Credit: Amazon.com
Directed:
Brian Clyde
Cast
Mark Dacascos …. Lt. Matt Daniels
Theresa Randle …. Capt. Amy Jennings
Rutger Hauer …. Gen. Frank Lewis
The Movie
One name sticks out more than any other when comes to crap cinema. That name is Roger Corman. The producer of such “classics” as Spacejacked, A Very Unlucky Leprechaun, Operation Balikatan, Captain Nuke and the Bomber Boys, the Carnosaur series, and the original live action Fantastic Four, Corman has become synonymous with cashing in on successful films by rushing out cheap carbon copies to make a quick buck.
While a small group of his movies, such as Deathrace 3000, Big Bad Mama, and The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, have at least attained cult status, most of Corman’s legacy has consisted of “craptastic” efforts such as The Student Nurses or DinoCroc. To this list of forgettable pictures can be added Corman’s latest producing venture, The Hunt for Eagle One.
The film concerns a tactical unit in the Philippines looking for Al-Qaeda terrorists amongst the country’s rebel population. The unit is lead by Lt. Matt Daniels (Mark Dacascos), but when a military helicopter is shot down and the pilot, Capt. Amy Jennings, is captured he must lead his troops into battle to find her. Much cheap looking action ensues.
If this all sounds like a bad Black Hawk Down rip off, it’s because it is. From the film’s opening shots, you can see that Director Brian Clyde has seem all the great War films from Saving Private Ryan, to Apocalypse Now, and that he steals as much as he can from each of them. Unfortunately, the film just doesn’t have the budget to try and keep everything looking like a legitimate film instead of one that just screams “Direct to Video”.
The film totally waists a decent cast. Mark Dacascos is actually a very entertaining martial artist, who was able to showcase his talents in film such as Brotherhood of the Wolf and Cradle 2 the Grave. Here, this film totally ignores this talent by putting him in a standard military role. This makes you wonder why they even hired Dacascos if film makers weren’t going to show his primary ability.
Rutger Hauer is also horribly misused in this picture. As the stereotypical character General Frank Lewis, Hauer is the stoic hard-ass that smokes cigars as he barks his orders. When all goes to hell and the chopper is lost, he is the one blamed and ordered to abandon his men. Of course, he does nothing of the sort. With outstanding performances in Blade Runner and Sin City, Hauer shouldn’t have to scrape the bottom of the barrel to get parts.
With bad characters, bad direction, and a look that would make most Television producers wince, The Hunt for Eagle One is a total waste of time. Roger Corman will probably make his money back on this, but that’s a real shame. The cover will look interesting, the stars will make you curious, and the plot description will feel familiar, but don’t let marketing fool you. This movie will be terrible and you will have wasted your money.
Score: 1.0
The DVD:
The Video
The movie looks really shabby, but that has more to do with the way it was shot as opposed to the print here. The film is presented in Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but isn’t anamorphic.
The Audio
The sound is much better than the picture on the disc. The track is in The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, but really this doesn’t help much when what you’re watching on screen looks so cheap.
SPECIAL FEATURES: Trailers
Trailers: You get trailers for White Dragon, Stealth, WWII Collection, Black Dawn, and The Net 2.0. When the trailer for Stealth is the most entertaining thing on the entire disc (including the movie) that’s a bad sign.
Score: 1.0
