While it’s not the best movie within the genre, It Is still an enjoyable action film from the 1980s and is sure to satisfy fans within the genre. It may also be one of the most clichéd films in this genre. Eye of the Tiger stars Gary Busey as a recently released convict and a Vietnam Veteran, who goes back to his hometown in Florida hoping to start life afresh with his wife and newborn daughter. However, when he arrives, he realizes that the town has been taken over by a brutal biker group. After trying to save a nurse from a biker gang attempting to rape her, Busey and his family become the main target of the gang. After killing his wife and leaving his daughter in the hospital, Busey becomes furious and ready for war. He has a lot against him, with the gang already paying off the local cops. Busey and his friend J.B. decide to take down the gang and go through a series of violent tactics.
While most people who’ve watched any Action films of the 1980s will have seen this some set up a million times, this movie has the classic “fight for your rights” lecture, which makes things worse. Because of that, the protagonist being a Vietnam veteran, the antagonists being a biker gang, and the whole revenge aspects, Eye of the Tiger is without question a clichéd movie and will not offer many, if any prizes.
That said, the movie is quite enjoyable and more or less gives what devotees of the genre expect. It has some good action including the part where Buck, (Busey) is putting wire where the motorcycles of the gang are expected to ride through. It unfolds as one would expect and while it is one of the more low-key action sequences in the film, it works extremely well and makes very good use of the scene’s nighttime setting. The sequence in which Buck’s home is assaulted and his wife is killed is pretty decently done as well. Sure it has all been seen before, but it does a good job of setting up the revenge motive and making the audience accept the violence Buck uses with greater ease. On top of this, I have to admit I liked the biker gang quite a bit. These types of villains have been done before and do not strike especially nasty by the standards of their type of genre, but I did like them and I think the use of motorcycle helmets was a good idea.
It is easy to draw inspiration from Mad Max, and that is shown in the last scene of the movie which adds character to the film. Approximately, Gary Busey is just being himself throughout the movie which I have to say is quite delightful. In terms of music, the score is super, but for everything else, there is a better description, and yes, this particular movie does not lack the song “Eye of the Tiger.” The film plays the song several times.
Much as Eye of the Tiger is rated one of the more entertaining action flicks of the 1980s, it is undeniably just another low-budget entry in the genre. The movie does nothing out of the ordinary and while there are some entertaining elements, it places the film in a mediocre territory. To add to the film’s flaws, the movie cannot furbish as a promising hot mess like the Deadly Prey series. Most of these flaws seem to fit into the classic B-grade camp movie style. While I would agree that this takes mild attention to detail, it is distracting to think that this movie is claimed to take place in Florida when it is filmed directly in California. Instead, the filmmakers should have just set it in California. At the end of the day, the blatant implication that the town was in Florida could have been avoided and made the movie a lot less confusing.
Like I said, when you factor out Busey and the other leading villain Blade (William Smith) whose performance is kind of laughable, the rest of the cast seems mostly middle-of-the-road in this one. Busey and Smith are superb, and I especially found the character interactions entertaining. Still, barring those two, the acting here is, well, very much to be expected dull and unimaginative.
Still, Eye of the Tiger is no worse than an average effort and it is fantastic fun, though, yes, it is a thoroughly flawed film. Due to its action pieces and Busey’s participation in the film, it was able to deliver much higher than my expectations and provided more than a few thrills. So yes, once all the better 1980s action movies have been seen meaning New York Escape, First Blood, RoboCop, Die Hard, and even some of the second-tier films like Bronx Warriors, Predator, or Deadly Prey, yes, then and only then, everyone that wants to know more about this genre will find Eye of the Tiger delivering to almost all the expectations and doing so quite appropriately. Give it a watch!
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