Kids Prevent a Crime
Having retired, former Air Force General 'Chappy' Sinclair (Louis Gossett Jr.) has set up his own flight school, taking in young offenders and trying to teach them something. But it is too much for him to cope with by himself so he tracks down Doug Masters (Jason Cadieux) who after bailing out of his plane and ending up as a Russian POW now works as a mechanic for a crop duster, struggling with issues when it comes to piloting a plane again. It is during the training that Chappy and the young offenders uncover some Air Force Officers up to no good with some toxic chemicals used in biological warfare except no one will listen to them so Chappy and these young offenders use their own skills to try and stop them from what ever they plan.
In the dark recesses of my mind I recollect having watched the first "Iron Eagle" back in the 80s but I remember very little about it other than it starred Louis Gossett Jr. and featured planes. It is why I have for quite a while put off watching a DVD of "Iron Eagle IV" when it came in to my possession as I thought maybe I should revisit the first movie and watch the 2nd and 3rd movie first. But after biting the bullet and deciding to watch it I quickly realised it made no real difference how much "Iron Eagle" knowledge you had. In fact the opening scenes establish that Doug survived a flying incident and his old General, Chappy, has tracked him down and that seems to be about the only real connection to the franchise.
What does that mean? Well what we get in "Iron Eagle IV" is a storyline typical of a kid's movie where a group of kids uncover some illegal activity and then as they try to stop bad things from happening end up in danger. Okay so we are not talking mischief making kids here but young offenders but the vibe and end result is still the same. There is also another layer as we have Doug struggling with being back flying again and is not the daring pilot he once was but this isn't the high emotional drama it could have been and seems more of an after thought to just add an extra layer to things. In truth it is the same with the whole storyline surrounding dodgy officers and toxic chemicals as it isn't very compelling.
What this all boils down to is that "Iron Eagle IV" is kind of entertaining in an almost nostalgic way, reminding me of the kids movies I use to watch during summer holidays. That is probably not what those who enjoyed the first movie want to hear but that is how it this fourth movie comes across.
