Enter the Eagles (1998)


	Enter the Eagles		Return to Review Archive - E
	Year:	1998	Shannon Lee and Anita Yuen
	Director:	Corey Yuen Kwai
	Cast:	Michael Wong Mun-Tak, Jordan Chan Siu-Chun, Anita Yuen Wing-Yee, Shannon Lee Heung-Yi, Benny "The Jet" Urquidez
	The Skinny:	Good action choreography by Corey Yuen redeems this uneven action thriller starring the daughter of Bruce Lee.
	Review by Kozo:	A massive flop in HK, this action flick from Corey Yuen treads on Downtown Torpedoes territory, meaning exotic locales and big-budget action. The location in question is Prague. Martin (Michael Wong) leads a team of high-stakes thieves who are after the Czar’s Prism, the largest diamond in the republic. He plans to sell it to a renowned fence named Karloff (Benny “The Jet” Uriquidez in a HK return), and enlists the aid of old friend Mandy (Shannon Lee). Mandy is an ace hitman who was with Martin when he lost his true love Ruth in some prior espionage event. Also in the mix are a couple of two-bit HK thieves, Tommy and Lucy (Jordan Chan and Anita Yuen), who get in on the heist by accident and only succeed in complicating matters. Would that were the end of the problems; there are also double-crosses, cops, broken glass, and more bad acting than you can possibly imagine. The other members of Martin’s squad are played by the dreaded scourge of all HK cinema: caucasian actors who can’t act worth a damn. Michael Wong is Master Thespian next to these characters, as is Shannon Lee, though her voice is completely wrong for movies. Shannon Lee wasn't called upon for her acting, however. As the daughter of Bruce Lee her job is to kick ass, which she does quite convincingly. In fact, the action sequences in this movie are top-notch, which is good because everything else isn’t. After an unbearable first 1/2 hour, the action finally arrives to save the picture. Thank Corey Yuen, who can’t leave his eighties past behind him. He choreographs wildly energetic action sequences, and though they seem out of place in today’s movies, they haven’t lost their power to entertain. Adding to this are the presence of two of HK’s most charming actors, Jordan Chan and Anita Yuen. While neither is called upon to do too much, their sheer personality lifts the film above what it could have been: Extreme Crisis with better action sequences or worse, The Blacksheep Affair. Enter the Eagles isn’t a consistent film, but it manages to entertain through a weird combo of HK’s new and old. It’s a modern-day techno-thriller with over-the-top HK-action punch. It’s not a potent mix, as only one of the two pieces works. Pretentious American-type filmmaking should really only be made by Americans. This is probably 1998’s most underrated film, but that’s because nearly everyone contends that it sucks. (Kozo 1998)
	Notes:	• This film marked the only time in 8 collaborations (and counting) that Jordan Chan and Anita Yuen played a couple.
	Availability:	DVD (Hong Kong) Region 0 NTSC Universe Laser Widescreen Cantonese and Mandarin Language Tracks Dolby Digital 5.1 Removable English and Chinese Subtitles

		image courtesy of Universe Laser & Video Co., Ltd.
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