Action Jackson (1988)

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nTitle: Action Jackson (1988)

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nDirector: Craig R. Baxley

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

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nReview:

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nEvery time I watch an action movie from the 80’s it justndawns on me how different they were from what passes for an action film today.nRead my review for A Good Day To Die Hard (2013), and you’ll see what I mean, today’snaction films are so soft, so tame when compared to the action films of the 80’snwhich were so violent and so explosive! These films had no CGI explosions; I’mntalking real fire and brimstone here, so hot you can almost feel the heatncoming from that screen. Action Jackson was the return of the black leading actionnstar, something that had been sorely missing from American theater screens backnin the 80’s when the blaxploitation films of the 70’s had completely disappeared. Yeah,nthere were black action stars, Eddie Murphy in the Beverly Hills Cop and 48nHours movies and Danny Glover in the Lethal Weapon series, but in these moviesnwe always had the black guy teaming up with a white guy, this is not so with ActionnJackson. In Action Jackson we had Carl Weathers playing the leading role all bynhis lonesome, he wasn’t playing second banana to anyone, here he was the starnof the show, and boy what a show! This movie was pure black dynamite!

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nI was wondering why Action Jackson was such an explosivenfilm, then I realized it was directed by a guy called Craig R. Baxley, the directornbehind Stone Cold (1991), another explosive (and extremely fun) action flick fromnthe 90’s that had a very 80’s sensibility to it. You watch that film and younfeel it could have come straight out of the 80’s because it was all aboutnexplosions, guns and cleavage. Why were Craig R. Baxley’s films so actionnpacked? Well, the answer is simple; the guy was a stunt coordinator before he turnedninto a director. He did the stunts for many films and television shows beforenhe ended up behind the cameras to direct Action Jackson and Stone Cold, his twonmost recognized films. He also directed an obscure film that mixed sci-fi andnaction called I Come In Peace (1990). That film starred Dolph Lundgren playingna cop who’s chasing an alien that’s committing a series of murders across thencity. I’d love to get my hands on that one; I haven’t seen it in years! Pointnis, Baxley is a director who understands action because of his extensive experiencenas a stunt coordinator, and he brought that experience to Action Jackson,nmaking sure that this was one explosive, ‘balls to the wall’ action film.

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nHow action packed was this movie? Well, this is just annexample: Jackson is chasing a villain who’s driving a taxi, so Jackson startsnrunning after the taxi! The guy runs pretty fast because the taxi is going atnfull speed, and he’s keeping up with it perfectly fine! Then, Jackson leapsninto the air and falls on the cars roof, as Jackson is doing this, a trucknfilled with gas tanks just happens to pass by and it crashes with another car,na huge explosion ensues, but this is just background noise, the focus of thenscene is Jackson, holding on to his life on top of this taxi! The villainndriving the taxi starts shooting his gun through the roof of the car trying tonhit Jackson, who is still dangling from the roof of the taxi! Then, Jackson,nwhile still holding on to the roof, smashes the windshield of the car with hisnbare fists and knocks out the bad guy! I mean, this scene is actually morenaction packed then I’m describing it, you have to see it to believe it. I mean,nthis is a movie that starts out with a body being hurled out of a window, as itnbursts into flames! But basically, this movie is all about exaggerated 80’snstyle action; the kind that feels excessive but is also excessively fun.

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nAction Jackson is not what I’d call an original film, innfact, its plot is quite formulaic, this is the kind of action film that usesnits plot as an excuse for the crazy action antics, and that’s just fine by menreally. With this kind of film, exposition is just something that happens tonget me to the next big action number.  Thenplot is all about a car manufacturer played by the one and only Craig T.nNelson, who starts killing off members of the workers union so he can gainnpolitical power. It’s up to Jackson to stop him. Jackson plays the hard toncontrol cop who gets just a little too crazy with the villains. In fact, lastnmission he was involved in he almost ripped the arm off a sexual predator! Whennhe introduces himself, he tells people that some people like to call him ‘Action’nas in Action Jackson! So Action Jackson is not just a clever title for thenfilm, that’s actually his nickname in the movie!  Jackson plays that atypical cop who gets thenjob done, but destroys half of the city while doing it. You know the type, he’snthe kind of cop who gets the police chief all angry and worked up, screaming “Jaaaacksoooooon!”nWhich is really a cliché of action films, the angry, overstressed police chief;nkind of like Mel Gibson and Danny Glover got their police chief all angry in thenLethal Weapon movies. At the same time, Jackson is one smooth dude with thenladies, he’s apparently had some sort of fling with the character that SharonnStone plays and he’s also having an affair with the villains mistress! In thisnmovie we have a twisted love foursome thing going on! Everybody is screwing everybodiesnwives and mistresses! 

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nSame as Stone Cold, there’s tons of nudity on this one. Allnof it coming from the two main ladies of the flick: Sharon Stone and Vanity.nVanity was all sorts of things, a singer, songwriter, model, dancer and yes,nactress. You might also remember her from a Kung Fu flick called The LastnDragon (1985). She had a singing career and even a couple of hits like the 80’sntune “Nasty Girl”. She plays the villains mistress, whom he keeps next to him by keeping her addicted to heroin! But yeah, this is that kind of a sleazy action film aimed atnguys, so of course, there’s tons of T & A. This sort of thing isnpractically unseen in today’s action films (and films in general I might add)nso it might come as a bit of a shock just how much nudity is on this one.  Sharon Stone looks extremely sexy, but she’snnot in the film as much.  

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nCraig T. Nelson plays the lead villain, normally he plays anfamily man (like in the Poltergeist movies) but here he’s this villain who wantsnpolitical power, he’s even an expert on Kung Fu if you can believe! Evernwondered what Craig T. Nelson would look like kicking some Chinese dudes assnwith Kung Fu? Look no further! Also starring in this film are a bunch of actorsnyou’ve seen in films like The Goonies (1985), Big Trouble in Little China (1986)nand Predator (1987), you know, not famous actors, but recognizable, practicallynevery bad guy or hoodlum is played by some actor you’ve probably seen in somenother movie from the 80’s.

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nThis film was produced by famous action film producer JoelnSilver, and for him and everyone involved,  Action Jackson actually made a profit, it costn7 million to make, and made 20 million, which is actually more than double itsnbudget! Unfortunately, this did not translate to sequels or a franchise. Toonbad because this was a fun action movie that was so over the top that it’s funnjust for that; it also has some great 80’s style one liners, my favorite onenhas Action Jackson about to burn some bad guy to a crisp with a flamethrower,nso he asks the guy “How do you like your ribs?” before turning him into a ballnof flame! Now that I think about it, Action Jackson is a pretty violent movie; Jacksonnresolves everything in extremely violent ways, I mean, this is a guy who has nonproblems with blowing some bad guy away. Well, let me put it this way, this isnnot the kind of movie where the main villain kills himself by falling off anbuilding. But then again, Jackson’s being attacked by dudes with freaking flamenthrowers! What’s a guy to do? Recommend it if you want a heavy dose of 80’snexplosive fun.   

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nRating: 4 out of 5

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