DVD Review: 'Talons of the Eagle' (1992).
"Talons of the Eagle".
Today's DVD review goes back to a movie that I originally saw on the TNT network way back in the day. When I say back in the day, I mean exactly that. No exaggerations this time. I first saw "Talons of the Eagle" back when I was in the eighth grade when TNT had their Saturday night action flicks. What made this movie stick out to me was one of the actors in the movie. Y'all know the guy from the "Tae Bo" workout program? Yes I'm talking about martial artist Billy Blanks. When I was in the tenth grade during high school, I used to rent this movie almost every weekend. This was before DVD's were even popular. Brings back those days of watching movies on VHS. Anyway, after graduating from high school and going years without seeing this movie, I decided to search for the DVD online in 2007. Where else do you go online if you are looking to find something that might be rare; "Ebay". To my great delight, I was able to find a DVD of this movie on Ebay for a fairly low price. Today I'm going to give my thoughts on this movie. I hope you enjoy reading this.
Taglines:
- When you're fighting crime, killing is a way of life
- Survival of the fittest
Billy Blanks as DEA Agent, Tyler Wilson.
Plot and characters.
"Talons of the Eagle" is a martial arts crime action film that was released in 1992. It's one of those movies that never made it to the big screen, and honestly I can see why now. The plot of the movie deals with two cops who are sent undercover to bring down the man responsible for the death of three DEA agents. DEA agent Tyler Wilson, who is portrayed by Billy Blanks is a tough New Yorker that has been sent to Toronto to work with Michael Reeds. The character of Reeds is played by martial artist Jalal Merhi. Reeds is a narcotics detective and like Wilson, is skilled in the martial arts. Both Reeds and Wilson are assigned to infiltrate the organization of crime boss Mr. Li, who is responsible for the death of three DEA agents. The character of Mr. Li is played by James Hong. In order to get close to Mr. Li, Wilson and Reeds seek out the help of Master Pan( portrayed by Qingfu Pan) to get them ready for entering a martial arts tournament run by Mr. Li. Mr. Li is constantly looking for new recruits to join his security team, which is led by Li's head of security, Khan(played by Matthias Hues). After impressing Li at the tournament, both Reeds and Wilson are hired by Li. Upon working for Mr. Li, Reeds and Wilson quickly find out that another agent named Cassandra( actress Priscilla Barnes) has been working undercover for Li as well. With Li and Khan growing highly suspicious of their two new recruits, Reeds and Wilson must work quickly with Cassandra in order to gain the evidence they need against Li. However, Li doesn't plan on going down easily, and the three undercover cops may not find themselves surviving.
Thoughts on the movie.
Okay I will admit that I liked this movie as a young buck. I still like it in a way since it brings back memories of my teenage years. I also loved many the martial art fight scenes, and this was the movie that made me aware of Billy Blanks. However, now that I'm older and pay a lot more attention to actual acting in movies, my view on this film has changed dramatically. The fact that the first time I saw this movie was on a Saturday night on TNT, should have been an obvious sign that it was low-budget. Yes I indeed said low-budget, because that's exactly what it is, LOW-BUDGET! The acting in this movie is absolutely terrible to the point it's almost laughable. Although Billy Blanks acting in this movie is horrible, he does have a strong presence and likability to his character in this movie. James Hong was the only actor that was somewhat convincing, but his performance is nothing to brag about either. The only good thing about this movie is some of the fight sequences. Much of the fight choreography is pretty bad, but you get used to it I guess. I think I've seen this movie so many times that I've become immune now. Even the song in the closing credits of the movie is pretty laughable to me now.
Conclusion.
Since I consider myself to be a fairly honest guy, I must say that most people wouldn't like this movie at all. Being that this movie is 20 years old now, I doubt anyone would be highly interested in seeing it anyway. Besides being low-budget and having poor acting, this movie poorly edited as well. This DVD itself is so low-budget, that the quality looks like VHS quality. There is definitely something wrong with that picture right? I mean literally something is wrong with the picture. The there only two types of people who might have seen this movie, or be even remotely interested in seeing it. People who have seen other Billy Blanks films, and people that are martial arts enthusiast. Anyone else would most likely eject this movie from the DVD player within the first 15 minutes. I guess it was a good thing that I enjoyed martial arts films a lot when I was a youth. Despite all of this movie's flaws, I'm still glad to have it added to my collection of DVD's. Thanks for reading.
References:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105530/