It begins with one of the US Air Force's most modern tactical aircraft, an F-111 Aardvark with a new laser guidance system , down into the sea near Malta . Codename Black Eagle , Ken Tami (Sho Kosugi) , is summoned to Malta to thwart KGB plans to steal a sunken laser device and to salvage the system before it falls into enemy hands . To ensure his loyalty, they bring his two young little boys (Kane Kosugi , Shane Kosugi) to a nearby hotel on the island. There are no enemies. There is no glory. This fight is one on one. Two warriors meet...only one will survive!

So-so flick with more than a semblance of an embarrasing story without much sense , including thrills , chills , high body-count , spectacular fights and in which CIA and KGB agents race against time to recover innovative equipment in the Mediterranean . In spite of its violence , and adding some wholly as well as corny moments , in this is mediocre yarn there are some impressive combats and rousing confrontations . This thrilling film is jammed with several messy trappings , such as : barring sundry explosions , murders , fights , gadgets , plot twists , a subplot in which two children are kidnapped and a car chase through La Valleta streets . The main spectacle is to see how to fight the two greatest idols of the martial arts at the time, in the Eighties : Sho Kosugi as the best FBI secret agent , and , Jean Claude Van Damme as his tough opponent, KGB agent Andrei. It is a film that defies easy clasification , it's either a spy thriller without glamour or a martial arts movie with only two real fights . Here the authentic star is Sho Kosugi who shows his fighter skills playing an agent must outrace KGB agent in searching of super weapon lost in Mediterranean . While Jean Claude Van Damme proves his early and elegant martial arts manners as the KGB's balletic kung-fu king. The only difference between this one and countless other short-budget action films is that the main hero, Sho Kosugi, is not the typical macho man , as he's thin , doesn't screw around and even fails , at times, to defeat his implacable enemy : Jean Claude Van Damme.

Directed without flair-play by Eric Karson , an expert on thrillers and action movies . His debut theatrical feature film was in 1980 with "The Octagon" with Chuck Norris . Subsequently, he directed "Hell Camp" and "Angel Town" . Equally , he produced "Nemesis" and "Lionheart" with Van Damme in one of his best vehicles . Action addicts will give this one a passing grade , all others need not apply . If you're a Sho Kosugi and Jean Claude Van Damme fan , you'll appeal this movie , that's why it contains action enough and violence for enthusiastic of the chop-socky or kung-fu genre .

That's the only thing that I found worthy of my time in this spy drama that stars Shô Kosugi and his kids, as well as a rather boring Jean Claude Van Damme who couldn't act his way out of a glass of vodka. The location footage, particularly the hilly streets and the views of the sea, are gorgeous distractions from the plot about a crashed jetliner with a newfangled contraption that the Russians want to get their hands on.

This is your standard 1980's action flick with lots of kickboxing, chases and explosions. I didn't mind the family story here involving Kosugi and his kid's nanny and fellow agent, Doran Clark whom he become involved with, because the interracial romance gives it a different angle.

I just didn't care so much for the plot and easily found myself looking at the various shots of local architecture. Kosugi is very likeable so his lack of acting skills isn't as distracting as Van Damm's. William H. Bassett is the only other actor worth mentioning, a memorable character actor I've seen in quite a few things. Unfortunately, this is a good 20 minutes too long, so the boredom does creep in here and there.

Jean-Claude Van Damme performs a great move in Black Eagle, dropping into the splits to avoid a kick from Shô Kosugi, and then quickly popping back up into fighting stance; in fact, he does it twice. This impressive acrobatic trick is about the only notable thing about the whole movie, which is little more than an excuse for Kosugi to take his kids on a jolly to the Mediterranean. As such, it's a real bore for fight fans, being much more travelogue than it is martial arts flick, Kosugi and sons taking in the sights and sounds of sun-drenched Malta and Rome.

The weak James Bond-style plot sees special agent Ken Tani (Shô Kosugi) given the task of retrieving a top secret laser guidance system from an F-111 jet that has crashed into the sea off the coast of Malta. Also trying to get their hands on the contents of the plane are some evil Russians, who stoop to kidnapping Tani's two kids (played by Shô's reall-life sons) to get what they want. Van Damme, in one of his early non-heroic roles, plays Soviet martial artist henchman Andrei.

Sloppily directed, poorly acted (its two stars mangle the English language), badly written trash, Black Eagle isn't even laughably awful - it's just boring. With this kind of cheap straight-to-video nonsense, one usually expects a decent dose of action, no matter how poorly executed, but the film delivers very little to get excited about: Van Damme's three bouts against Kosugi are (nifty splits move aside) poorly choreographed and all too brief; it says a lot about the movie as a whole that one of Kosugi's young sons has the best fight scene.