Historical value? Absolutely. A decent action movie? Not so much. Matty dissects an early Van Damme dud.   

Depending who you ask, post production of Bloodsport (1988) took anything from nine months to two years. Whatever the case, one thing is certain: upon surveying the film’s disastrous first cut, exec producer Menahem Golan decided that Bloodsport’s karate-kicking star, Jean-Claude Van Damme, was – and I quote – “poison”. Consequently, the Cannon boss put the kibosh on his and Van Damme’s three picture deal. However, at some point the Muscles From Brussels managed to convince Golan to let him re-edit Bloodsport. And when the finished film finally hit cinemas, it was such a smash that the mogul couldn’t get Van Damme to spearhead Cyborg (1989) and Death Warrant (1990) quick enough. In fact, the Belgian bruiser’s stock was so high with Golan that Cannon even bagged the distribution rights for his and producer Mark Di Salle’s equally iconic Bloodsport do-over, Kickboxer (1989).

In the middle of it all, Van Damme sought employment elsewhere.

Hence BLACK EAGLE (1988).

Interesting rather than good, Black Eagle is a B-movie history lesson. As well as the aforementioned JCVD trivia, the film can be considered a work of transition that bridges the gap between ‘80s action’s old guard and the ‘90s new breed. At the time of Black Eagle’s making, Van Damme wasn’t the name he is today. He was an emerging talent; thus, the mighty Sho Kosugi received top billing [1]. Kosugi was a key component in the ninja boom of the early to mid-’80s thanks to his turns in Cannon’s beloved Ninja trilogy, Enter the Ninja (1981), Revenge of the Ninja (1983) and Ninja III: The Domination (1985). When Cannon’s rival, Trans World Entertainment, wanted a piece of the chop socky pie, they cast Kosugi in Pray For Death (1985) and Rage of Honor (1987). Like Cannon’s Ninja romps, Pray For Death and Rage of Honor were successful on cassette, rendering Kosugi an attractive proposition for Black Eagle’s producers, Imperial Entertainment. 

Imperial, of course, had close ties to Trans World. The shingle was co-founded by Trans World’s former president, Sunil Shah, and Shah freely emulated Trans World’s business model, beginning Imperial as a distributor before moving into production. Black Eagle ranks among Imperial’s earliest in-house projects – and in its wake they went on to have a hand in several of the most fondly regarded actioners of the ‘90s: The Guyver (1991), Nemesis (1992), and Van Damme vehicles A.W.O.L. (1990) (aka ‘Lionheart’) and Sudden Death (1995). So just as Kosugi retrospectively seems to be passing the torch to Van Damme, Black Eagle also appears to serve as the moment Imperial picked up from the rapidly dwindling Cannon and Trans World. Indeed, both Cannon and Trans World had shuttered by 1994, leaving Imperial and fellow action specialists Nu Image and PM Entertainment holding sway in the bangs n’ booms arena [2].

Perverse, then, that, as an actual action movie, Black Eagle is a slog. The characters – Kosugi’s CIA agent hero, Van Damme’s KGB villain – are great and surprisingly three dimensional, and the script – by Shimon Arama, Michael Gonzales, and the pseudonym-sounding ‘A.E. Peters’ – contains pockets of snappy dialogue. Alas, the overarching narrative is nearly completely free of oomph. A lot of things happen – espionage, hoo-ha about secret weaponry – and a lot of heavy themes are touched on – Cold War paranoia, cultural differences – but the story trundles along bereft of focus, urgency and purpose. It rarely grips and it rarely excites. 

That said, there are smatterings of fun. Essentially a poker-faced James Bond pastiche, the 007-indebted licks – gadgetry, the obligatory casino scene – exude the sort of life the rest of Black Eagle lacks, and the Kosugi vs Van Damme tussles are nicely choreographed and impactful (if, maddeningly, shorter than they should be). Shot on location in Malta, the film feels visually and atmospherically immersive, and helmer Eric Karson exhibits an eye for an arresting image – if, again, a dawdling sense of pace and spectacle exacerbated by the motionless plot. Karson had previously directed vintage Chuck Norris thumper The Octagon (1980) and briefly became an Imperial regular following Black Eagle, taking the reins of Angel Town (1990) and producing Nemesis and A.W.O.L. [3]. 

Lensed in summer 1987, Black Eagle landed in U.S. theatres via the Taurus Entertainment Company in May 1988, hot on the heels of Bloodsport which had debuted stateside February. A wealth of theatres screened Black Eagle and Bloodsport together. A similar situation occurred in the U.K.: Bloodsport opened on 19th August ‘88 and Black Eagle commenced its run on 18th November ‘88, launching – appropriately – at the Cannon-owned Cannon in Panton Street, London. It rolled out to Darlington and Newcastle across the next month.        

[1] The art for various home video releases have switched their billing in the years since.
[2] Incidentally, Imperial issued a few PM titles on tape, domestically and internationally.
[3] Karson was slated to wield the megaphone on A.W.O.L. but locked horns with Van Damme and was ousted during prep.