Iron Eagle IV

Louis Gossett Jr returns to the well one more time as Chappy Sinclair who goes to Doug Masters (Played by Jason Cadieux who is in for Jason Gedrick who wisely declined) to teach a new band of recruits however this time they discover corrupt air force pilots who deal in toxic waste. This is a series that just keeps getting worse with each subsequent entry, this one however doesn't have any of the zip or even the action to make this even worth seeing on cable. Iron Eagle IV is directed with such indifference that the dogfights come off as if we were watching a playstation 2 game played by two lobotomized teenagers. It is horrendous to watch and Gossett Jr who has made his share of turkeys seems to have bottomed out here. And I saw Cover-Up, Firewalker, Aces:Iron Eagle III, Toy Soldiers and Jaws 3D. What is mysterious about Louis Gossett Jr is that he seems to be like Christopher Walken in his quest to do anything as long as he's working. As I look at his post Oscar win. Some of his better movies include Iron Eagle, The Punisher and The Principal. Considering that the latter two movies have him co-starring with Dolph Lundgren and James Belushi it is indeed something to say that three guilty pleasure action flicks are in the running for his better work. Of course Enemy Mine and Diggstown remain his best post-Oscar win work.

* out of 4-(Bad)

If this was any other series, I'd be saying "what the heck?" alas kids flying planes is the foot 'Iron Eagle' started off on. There's no denying this sequel is the weakest of the bunch and it's hard to be pleased with a juvenile afterschool special plot that's equal measure sappy & cliche. Lou Gossett Jr is back but there's a crazy bit of retconning going on here and the whole thing is barely engaging.

Doug Masters - the teenager from the original - who flew with Chappy (Gossett) to save his father, later became an air force pilot himself isn't dead after all. Turns out Doug (now played by Jason Cadieux) ejected in time, but spent years in a Russian prison as everyone thought he was dead. He's a cigarette smoking, drinking bitter young man asked by his old friend to be a flight instructor at a state run school to rehabilitate troubled teens. Of course, they accidentally stumble onto a nefarious scheme going on at the local military base.

Cadieux is sufficient. Certainly looks similar to Gerick (original actor that played the part). Scene where he explains what he went through was solid. Gossett isn't given much and just goes through the paces. Decent aerial footage is still here, but slips away under amateurs foiling hardened military men in the most unbelievable way. 'Iron Eagle 4' aka 'On the Attack' was a hard slough.

Doug Masterson has been shot down, but he's not dead as we've been lead to believe, instead he bailed out at the last second and became a POW in Russia. Now, he's out and living the life of a crop duster and possible alcoholic, fun times. Sidney J. Furie returns to finally tell a further adventure tale of Chappy and Doug, but this time with a different actor taking over Doug's role. I always wonder what the original actor was doing that was so much better then this. The two team up, all be it reluctantly on Dougy's part, to try and teach some delinquents how to fly planes...and also fight with some corrupt air force guys. It's not a bad movie, but with is tight bottom of the barrel budget, and some borderline acceptable performance, this one is just barely watchable.

I'll confess right away that I haven't seen any of the other IRON EAGLE movies so watching the fourth one felt a little odd. All I know about these movies is that they're TOP GUN rip offs starring Louis Gossett Jr. However, I like Gossett Jr., and I was particularly interested in watching this as an instalment in the incredibly long career of Canadian-born director Sidney J. Furie, who started out making the likes of THE LEATHER BOYS and DOCTOR BLOOD'S COFFIN long ago.

Sadly IRON EAGLE IV is one of his lesser works and a very bad film with a television movie atmosphere throughout. Although planes feature in the plot quite heavily, this is a very low budget production in which all of the action takes place on the ground. Gossett Jr. and his buddies are going against some corrupt officers who are doing some illegal dealing, and the viewer is treated to some low-rent action scenes and a lot of wooden acting from the younger cast members. It alternates between being laughable and dull.

This movie was good at least I thought so. I liked the way they brought Doug back into the story, but I wish they got the same actor who played him in the first movie but oh well. Some elements of the movie were kinda silly, like the fact that 2 guys and a bunch of kids single handedly took down some evil plot or the fact they tried to accomplish this by using outdated planes. I found that If you don't look to much into the story, Iron Eagle IV makes for a good time killer. It also helps not to know which movie it is. I at had only seen the first movie so I assumed that Iron Eagle IV was Iron Eagle II. Maybe this helped make it a good movie. If I were to have known it was Iron Eagle IV I might not have watched it, but I'm glad I did.