Black Thunder

Lots of action in this Michael Dudikoff thriller. Plot wasn't too bad and the acting wasn't that bad either. Lots of recycled footage but it was still a pretty good movie. 7/10 stars, I'd recommend this movie to everyone.

BLACK THUNDER isn't really a good movie, but it's definitely fun and is one of my favorite Dudikoff movies. Several of his movies have had interesting concepts, this one included: a prototype fighter jet with a stealth mode that hides it not just from radar, but from the human eye as well, rendering the plane completely invisible. When karate expert Richard Norton steals it, Michael Dudikoff is recruited to steal it back. Flying into enemy territory with an SR-71 and comedic sidekick Gary Hudson, Dudikoff sets out to recover the stolen aircraft, finding help from a local villager, BAYWATCH beauty Nancy Valen. (Sadly, that's a body double for Valen during the nude scene.) One of my favorite scenes is towards the end, when Dudikoff takes on a whole airfield full of enemy soldiers with a machine gun and a couple grenades. The climactic dogfight between Dudikoff and Norton has some cheapo effects (especially of that missile flying around), but it's all tongue-in-cheek fluff that can turn a rainy Saturday afternoon into something fun.

Not too bad for a typical Dudikoff film. Nancy Valen is always a treat but has a terrible "Libyan" accent. Artistic license is taken frequently with basic geography and flight times but if you can ignore that it's a harmless way to waste an hour and a half. Watch for the same guy dodging the same Jeep twice and two soldiers getting blown up twice (actually just recycled footage).

Most air-action movies are riddled with errors. Very often the aircraft required (ultra-modern, soviet) are unavailable. Of course using other aircraft makes sense (Using a F-100 as stand-in for a Mig-21 in `Skyjacked' for instance). Alternatives are to use models (as was very well done in `Firefox') or use computer graphics. So, F-16s are shown as US fighter jets. Nothing unusual. To depict the `Nova Stealth' a IAI Kfir is used although the intro shows a Mirage 2000. The angular lines of the Kfir do not make a realistic modern fighter. Ok, the choice is limited. Using the F-16 again as the `B-3' bomber (without any external stores) is confusing. It gets even more confusing as the villain pursues our hero using again a F-16 (supposed to be Libyan). The airfield from which the villain started has a line-up of Kfirs. Why the Libyans have several of this modern stealth `Nova' aircraft is not explained. There is supposed to be a single prototype of this aircraft! Maybe the viewer will not recognize the similarity? Ok, using a SR-71 to pursuit a fighter aircraft is ridiculous, but landing this aircraft in the Libyan dessert (not shown) is probably more science fiction than the supposed stealth technology. The `Nova' is completely invisible, except the infrared for some minute.

The acting is really deplorable. The action (non aircraft) is worse than done in the `A-Team' television series.

The aircraft action probably consists entirely of existing footage, making this a very cheap movie to make. Some footage (as the low-pass of the Kfir/Nova) is shown at least three times!

This move is definitely a must-see for aircraft buffs. If only, to have a good laugh.

Of course I had never heard about the 1998 movie "Black Thunder", as I happened to stumble upon it by random chance here in 2024. And seeing that it was starring Michael Dudikoff, of course I opted to check out what the original "American Ninja" had to offer.

Truth be told, though, I wasn't exactly harboring the biggest of expectations to the movie. But still, it might be possible that I had missed out on a stellar movie experience from writer William C. Martell and director Rick Jacobson.

The storyline in the movie was fair, and it was certainly a watchable movie. Writer William C. Martell put together a script that was okay. It was, sort of, an archetypical late 1990s action movie, with a single man against insurmountable odds and still coming out victorious.

The acting performances in the movie were fair. Nothing outstanding or thrilling, but then again I wasn't really expecting this to be a Shakespearian experience. Aside from Michael Dudikoff, I was only familiar with Richard Norton, Michael Cavanaugh and Nancy Valen.

Visually, then the movie was actually adequate.

Watchable for what it was, but I doubt that I will ever return to watch "Black Thunder" a second time.

My rating of director Rick Jacobson's 1998 movie "Black Thunder" lands on a five out of ten stars.