Directed by Rick Jacobson
Staring Michael Dudikoff, Marcus Aurelius, Catherine Bell and Michael Cavanaugh
Rated M
Staring 2/6

When the top-secret prototype of the Nova Stealth fighter has been stolen, the Pentagon launches big alarm; the plane should not come into hostile hands. There is only one man who can get back the plane; the test pilot Vince Conners. He and his partner Jannick pursues the Nova to Libya but when they land at the site their mission fails. Jannick has been captured and Conners is on the run. Without friends or allies, they have to try to find the Nova without falling into the hands of the military regime and before Libyian terrorists uses the plane to bomb a meeting of the United Nations in Paris, with nerve gas.

On the face of it Black Thunder is not an entirely pathetic movie, granted some of the performances could be considered hammy at best but the plot though clichéd is not entirely groan worthy. Though I suppose witnessing an award winning performance in a low budget in a movie like Black Thunder is kinda like finding a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. It should be noted that Black Thunder was remade practically shot for shot as Flight of the Furry in 2007 staring Steven Segal.
Black Thunder is best suited to be one of the middle movies of a long movie marathon (in a movie marathon four or movies long).
The only other problem with Black Thunder is that it is very much a “Propaganda Movie” considering that the Michael Dudikoff’s character Vince Conners made no effort to hide the American flag on his flight suit while on the ground in Libya.