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Talons of the Eagle
1992; directed by Michael Kennedy

Straight from the depths of the bargain bin at your local video store, Talons of the Eagle stars Mr. Tai Bo himself, Billy Blanks, as Tyler, a loose cannon of a DEA agent who is sent to Toronto to team up with Michael (Jalal Merhi) to take down the evil crime boss Lee (James Hong). After being trained by Master Pan (Pan Quing Fu), the duo enter a tournament set up by Lee, and manage to infiltrate his organization. Will Tyler and Michael be able to stop Lee? Consulting our handy Magic 8-Ball seems to indicate that "all signs point to yes". Well, that's a relief.

At any rate, Talons of the Eagle is a serviceable enough action picture. Stuff like this is the cinematic equivalent of a fast-food cheeseburger -- it does its' job but isn't special in any way. But sometimes, a picture like this fits the bill, and after the crap-fest this reviewer had to endure with the Shannon Lee film Lessons for an Assassin, generic is at least preferable to total garbage.

Blanks and Merhi, even though they're not great actors by any stretch, are likeable enough in the lead roles. The dialogue is terribly cheesy, though. I never want to hear about Billy Blanks' balls of steel ever again, thank you very much. There is also some decent eye candy thrown into the mix, most notably from Three's Company cougar Priscilla Barnes. And James Hong turns in another wonderfully nasty performance as Lee -- he even manages to throw down during the finale, which was fun to watch.

Speaking of throwing down, the action scenes (which were directed by Blanks, Merhi, and Pan) are surprisingly solid. Okay, it's not up to the level of most Hong Kong productions, but for a straight-to-video effort, Talons of the Eagle does actually manage to deliver some excitement and good old-fashioned ultra-violence. At the end of the day, Talons of the Eagle isn't really worth making any trouble to seek out, but if you see it in its' natural habitat (on at 3 AM on Spike or TBS) it's worth a look if you're into junky action movies.

RATING: 5

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