of Jean Van Damme you are this movie is a disgrace to his talent. don't waste your time i wont even go into details why. stay away and unless your getting paid don't waste your time. as i rented this movie the only reason i did was to see Van Damme fight. as this movie unfolded about some corny plot of secret weapons this was a OK idea. the Prussians are trying to beat the Americans into finding it. well i saw the wests best man come in and he couldn't fight for his life. and he was more worried about his boys having fun than fighting the guys chasing him. this has no right to be on film, it has no right to be seen, it has no right to be called a movie. well thats putting it nicely. take some advice and don't waste your time or you will regret it.