Action Jackson

Action Jackson (1988)

Runtime: 96 minutes

Directed by: Craig R. Baxley

Starring: Carl Weathers, Craig T. Nelson, Vanity, Sharon Stone

From: Lorimar

Well, I spent some time thinking this weekend which movie I would check out and see. I decided ultimately to go with a slice of 80’s cheese I’ve seen before but decided to watch again. Sure, it’s technically not a smart or great movie; that said, it’s still a lot of fun to watch.

The story of this movie is rather simple. Jericho “Action” Jackson (Weathers) works for the Detroit Police Department. He had a run-in in the past with the son of Peter Dellaplane (Nelson), the head of Dellaplane Autos in the city. It turns out that Peter is not a nice guy; it’s certainly not the Nelson you’re used to seeing in Coach or Poltergeist. He has a mistress (Vanity) to go along with his wife (Stone). It turns out that he is behind the murder of various people involved with the auto worker’s union, for reasons that you find out while watching the movie. Jackson finds out, and the war is on.

It’s definitely a product of its time. Vanity sings, and in a move that should shock no one who has seen any of her other films during the decade, she shows off her bare breasts (so does Stone!) The music is synthesizer-heavy and yet one of the composers is the first signer of the Declaration of Independence, Herbie Hancock. There’s a lot of goofy (yet entertaining) one-liners and jokes you hear throughout, similar to Tango & Cash, for example. You don’t want to look at the plot too closely in terms of logic; you get to see some goofy and implausible things. Would you believe Weathers could leap and backflip over a moving car and land on his feet behind it? That’s not even the most laughable thing involving an automobile you get to see. Still, at least the movie is a good time; there are worse ways to spend 96 minutes, I say, where you can laugh at the goofy/funny stuff while enjoying all the shootings and fighting, and where you can watch Craig T. Nelson use martial arts!

The movie has many familiar faces if you’ve seen enough 80’s action flicks; even if you don’t recognize the names, you’ll recognize the faces. In small roles there are the likes of Al Leong, Robert Davi, Bill Duke, Ed O’Ross, De’voreaux White (Argyle in Die Hard), Branscombe Richmond, and Sonny Landham. It’s nice seeing all of them together. You even get Thomas F. Wilson-Biff Tannen himself-in a bit part.

What I like about the movie the most is that it’s not dour or mean-spirited or nasty or anything of that sort, which seems to be a too-common theme in the action genre in recent years. Like I said, it’s just an entertaining and fun mindless movie to watch on a rainy afternoon or what have you.

I’ll be back on Wednesday night with a new review.