Iron Eagle 3 - Aces (1992)

aka Aces: Iron Eagle III

How bad is it? It's mediocre.
Should you see it? Probably not.

I'm surprised that this film has the bad reputation it does. The first two Iron Eagle films were poor, but this one has nothing to do with them except airplanes and Lou Gosset Jr. and its plot is the tried-and-true Seven Samurai or The Magnificent Seven idea of a small group (always seven in number) with individual abilities uniting for a cause. Sybil Danning was in two such films: "Battle Beyond the Stars" and "The Seven Magnificent Gladiators;" this time, instead of adding a bosomy blonde amazon, they added a brunette female bodybuilder, Rachel McLish. Women's bodybuilding had a brief moment of interest when sports networks were desperate for material and it was still being decided how much of a sport and how much of a beauty contest it should be (see "Pumping Iron 2: The Women"); McLish tried to make an acting career from her momentary fame... but she can't act. And, unlike male non-actor bodybuilders, she didn't master a martial art or do fantasy roles. She's not the worst actor in the film, though, as Sonny Chiba is in the cast. The film drags a bit and it's the use of vintage airplanes that makes for any visual appeal. Horst Buckholz, from the Magnificent Seven, reprises his role decades later.