| Black Eagle (1988) Cast:Sho Kosugi,Jean-Claude Van Damme Martial arts espionage movies don't come much dumber than this overblown and dismayingly dull action movie which wastes Van Damme and Kosugi's true talent for kicking ass, as far as these things go the fight between the two is poorly choreographed and hardly satisfying and overall were left with a dull 007 knock off which leaves one feeling cheated. Many people; mainly those who are huge martial arts fans always wonder "What happened to Sho Kosugi?" well the answer can be found here. Sho Kosugi and his thicker than thick Japanese accent made Black Eagle and ergo his movie career died. Okay he did do a few more movies but people were more interested in Michael Dudikoff's Ninja movies and Jean-Claude Van Damme was on the rise making the process of Sho Kosugi obsolete and even though Chuck Norris solidered on, Kosugi was never able to establish himself and had no range outside of Ninja movies. The actionscenes are botched beyond believe, all of it scaled back so Kosugi can keep with the far more agile and athletic Jean-Claude Van Damme. The final fight between the both is completely botched. The setting is lit for an epic fight but the director chooses to make it lame by having an anonymous American superior shoot Jean-Claude, making the epic fight quite disappointing indeed. The drama outside the fightscenes are even more painful to endure.. D.Eric Karson * |