Die Jagd auf Eagle One: Crash Point

I've said it before in other reviews: action heroes shouldn't do these military team movies. Playing one part of a regulated squad – even the leader – is bound to result in a lot less screen time and focus on the star of the movie, and Mark Dacascos' role in CRASH POINT is no exception. This is an impersonal, unoriginal little adventure with very mild highlights, populated by characters I had a hard time caring about. In a word, it's overlookable.

The story: When the leader of a murderous rebel alliance (Dick Israel) steals a new technology with which to hijack planes by remote control, a strike force led by Captain Matt Daniels (Dacascos) is dispatched to retrieve it.

I haven't watched the original THE HUNT FOR EAGLE ONE, but if any of the returning characters were established there, they don't carry over much personality. Dacascos' immediate costar is Theresa Randle, and she has barely more luck than Mark and his three teammates at establishing herself. Jeff Fahey's here in an action-free role to supply on-off narration, and Joe Mari Avellana is utterly wasted in his do-nothing part. In its final quarter, the film manages to create at least some tension, but it's too little come too late, after I've sat through so many drawn-out shootouts that only served to disengage me.

Said final quarter of the film also includes a decent fight between Mark and supporting villain Boy Roque, wherein Roque attacks with a knife and Mark counters with a computer keyboard. Beyond this, there's nothing to get excited about, though plenty of directorial weirdness to raise an eyebrow at. The movie is practically on life support through the grace of lifted footage. Some of it's stock footage, and the rest of it's clearly shots from bigger and better movies. Additionally, for some reason, almost all of the original footage has been edited to include a noticeable color contrast – giving the movie the same look that conventional flicks reserve only for flashback scenes. How odd.

Luckily, this franchise seems to have run its course long before I even got to it, and I look forward to not watching any additional sequels. I don't recommend anyone else sees this one, either, unless you're completely out of other Dacascos material.

I thought it was a pretty good movie overall. My friends and I made a night of it and rented a bunch of these sorts of b-movies, and I have to say this is better than the original "hunt for eagle one." yeah, the plot is laughable at points, but it isn't a badly made movie- like, the music is cool, and the direction seems good. I really liked Mark Dacascos - he's better here than on Iron Chef America. Theresa Randle was good too. Nice seeing a tough girl rather than a victim.

Yeah, like kungfu said the random additions of nightly news shots and the CGI are pretty bad. They don't really serve any purpose, unless you wanted to make a drinking game out of the movie. But whenever the actors are actually in the action and they don't have to use cartoon planes to show what's going on, it's pretty thrilling. I liked the beginning sequence, it got me hooked.

Basically, this is a fun movie. It's not Saving Private Ryan, but it's still has it's good points. When you want something escapist, you can't go wrong with this.

I thought this was a good action movie with the exception of all the extra loud music, drums, bamboo noise in the background made it hard to hear what anybody was saying. I thought Matt decascos did an excellent job, his acting was realistic. I would like to see him in more movies. Theresa did a good job but a little slow in her acting and movement.

Not bad if you just want to see straight action. The gun battles and fighting sequences were great and also extensive. The explosions looked surprisingly good as well (and there are quite a few of them). The flight sequences seemed low budget, but this is a straight to DVD movie after all. I am a Mark Dacascos fan (ever since Brotherhood of the Wolf) and was glad that he was in a leading role and got to do some fighting. Even though he was playing a marine who did mostly physical stuff he managed to make the character shine through. I wish that Theresa Randle (the other star of the film) made more appearances. Overall, it had its cheesy moments but they were probably outweighed by raw and gritty moments of excitement.

"The Hunt For Eagle One: Crash Point" is a step up from the first one.

The plot this time around is about Al-qaeda. They have a nuclear device and only Lt. Daniels and Jennings (Dacascos and Randle) can stop them. Jeff Fahey plays their Commander.

"Crash Point" has ten times more action. Dacascos gets to use his martial arts skill, even when his character can just shoot people. Randle handles the clunky dialogue well. The climactic chase with a helicopter and a bike, while very silly, works on a B-movie level. Fahey just yells a lot, but does a good job at that.

Overall, "Crash Point" is better than the original, and I wouldn't be surprised if they made a third one. Maybe they can call it "The Hunt For Eagle One: Gitmo Strikes Back".

For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com