Action Jackson (1988)

Always a likable supporting player in films such as 'Predator', 'Death Hunt' and 'Rocky', this film was an attempt to turn Carl Weathers into a leading action star and he delivers well here, but it is no surprise to discover that the film failed to propel his career. In addition to Weathers, the supporting cast is bursting with talent from the likes of Robert Davi, Thomas F. Wilson and Sharon Stone, but the plot is very second rate and always comes second to over-the-top stunts such as Weathers somersaulting over the top of a speeding car (!). Craig T. Nelson feels a tad miscast as the chief antagonist too, never all that charismatic, villainous or foreboding, though the film's biggest drawback is its fusion of comedy within the action plot. At the best of times, the film is laugh-out-loud funny with a particularly memorable scene in which a drunken Vanity keeps making quips with sexual innuendo as she takes a nighttime drive with Weathers, not to mention a petty thief who amusingly keeps fainting in the opening few minutes, but the comedy side of the film too often takes a back-seat to the rather formulaic weeding out corruption angle with Nelson. Weathers does get some great one-liners though and there is a very neat scene transition between Weathers commenting a barbecue, blowing a bad guy away and a barbecue firing up in the very next scene. More cleverness like this would have helped the film along. 'Action Jackson' is, however, highly watchable as it is as long as one does not think too much about the unrealistic stunts and by-the-numbers plot.

Carl Weathers is a tough cop named "Action Jackson" who takes on a crooked Detroit auto executive with a dishonest scheme going. As a fan of action movies and football I love Carl Weathers and never understood why Hollywood never did more with him as an actor. His movies are pretty darn awesome, besides this one he co-stared with Arnold in "Predator" and with Harrison Ford playing the role of the African American Sergeant in the WW2 adventure "Force 10 from Naverone" all great movies in their own right because of Carl Weathers. This is not a great movie, but it does have Sharon Stone in a backless dress.The script is too stupid, and the directing too pedestrian to result in anything but B-movie filler. It isn't quite bad enough to be fun, though it has some moments that are just stupefying in their ridiculousness, and not good enough to be good. The violence in this movie is brutal and efficiently directed, the action sequences spectacular. If you can appreciate movies from the 80's, this one will be a welcome addition to any collector's library.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

I love cheesy action movies. Not just the modern stuff like Expendables but some of the old ones modern audiences don't quite know much about. Stuff like Eraser, Cobra, Death Wish, and so on. The parts of the genre that were fantastic in the thrill of their heydey but haven't quite had a lasting impact with those youngins' like me today.Action Jackson is a terrible action movie.It's a real shame because it had a lot going for it. Good actors who can turn in solid performances, some star power on the heels of Rocky, and what seems to be a pretty decent budget. I've thought quite a bit about the points I can make on how they use a lot of telling not showing on building up the hero, the ungodly amount of exposition, and so on. But really... it can be summed up with one statement.In the movie Action Jackson... Action Jackson doesn't have a single action scene until 38 minutes until the movie.That's like an entire episode of "Sons of Anarchy." And the action scene isn't even good or built up to. It sort of comes out of nowhere and ends unceremoniously.I was hoping this movie would be a good old fashion action cheese fest. But it soooooo sloooooow. Maybe the movie got better after that. I couldn't tell ya, I fell asleep.

It's at first hard to tell if "Action Jackson" is oblivious to its own ridiculousness or playing up to it, but when Carl Weathers — the titular Jackson — chases a speeding cab on foot and not only catches up with it but actually runs alongside it, I think it's safe to say the filmmakers are well aware of the movie's stupidity. Sure, the plot is routine, the motivations laughable, the one-liners groan inducing, but you get plenty of fist fights, gun fights, car chases, explosions, assassins with near-supernatural abilities (until they meet "Action," of course), and flaming bodies falling from a office towers. Plus: boobies! And d--k jokes. Lots and lots of those. A few highlights: After a cop boasts about his sexual exploits his partner calls b.s., saying "They ought to call your place the House of Whacks." After rehearsing a song, Vanity says to her sugar daddy Peter Dellaplane (Craig T. Nelson), "I expected a standing ovation." The seated Nelson says: "You're getting one." The story is pretty standard stuff to wrap around explosions and car chases: auto union bigwigs are being bumped off in Detroit, and detective Jericho "Action" Jackson is pretty sure auto magnate Peter Dellaplane is behind it. After overhearing an incriminating phone call Dellaplane's wife (Sharon Stone in her starlet days) runs to Jackson with her concerns, a move that puts a serious crimp in her marriage. Not that the marriage is all that strong, since Dellaplane has Vanity as a mistress. Soon thereafter, Jackson is breaking down Vanity's dressing room door and enlisting her help to get Dellaplane. More explosions and shootouts soon follow, as well as burning bodies, testicles in a jar, racial stereotypes, and a poorly disguised Pontiac Fiero (standing in for Dellaplane's flagship vehicle, the Halley) charging up the stairs of Dellaplane's mansion.Weathers and Nelson appear to be having the time of their lives, though Nelson is the stronger actor. I prefer Sharon Stone as a manipulative vamp a la "Basic Instinct," but she does a good job with her role as Dellaplane's naïve trophy wife. She's expected only to look pretty, show some skin and act scared, pretty much in that order. Former Prince protégé Vanity was at what turned out to be the peak of her career when she made "Action Jackson," and while she made favorable impressions in the thriller "52 Pick-Up" and the martial arts parody/comedy "The Last Dragon," she's only so-so as the heroin-addicted singer Sydney Ash. She acquits herself well in the few scenes requiring her to be sexy (more boobies!) or tough, and she actually does some of her better singing here, but otherwise her performance is fairly weak. Not helping is a script that tries to force a romance between her and Weathers when there's just no spark between them. Also of note: I've never done heroin, but from what I've read the withdrawal symptoms are pretty excruciating, yet Vanity's character seems to kick the habit in a few hours after suffering no more than a really persistent headache.Bad as it is, "Action Jackson" ends up being pretty entertaining, only despite its self awareness, not because of it. The people behind "Action Jackson" may be smart enough to know how dumb their movie is, but don't realize that just because they're laughing at their own expense doesn't mean they aren't the butt of the joke.