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Action Jackson
Jericho "Action" Jackson is a Detroit police sergeant who was demoted from lieutenant for almost tearing the arm off of sexually violent sociopath whose father, Peter Dellaplane, is a major car manufacturer. Two years later, Jackson suspects Dellaplane of masterminding a murder spree against local officials from the auto workers union. He surmises that Dellaplane is consolidating a political power base and attempting to influence the next presidential election. Determined to stop him once and for all, Jackson enlists the help of Dellaplane's drug-addicted mistress and starts a war that can only have one winner.
Before I begin this review I have to say one thing; I FUCKING love Carl Weathers! I love him in Rocky, I love him in Predator, I love him in Happy Gilmore and I love him in Arrested Development. Honestly, I think pretty much every movie in the world could be made better by having just a little Carl Weathers in it. However, when I think of Carl Weathers, I always think of a supporting actor, a guy who plays second-fiddle to the top star, be it Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger or even Adam Sandler. So with that in mind, it was with great hesitation that I FINALLY sat down and watched Action Jackson, a film made in 1987 as a vehicle for Weathers. Worried that he wasn’t going to cut it as a leading man, I’d long avoided the film for fear that it would ruin my perception of the guy. Well holy shit, I couldn’t have been any more wrong if I’d bet on Apollo Creed to beat Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. Weathers isn’t just the man when he’s in support, he’s the MAN when he’s in the lead too, and while Action Jackson sure isn’t a five-star classic it’s a hell of a lot of fun and a great bit of 80’s entertainment.
"Looks like his Jackson is about to get a little Action."
Written by Robert Reneau (who would go on to write the Stallone/Snipes classic Demolition Man) and directed by Craig R. Baxley (previously did several episodes of The A-Team), the film is pretty much the perfect vehicle for a guy like Weathers. Sure it’s loaded with your standard cliché villain, in this case an evil white dude who corrupts a black woman while also banging a hot white woman, and it’s got Weathers as the conquering hero who just has to take this dude out. I love shit like that since it’s SO 1980’s and just as awesome as it is corny. Anyhow, the screenplay by Reneau is pretty basic, with each scene designed to set up the next little action sequence, but it’s coherent and the motivations of the characters are all logical. Meanwhile, considering he’d only done television and worked on the second-unit of Predator, Baxley’s direction is pretty polished. Again, he’s really just pacing the film to get to each action sequence, but along the way he shows a good mastery of technique while also putting in more than enough explosions to distract you when things start to slow down too much.
"You could say I've got a Basic Instinct for being a Coach."
As far as the cast goes, it’s obviously Weathers film, but since you already know how much I love him AND how much he rules there’s no reason to continue singing his praises. Besides, we’ll have more time to do that in a minute because he’s just too BOSS to forget about for very long. Besides Weathers, this movie features a loaded cast of 80’s stars and indeed even the opening credits are entertaining just to see their names go by. First up is Craig T. Nelson playing the bad guy and doing a hell of a job with the role. You can tell Nelson was really into the part because he hams it up perfectly and really does come across as a super sleaze. Meanwhile, Thomas F. Wilson (Back to the Future’s Biff) plays a cop who is on the receiving end of a bunch of masturbation jokes while Robert Davi (The Goonie’s Jake Fratelli, Licence to Kill’s Franz Sanchez, Die Hard’s Agent Johnson…no, the other one) plays an associate of Weathers who has gone totally off the deep end. Not content with just having his second-unit director from Predator on board, Weathers reunites with Bill “Mac” Duke, who plays his boss and has a couple of great scenes. Finally, for the eye candy we’ve got Sharon Stone (who was just about to break out into superstardom) and Vanity (who sadly never did). Her chemistry with Weathers is excellent and the two share several fun moments before the film is over. Suffice to say, this movie is loaded with tons of people you’ll recognize from other 80’s films and that’s always welcome to a nostalgia freak like myself.
"What's he looking at butthead?"
You'd think a movie with the word "action" in the title would have a lot of it and in this case you'd be right. Hell, in the first scene a group of "ninjas" take out a secretary by shoving her through a big glass window and then kill her boss by shooting him with a grenade launcher! We barely have enough time to see his flaming body fall to the ground before a rocking Pointer Sisters song tells us that we're in for one hell of a good time. Not one to slouch off in the action department, Weathers goes balls to the wall to prove how tough he is. At one point he chases down a cab that tried to run him over (on foot of course), jumps on top of the roof and manages to royally fuck the driver's shit up all without a gun! That's right, he doesn't need a gun, he's such a man that the mere sight of him causes hapless losers to faint where they stand. Another hilarious moment comes when Vanity convinces some guys that Weathers is actually an escaped mental patient who believes he’s on a holy mission. Weathers goes with it and rants and raves like a psychotic street preacher while gospel music plays in the background. Honestly, I had a religious experience during this scene because it was THAT FUCKING AWESOME!! There’s so much amazing stuff here but I honestly don’t want to keep talking about it because you just need to see it for yourself. That’s something you should definitely do ASAP, because Action Jackson is one hell of an ass-kicking adventure and when they made it they seriously broke the mold.
"Whoa, looks like this guy's a little hot under the collar."
In case you couldn’t tell by now, I LOVED Action Jackson. In fact I loved it so much that I’m watching it again right now even though I just watched it this morning! The only thing that bugs me is that we never got a sequel, which is shocking considering the movie actually made almost triple its budget back at the box office alone. Fortunately we’ve got this one to watch over and over again and that my friends, is amazing and awesome rolled up into a ball of RULE! As an actual movie goes, it’s about a 5, but for entertainment it’s an easy 10 and so I’ll split that and give it a solid 7/10 and get back to watching it!
