Runtime:
108 minutes
Directed
by: Hal Needham
Starring:
An incredible cast
From:
Warner Bros./Golden Harvest
While this wasn't quite how I remembered it, my opinion years ago was that this was lousy, and in 2018 I feel the same way:
I
hadn't seen this in many years; as I rewatched the first movie a few
weeks ago, eventually the obvious move was to give this another shot,
even though the first viewing did not leave me with a positive opinion
of the film. I mean, the memories were of it having an incredible cast
and the end result was something not too terribly entertaining or fun.
It'd be nice to say my opinion has changed with 2018 eyes... unfortunately, said opinion remains the same. All the talent in the world was here and yet we got an incredibly threadbare, loosely tied together story (even more so than the original Cannonball Run) where a bunch of random crap happens and the movie seemed more preoccupied with showing off celebrities in cameos rather than a cogent story or providing enough laughs for the audience.
At least this was not awful and I did occasionally laugh. Dean Martin (looking just as wasted as he did during the first film) was amusing at times, and we get a Rat Pack reunion of sorts. Jackie Chan and Richard Kiel actually worked well together as a team and I wouldn't had minded if they had done a movie starring them as the wacky mismatched buddies. Heck, Jackie and Burt join up for about 15 seconds and those two as leads in an action film could have been incredible, depending on the script and when it actually happened.
To steal a line from a popular review, this movie can be responsible for a lot of movie trivia questions due to how you have three actors who appeared in Godfather films team up as bumbling gangsters and their first scene is with Dom DeLuise as a Don Corleone parody, or some members of the The Andy Griffith Show popping up. Note that the moments that made me laugh did not include finding out that Jim Nabors spoofed his Gomer Pyle character by playing someone with the name Homer Lyle.
If only all those stars could have appeared in a movie together that was not so loose and sloppy. Even if I am not a fan, it'd be nice for the movie to come out on Blu eventually; even the version I rented from Amazon was fullscreen and the very beginning had a hilarious 1984 graphic noting how the movie was “only for the private use of pay TV subscribers.” If nothing else, the fans of this would get to hear the MENUDO song about the titular Cannonball Run in DTS 5.1 surround sound.
It'd be nice to say my opinion has changed with 2018 eyes... unfortunately, said opinion remains the same. All the talent in the world was here and yet we got an incredibly threadbare, loosely tied together story (even more so than the original Cannonball Run) where a bunch of random crap happens and the movie seemed more preoccupied with showing off celebrities in cameos rather than a cogent story or providing enough laughs for the audience.
At least this was not awful and I did occasionally laugh. Dean Martin (looking just as wasted as he did during the first film) was amusing at times, and we get a Rat Pack reunion of sorts. Jackie Chan and Richard Kiel actually worked well together as a team and I wouldn't had minded if they had done a movie starring them as the wacky mismatched buddies. Heck, Jackie and Burt join up for about 15 seconds and those two as leads in an action film could have been incredible, depending on the script and when it actually happened.
To steal a line from a popular review, this movie can be responsible for a lot of movie trivia questions due to how you have three actors who appeared in Godfather films team up as bumbling gangsters and their first scene is with Dom DeLuise as a Don Corleone parody, or some members of the The Andy Griffith Show popping up. Note that the moments that made me laugh did not include finding out that Jim Nabors spoofed his Gomer Pyle character by playing someone with the name Homer Lyle.
If only all those stars could have appeared in a movie together that was not so loose and sloppy. Even if I am not a fan, it'd be nice for the movie to come out on Blu eventually; even the version I rented from Amazon was fullscreen and the very beginning had a hilarious 1984 graphic noting how the movie was “only for the private use of pay TV subscribers.” If nothing else, the fans of this would get to hear the MENUDO song about the titular Cannonball Run in DTS 5.1 surround sound.
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