This time Louis Gossett Jr returns to whip new American and Russian recruits in line to prepare them for a mission against middle eastern terrorists who have gotten a nuclear launching site, of course the mission is meant to fail but in the heat of it all heroism prevails over the differences of the soldiers in question. Iron Eagle II was as ridiculous as it's predecessor however the edge of the first one and the overall amusing teenage vengeance angle is in favor dropped in favor of your basic military mission that for the most part is watchable if not too interesting. Iron Eagle II is fun in short spurts it is just that there is just too much character development and Gossett while good is not there nearly enough to bail out the movie's lame drama. Still it is at least better than the next two entries.

* * out of 4-(Fair)

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.

The first film was so-so, and the sequel is rock-bottom. Never mind the fact that they try to pass F-4 Phantoms for MiGs (and MiG-29s at that!),it's the entire idea that the US and Soviet would cooperate in a military operation to knock out a nuclear missile plant (and what the hell is THAT if I may ask?) in an arab country. The Soviet Union would probably have struck back at the US for doing it...

This film sucks.