Review of Iron Eagle II

Let's get down to briefing. This mission would see director / writer Sidney J. Furie returning after the success that was "Iron Eagle" to provide us with the franchise's first sequel. "Iron Eagle II" would also see Charles "Chappy" Sinclair (with Louis Gossett Jr. reprising the role) getting some more screen time, but as for Doug Masters (again by Jason Gedrick) it's not so the case. It's no real biggie… as this trivial sequel was nothing more than predictably bland, unfunny and tepid follow up with little in the way of excitement. Too bad that's so, as it starts off decent enough and actually has a surprising plot device (which is later wasted in the feature) before it nose dives. The first time I tried to watch it, I fell asleep. Some cracking aircraft action sequences aside, the story was limpidly told and the performances fairly uninteresting (led by Mark Humphrey) with its odd assortment pilots / soldiers (Americans and Russians) trying to come to terms with each other so they can complete a proposed assignment. The script offers up the same-old, pushy patterns; conflict, tragedy, love, pride and payback. A team is chosen, a mismatch group destined to fail (which their generals would like to see), but they prove them wrong by training hard and working together to achieve their goal of destroying a nuclear weapon facility. This actual threat is kept rather vague with the focus more so on what's happening inside the ranks of this mission. The back-end does offer up some rough and ready action, but quite customary. Making an amusing appearance is the always dependable Maury Chaykin as one of the recruits. Textbook, but lacklustre comic action.