Black Eagle (1988)

CIA agent must outrace KGB agent in searching of super weapon lost in Mediterranean.

Director:

Eric Karson

Writers:

A.E. Peters (screenplay), Michael Gonzales (screenplay)

Stars:

Shô Kosugi, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Doran Clark

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shô Kosugi	...	Ken Tani
Jean-Claude Van Damme	...	Andrei
Doran Clark	...	Patricia Parker
Bruce French	...	Father Joseph Bedelia
Vladimir Skomarovsky	...	Col. Vladimir Klimenko
William Bassett	...	Dean Rickert
Kane Kosugi	...	Brian Tani
Shane Kosugi	...	Denny Tani
Dorota Puzio	...	Natasha
Jan Tríska	...	Capt. Valery
Gene Davis	...	Steve Henderson
Alfred Mallia	...	Peter
Joe Quattromani	...	Lino
Victor Bartolo	...	Chief Insp. Borg
George Portelli	...	Captain of Gorky

Storyline

One of the US Air Force's most modern tactical aircraft, an F-111 Aardvark with a new laser guidance system, crashes into the sea near Malta - a region where the Soviet forces are highly present, too. The CIA immediately sends out their best secret agent, Ken Tami, to salvage the system before it falls into enemy hands. To ensure his loyalty, they bring his two young sons to a nearby hotel on the island. Ken Tami's tough opponent is KGB agent Andrei.

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Plot Keywords:

man murders a woman | murder | malta | secret agent | kgb | 

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Taglines:

There are no enemies. There is no glory. This fight is one on one.

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Genres:

Action | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

May 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Águila negra

Filming Locations:

Malta

Box Office

Budget:

$3,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Rotecon B.V., Magus

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min 104 min (Directors Cut)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.77 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Sho Kosugi's sons play Ken Tani's children.

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Goofs

At the end, when they sink the soviet ship, it is obviously a scale model being blown up. Seen particularly by the size of the waves in comparison to the "ship".

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Connections

Referenced in Reason to Die (1990)

User Reviews

Did they re-shoot after Van Damme's success?

Strange movie this is. It's a typical 80's action movie trying to be a James Bond film (with Van Damme in the Jaws role) with two non-English leads (the heavy accents are all over the place) and it works on no level at all.

The story is plain stupid and could probably be resolved in real life through simple diplomacy or a quick Navy Seals operation. But of course this is one-man operation and boring it is...

Set against the background off Malta only one men can take on a ship full of evil Russians while entertaining his kids on vacation (and I'm not making that up). What surprises me about the man that goes by the codename of Black Eagle is how 1-dimensional his character is considering he has the most screen time and they tried to flesh him out by having his kids around. he stays bland, but then again he has no charisma at all...

Then Van Damme, here having about half the amount of lines Ah-nold had in Terminator he comes off as a baddie we all like. He gets more physics to display, he gets the cool moves, he even is more fleshed out (physical and character-wise) then the good guy. At the end I was just hoping Van Damme would knock his lights out.

Unless you're watching a horror film (allthough this movie is a horror to watch) you're not supposed to root for the bad guy. But I was. I'm thinking they re-shot scenes making van Damme's character more likable after the success of Bloodsport, but it messes the movie up even more....