Iron Eagle II (1988)

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Enjoyed viewing Louis Gossett,Jr.,(Charles 'Chappy'Sinclair),"Window",'05, who started out in the film as a Full Bird Colonel and wound up a One Star General. Chappy received this high rank because he was drawn out of the National Guard to complete a mission with Russian forces and a crew of so called Misfits. There is plenty of comedy through out the entire picture and I really do not know if it was intended to be taken that way. Mark Humphrey, (Capt. Matt Cooper),"JAG",03 TV Series" was a pilot who simply could not take any orders from anyone and held a vengeance toward the Russian forces he had to work with. However, he got the hots for Sharon Brandon,(Valeri Zuyeniko) a Russian Pilot who was the only gal in the crew and had the face of a Russian woman, and despite that fact, they were in LOVE. If you like Lou Gossett Jr., then watch this film.

It troubles me to see how many low votes and negative comments that "Iron Eagle II" has received. I think it is an entertaining film that has a good mix of action, drama, and even a few laughs. It really bothers me that the movie is among the worst 100 movies as voted by the users of this site, especially when I didn't see either "Aces: Iron Eagle III" or "Iron Eagle IV" on that list. I don't really mind the third installment of the series, although it doesn't have the same feel as the previous two. However, the fourth in the series should never have been made, because of its poor plot and cheap budget. Maybe there aren't enough people that have seen this movie to even vote on it, but believe me it makes "Iron Eagle II" look Oscar-worthy by comparison.I also don't like the fact that the "Iron Eagle" films are remembered as "Top Gun" rip-offs either, because the first part preceded the Tom Cruise blockbuster. People complain that the MIGs in the film are actually F-4 Phantoms, but what is often overlooked is that the MIGs in "Top Gun" are actually F-5 Tigers, which have been used as enemy trainers in the actual Navy program.With that being said, I do have to say that there are some flaws with the movie that do bother me slightly. My biggest problem with the whole thing, like several others have noted, is that they kill the hero of the first film, "Doug Masters", in the opening sequence of "Iron Eagle II". Like another user said, he barely gets to put up a fight before he gets shot down. Since he became a full-fledged Air Force pilot, I'm not sure why the filmmakers couldn't have used the character for the mission later in the film. It would have been better to blow away his wingman "Cooper", whom the audience wouldn't have gotten a chance to know. Also, I'm still a little unsure of whether he was killed by the Soviet missile or if his plane had a malfunction after his hot dog maneuvers. The biggest slap in the face really is that the actor that played "Doug", Jason Gedrick, wasn't even credited for his role. He definitely was the hero of the first film, not Lou Gossett's "Chappy" character, but maybe he wanted to try something different as an actor.There are basically two other problems I've noted. The first is that they don't ever name the Middle Eastern country that poses the nuclear threat, although they don't name the enemy nation in "Iron Eagle" either. The makers of the films probably don't wish to cause controversy by doing so is my guess. The other problem is that it is very unlikely that there would ever be a joint U.S.-Soviet Union mission, especially in 1988 during the end of the Cold War era. That's not an irritating problem though. It's actually an intriguing concept, although not necessarily original.Regardless of the film's flaws (which no movie is exempt from), "Iron Eagle II" is far better than the votes and comments it has received. It certainly is worth at least one viewing anyways. If anything, watch it for the sheer beauty of the dogfights and because Lou Gossett Jr. is a good actor and "Chappy" is one of his best characters alongside "Fiddler" in "Roots" and his drill instructor character from "An Officer and a Gentleman".

Throughout my teens I looked to the character of Doug Masters as a kind of big brother that I never had. He was cool, a hit with the ladies and had pretty much single-handedly wiped out a small Middle Eastern country in the film Iron Eagle. Like many teenage boys in the 80's I wanted to wipe out a Middle Eastern country of my own, but was never given the opportunity, so when I heard that there was going to be an Iron Eagle 2 I was very excited. Now, bearing in mind that Doug had shot down dozens of evil, nasty non-American pilots in the first film, and that was without any training, he would now be an even better pilot, since he'd joined the US air force. But who could stand in Doug's way now? Surely this young pilot could single-handedly wage war on pretty much any country he wanted. Libya, Iraq, Columbia, Canada, no one could stop him.However in the first two minutes of the film he was shot down and killed. The rest of the film is a kind of blur to me now as I was in a state of shock and going through the early stages of post-traumatic stress disorder. I had just witnessed my elder brother (I know, I know I am seeing a therapist) getting killed by a Russian pilot! What made it all the more worse was that he'd not even put up much of a fight. Through the shock my mind started ticking over and analysing the situation. `If Doug was capable of obliterating a country the size of Wales or the State of Washington and he'd just been shot down by some naughty communist, then surely a single Soviet pilot could wipe out the entire USA!'I'm sorry, but I don't think that's very realistic. I've seen Red Dawn, so I know how easy Russians are to kill and this film failed to realise that But to make matters worse, the Americans then team up with the Russians to attack a small Middle Eastern country together! Hang on a minute! Doug could have done that by himself!Don't watch this film. It killed the big brother I never had.

***Spoilers ahead**** Another overlooked gem, the last good Iron Eagle movie. Same familiar Heartbreak Ridge/ Dirty Dozen plot: whip up a bunch of misfits into shape for some heavy duty combat in the end. This flick never slows down, full of action, macho talking, fist fighting, jets, missiles, explosions with the inevitable exciting climax of a Death Star trench run (except this time its a canyon in the desert). Louis Gossett is GOD!! Mark Humphrey is Jezus!! Cooper was a bad mutha(shut your mouth), when Lebanov pushed him, he went and took care of his business. The supporting cast of misfits is great, Clark Johnson as the street talking Graves and Colm Ferrore (the always entertaining Colm Ferrore) as the pushy Lebenov. Yeah, the Mig29s are really F-4s, yeah there are inconsistencies with the armaments on the pylons and yeah some shots are reused ones from the first Iron Eagle but hey, nobody's perfect. In some shots in Top Gun you can see Goose's red helmet in the back during the final firefight!! Even greatness isn't perfect.Only confusing thing: it wasn't properly explained that Murray was the C-130 pilot...