Black Thunder (1998/II)

Director:

Rick Jacobson

Writer:

William C. Martell (writer)

Genre:

Action | Drama

Tagline:

The World's Most Powerful Jet Fighter Is In Enemy Hands. Only One Man Can Steal It Back.

Plot:

When the top secret prototype of the Nova Stealth fighter has been stolen, the Pentagon launches big...

Plot Keywords:

Independent Film

Cast

Marcus Aurelius	...	Hinkle
Catherine Bell	...	Lisa
Michael Cavanaugh	...	Barnes
Michael Dudikoff	...	Vince
Frederic Forrest	...	The Admiral
John Furey	...	Moore
Landon Hall	...	Eileen
Gary Hudson	...	Jannick
John Lafayette	...	Demuth
Robert Madrid	...	Stone
Robert Miranda	...	Rojar
Richard Norton	...	Rather
Dean Scofield	...	Captain Jones
Sonny Surowiec	...	Alias
Marc Vahanian	...	Radio Operator
Nancy Valen	...	Mela
John Patrick White	...	Winston

MPAA:

Rated R for violence and sexuality.

Runtime:

Germany:84 min (cut version) | Germany:89 min | USA:85 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Germany:16 (cut) | Germany:18 | USA:R | Philippines:R-18 | Iceland:16

Company:

Royal Oaks Entertainment Inc.

Trivia:

Shots of the SR-71 taking off are from Michael Dudikoff's Strategic Command (1997), and the scenes on board the aircraft carrier are from Dudikoff's Crash Dive.

Goofs:

Factual errors: When "Blue One" gets into trouble on his way back from the test, he calls in "Flame out! We just lost both our engines". We've previously established that the test aircraft were F16s, so the "we" in this case would be just him, as the F16 is single-seat, plus, it has just the one engine.

Movie Connections:

Remade as Flight of Fury (2007) (V)

one of my favorite Dudikoff flicks

BLACK THUNDER isn't really a good movie, but it's definitely fun and is one of my favorite Dudikoff movies. Several of his movies have had interesting concepts, this one included: a prototype fighter jet with a stealth mode that hides it not just from radar, but from the human eye as well, rendering the plane completely invisible. When karate expert Richard Norton steals it, Michael Dudikoff is recruited to steal it back. Flying into enemy territory with an SR-71 and comedic sidekick Gary Hudson, Dudikoff sets out to recover the stolen aircraft, finding help from a local villager, BAYWATCH beauty Nancy Valen. (Sadly, that's a body double for Valen during the nude scene.) One of my favorite scenes is towards the end, when Dudikoff takes on a whole airfield full of enemy soldiers with a machine gun and a couple grenades. The climactic dogfight between Dudikoff and Norton has some cheapo effects (especially of that missile flying around), but it's all tongue-in-cheek fluff that can turn a rainy Saturday afternoon into something fun.