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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 a boring one it is…
Set against the background of Malta only one man can take on a ship full of evil Russians while entertaining his kids on vacation (I’m not making that up). What surprises me about the man, that goes by the codename of Black Eagle ,is how one-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 throughout the movie and has no charisma at all…
The speedo: what worked for Arnold in Commando doesn’t work for Shô Kosugi
Then Van Damme, here having about half the amount of lines Arnold 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) than the good guy. At the end I was just hoping Van Damme would knock his lights out.
Unless you’re watching a horror film (although 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…
