Iron Eagle Starring Louis Gossett Jr., Jason Gedrick, Tim Thomerson Directed by Sidney J.Furie Written by Kevin Elders, Sidney J.Furie.Iron Eagle desperately wants to be a light-hearted, high-speed, free-for-all of a movie.It wants to be Raiders of the Lost Ark meets The Right Stuff, but doesn't have enough of its own right stuff to make its formulaic adventure yarn work.The beginning certainly bears promise. Ted Masters, a veteran Air Force pilot, is shot down during a routine reconnaissance mission over the disputed waters of an unnamed Middle Eastern country.Masters is held hostage, tried, and convicted of international espionage.In three days, his sentence will be carried out - a public lynching meant as a warning to the western world.This premise may not be as unlikely as it seems, and it could certainly be developed into a real cold-war-of-nerves drama.Something on the order of a Middle Eastern Fail-Safe, perhaps.Writer-director Sidney J.Furie (The Ipcress File, Lady Sings the Blues) has no such intentions, however.He prefers, instead, to aim at the lowest common denominator, turning this bit of sophisticated celluloid into an aerial Rocky VI.Eighteen-year-old Doug Masters (Jason Gedrick) happens to be a crack fighter pilot just like his dad.With the help of retired Air Force colonel Chappy Sinclaire (Louis Gossett, Jr.), and a band of Hardy Boy friends, Doug plans to steal two F-16s, fly with Chappy to the Middle East, and rescue his dear old dad before the Bad Guys do their dirty deed.There are no surprises in this souped-up adolescent fantasy.It's black and white.Day and night.Wrong and right.Fight, fight, fight.Aside from some well-directed aerial footage, the only reason to watch this trite bit of rabble-rousing fantasy is for Gossett's performance.There are no Sergeant Foley fireworks here, but Gossett is the only member of the cast who doesn't embarrass himself.This is the sort of unassuming, undemanding role Gossett can do in his sleep, but who wouldn't rather watch Gossett sleep-walking than the rest of this inept cast tripping over each other?With plot holes you could fly an F-16 through, Iron Eagle is nonetheless a fairly harmless exercise in international bigotry and exploitative comic-book violence.It's fodder for the masses, but all the sugar-coating at Furie's disposal can't make this stuff go down any easier.
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