Aigle de fer II

I think the fact that the IMDb rating for this movie is actually lower than ISHTAR kinda speaks for itself, don't you?

Far from anything remotely special, but just as good as its fair predecessor. The only relation between the two films is the Louis Gossett, Jr. character as he is called in to lead a group of pilots that are from the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Another one of those many films made in the 1980s to capitalize off the fear of the Cold War. The direction is mediocre and the screenplay is sophomoric. With that said some of the flying sequences are well-done and Gossett's performance is not bad at all. However he does look a lot more impressive with sub-par players around him. Never really wins its wings by the time it tries to fly. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

What do you do when you're a young director with a hit on your hands? You go off and direct a flop like Superman IV. Then you get talked into doing a needless sequel to your big hit, only a few years ago. Well that's what happened to Sidney J. Furie. In an attempt to tell a more serious, or adult story Furie reject everything about the first film that made it work. Instead he chose to take all the fun out of the film with in the first few minutes of the picture. The first film was more of a Teen movie, it stood out because of that fact. It was fun and energetic, but this one is dry and slow. As a stand alone film, it's sort of boring. As part of the Iron Eagle franchise, it's down right depressing. First it's about the US and Russia teaming up on a mission to stop some terrorist from launching a nuclear bomb, but it never really is clear why one or the other can't just take on the mission by themselves. The characters seem either cardboard flat, or outright dumb. The biggest mistake they make is the under use of Louis Gossett Jr. His character doesn't seem to really have a place, except standing around and barking orders. He never seems to have the same energy as he did in the first film. The ending was fine, if not reminiscent of Star Wars. The contrived Love story didn't work at all for me, it felt like they were again trying to take the story into more adult territory and in that lost the point of what makes the first one so good...

As an aviation buff, I thought that this movie sucked. Passing off F4's as MiG's is just the beginning. The army sergeant is WAY too fat; he would have never been allowed to remain on active duty. The Soviet Union did not use women combat pilots in the 80's. (I know this because I used to study and teach Soviet combat tactics.) And the incident at the beginning of the movie would not have been something that could just be "hushed up." Much of the footage is from the first Iron Eagle. And that movie, although fanciful, is much better and many times more realistic. There are much better aviation movies out there. I was greatly disappointed by this one.

They should never have attempted a sequel to a not-so-good movie, but 3 of them?!?!? The series falls into the "what planet does the producer live on" category, like Jaws (after Jaws 2) and Police Academy (after the 1st).