''When Eagles Strike'' (released in the Philippines as ''Operation Balikatan'') is a 2003

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

action film Action film is a film genre in which the protagonist is thrust into a series of events that typically involve violence and physical feats. The genre tends to feature a mostly resourceful hero struggling against incredible odds, which include l ...

co-produced and directed by

Cirio H. Santiago Cirio Hermoso Santiago (January 18, 1936 – September 26, 2008) was a prolific Filipino film producer, director and writer. He used the screen names Cirio Santiago, Cirio H. Santiago and Leonard Hermes. Life and career Santiago was born on Janu ...

. The film stars ex-bodybuilder

Christian Boeving Christian Boeving (born June 5, 1969) is an American actor, writer, producer, fitness model, personal trainer, and former bodybuilding supplement spokesperson. He grew up in Missouri, United States and resides in Los Angeles County in Southern Ca ...

Stacy Keach Walter Stacy Keach Jr. (born June 2, 1941) is an American actor and narrator. He has played mainly dramatic roles throughout his career, often in law enforcement or as a private detective. His most prominent role was as Mickey Spillane's fiction ...

, Davee Youngblood, Nate Adams,

Eddie Garcia Eduardo Verchez Garcia (; May 2, 1929 – June 20, 2019), known colloquially as Manoy, was a Filipino actor, television personality, film director and producer. With almost 600 film and television roles and a career spanning seven decades, he ...

Rey Malonzo Reynaldo Malonzo or Rey Malonzo is a former Filipino actor, film director and politician in the Philippines. He was a famous action star doing mostly martial arts in his films during the 1970s up to the 1980s. Film career In the 1970s, Malonz ...

, and

Monsour del Rosario Manuel Monsour Tabib del Rosario III (born May 11, 1965) is a Filipino actor, martial artist, producer, and politician. He is popularly known as a Filipino taekwondo champion and actor who starred in several Filipino and international action f ...

. The film received mostly negative reviews, and the response for Boeving's portrayal of a classically written action hero has been mixed.

Plot

A group of American commandos go on a mission to save American politicians who were kidnapped and held on a forgotten Malaysian island. Tough-guy lieutenant Andrew Pierce commands the group. During the mission it's revealed there's a traitor in the ranks of the team. Consequently, American soldiers are betrayed and captured by the opponents, who then interrogate and brutally torture Pierce.

Cast

as Lieutenant Andrew Pierce *

as General Thurmond * Davee Youngblood as Private First Class Tyler Owens *

Jesse Vint Jesse Lee Vint III (born 21 September 1940) is an American actor, film director and screenwriter. He acted in the films ''Silent Running'' (1972), '' Macon County Line'' (1974), '' Black Oak Conspiracy'' (1977) and ''Forbidden World'' (1982). L ...

as Captain Spencer *

as Lieutenant Rodrigo Gomez * Nate Adams as Darren, the military medic *

as General Espino *

Jess Lapid Jr. Jesse Lloyd Flake Lapid, commonly known as Jess Lapid Jr. (born March 22, 1962), is a film and television actor, film and fight director, scuba course director of CMAS Philippines, and underwater director of photography. More popularly known ...

as Salek *

as Ahmed * Joe Mari Avellana as Ibrahim, a leader of Al-Qaeda

Production and release

The film was shot in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

(including

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

and

Subic Bay Subic Bay is a bay on the west coast of the island of Luzon in the Philippines, about northwest of Manila Bay. An extension of the South China Sea, its shores were formerly the site of a major United States Navy facility, U.S. Naval Base Sub ...

) early in 2003, with shoots starting on February 4.Mayor Rey Malonzo, binalikan ang pag-aartista
''Pilipino Star Ngayon''. Philstar Group. Retrieved on March 18, 2020. American as well as Filipino actors were cast in the film, with ex-bodybuilder

taking the lead. Boeving makes his own stunts during the filming, and he stated in the interview for ''AHF Magazine'': "I get my ass severely kicked in the movie, which is something I'm sure a lot of people would like to do to me."Christian Boeving Makes Movie Magic For 2004
''AHF for Men''. Canusa Group, Inc. December 2003/January 2004. Retrieved on March 18, 2020.

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

-winner

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

was supposed to appear in the movie but is not seen in its final version. ''When Eagles Strike'' was released on June 11, 2003, in the Philippines. Then the project was released directly-to-DVD in such countries as

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

(under the title ''Когда орел атакует''),

Brasil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area an ...

(as ''O Ataque dos Águias''; the film was tagged as based on a true story), and Japan (as ''Codename Eagle''). In April 2004 the film was released on DVD in the United States. The movie was released as '' Black Hawk Down'' sequel in Taiwan.

Reception

The film received mixed to generally negative critical reception, currently holding 33% fresh on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

. Scott Weinberg from eFilmCritic.com concluded: "One might be tempted to classify this movie as 'ripped from the headlines' when in fact 'ripped from the trash heap' would be an infinitely more accurate assessment. (...) If (...) you're looking for a solid war movie, just keep on walkin'." Weinberg called his review of ''When Eagles Strike'' "Where's John Rambo when we need him?", and awarded the film one star out of four. ''MonsterHunter'' believed that characters in the movie are "noisily dull," and named Christian Boeving's lead "

Uncle Sam Uncle Sam (which has the same initials as ''United States'') is a common national personification of the federal government of the United States or the country in general. Since the early 19th century, Uncle Sam has been a popular symbol of ...

on steroids," saying that "his massive arms are the only real development his character has." An editor of ''Actionfreunde'' called Boeving "a walking muscle", a man "as charismatic as a slowly drying wallpaper piece." In ''The German Lexicon of International Films'' it is stated that ''When Eagles Strike'' is a clichéd, stereotypical action movie riddled with references to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. A reviewer from action cinema-related website ''Yippee-ki-yay, Motherf*cker!'' believed that the movie lacked the element of surprise but praised Boeving as its sole positive aspect. "Boeving is refreshing as a

macho Machismo (; ; ; ) is the sense of being " manly" and self-reliant, a concept associated with "a strong sense of masculine pride: an exaggerated masculinity". Machismo is a term originating in the early 1930s and 1940s best defined as hav ...

-type commando. (...) He's a resurrected 80s action movie hero—dripping sweat, super handsome, running through the jungles in a tight undershirt." ''Prime News'' listed "When Eagles Strike" among the greatest war movies of all time (it received an honorable mention).

Sequel

A sequel, ''When Eagles Strike 2 − Mission: Survive'', was written, and was supposed to have been filmed in 2004 as a television film, but the project was canceled. Lieutenant Andrew Pierce was the main character once again.

References

External links

* * {{Cirio H. Santiago 2003 action films 2003 direct-to-video films 2003 films 2000s action war films 2000s war adventure films American action war films Cultural depictions of bodybuilders Films about the United States Marine Corps American war adventure films Films shot in the Philippines Films set in Malaysia Premiere Productions films Films directed by Cirio H. Santiago 2000s American films