Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.5

Action Jackson Blu-ray Movie Review

He Could Have Been a Contender

Reviewed by Michael Reuben July 31, 2013

Former pro football player Carl Weathers will always be best known as Rocky Balboa's opponent, then friend and trainer, Apollo Creed, a character loosely based on Muhammad Ali. But in a different era, and with the right role, one can easily imagine that Weathers might have joined Stallone and Schwarzenegger as a major action star in big, silly vehicles where virtuous good guys mow down dozens of opponents and survive attacks that would have shattered lesser men. Weathers had the charm, he certainly had better looks, and he could match Arnold and Sly in the beefcake department. Producer Joel Silver must have thought so. After Weathers' effective supporting turn in Schwarzenegger's 1987 action/sci-fi classic Predator, Silver produced Action Jackson as a vehicle for Weathers. Written by Robert Reneau (who would later help write Demolition Man) and directed by veteran stunt coordinator and Predator's second unit director, Craig R. Baxley (Dark Angel (I Come in Peace)), Action Jackson could have launched a franchise for Weathers—if only the box office had been better and critics hadn't pronounced it a dud.

Now, I've always felt that Action Jackson was treated unfairly. Yes, the villain's plan makes no sense, his behavior virtually screams out "I'm a criminal! Come arrest me!", and his henchmen go out of their way to attract attention, even though they're supposed to be stealthy ninja-like warriors. Yes, Vanity is a wooden and unconvincing actress (she was nominated for a Razzie but lost to Liza Minnelli in Arthur 2: On the Rocks and Rent-a-Cop). And yes, the Detroit police are portrayed as unbelievably witless and gullible. But hey, it's a Joel Silver picture. Since when did anyone expect logic or credibility from Commando, 48 Hrs., the aforementioned Predator, Ricochet, The Last Boy Scout, Swordfish or any of the Die Hard or Lethal Weapon films? I don't and never will. That's not what I watch a Silver Picture for.

I watch Silver's films for explosions, wanton destruction, over-the-top action, indestructible heroes spouting silly quips and attractive heroines who sometimes do and sometimes don't escape absurdly contrived peril. Action Jackson has all that, because it's essentially a live-action cartoon in which not one event should be taken seriously (including Vanity's singing).

Sgt. Jericho "Action" Jackson (Weathers) is a former track star with a degree from Harvard Law School who chose to become a Detroit cop. (And suspension of disbelief has already been engaged right there.) Jackson used to be a lieutenant until he crossed paths with car manufacturer Peter Dellaplane (Craig T. Nelson, clearly having a blast). Dellaplane's son, Sean, ended up in prison for sex crimes, and Jackson wound up demoted and confined to desk duty under the watchful eye of Capt. Earl Armbruster (Bill Duke, one of many Predator veterans who pop up in small roles).

Now, two years later, Dellaplane is engaged in something big and illegal. As he prepares to introduce a major new sports car, the Halley, he's also eliminating top officers of the United Auto Workers union. He uses an elite squad of mercenaries known as "the Invisible Men", who, despite their name, seem to delight in killing people as visibly and noisily as possible (probably because they're working for Joel Silver; many are familiar faces from Hans Gruber's team in the first Die Hard).

Jackson doesn't so much investigate as stumble into leads through an old friend and informant, Tony (Robert Davi), and the two women in Dellaplane's life: his second wife, Patrice (Sharon Stone, in an early role), who naively thinks she married a good man, and Dellaplane's mistress, Sydney Ash (Vanity), a singer at a local club, whom Dellaplane keeps well supplied with heroin as a form of control. But since Dellaplane deals with leaks in his organization ruthlessly, Jackson endangers everyone he goes near. Soon he too is on the run from his own colleagues on the force, framed for murder and hiding out in his old neighborhood at a rundown hotel managed by a nearly unintelligible former boxer named "Kid" Sable (Chino "Fats" Williams).

After a nearly fatal false start, Kid sends Jackson to the only truly reliable source of information in the neighborhood: the corner barbershop, headquarters of the omniscient Dee (Amelia McQueen). To the driving beat of Junior Walker's "Shotgun", Dee gives Jackson the essential information he needs to zero in on Dellaplane's scheme. (As Dee might say, she is "DEE-pendable and in-DEE-spensable".) But first he has to have several more close calls and survive the de rigeur scene in which the villain lays out his eevviill plan, when it would be so much quicker, easier and safer just to kill the hero and be done with it.

In addition to Dee and Kid Sable, the film has many other supporting characters who could have been drawn by Tex Avery. Sydney has a massive bodyguard named Edd (Prince Hughes) hired by Dellaplane, who is stronger even than Jackson but highly unsuited for the job, because violence goes against his Muslim beliefs. When Edd eventually changes his mind and joins the fray on the side of righteousness, he announces his presence with a quotation from the Mr. Ed TV show (seriously). There's a dimwitted small-time perp named Albert (Stan Foster), who's been told that Jackson is a mad dog killer, and just can't manage to keep out of his way, which results in shakes, fainting spells and other terrified behavior. A pair of bantering patrolmen, Officers Lack and Kornblau (Roger Aaron Brown and Thomas F. Wilson, who played Biff in Back to the Future), roam the streets providing irrelevant commentary like some low-rent variation on Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. "Have you ever had your head forcibly rammed up your ass?" asks Lack, after they've blown a collar. "Well mark your calendar. That day's coming!"

Action Jackson Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Action Jackson was shot by Matthew F. Leonetti, whose work here couldn't be further from the glossy polish he has brought to such films as Star Trek: First Contact and The Butterfly Effect. Leonetti shot Action Jackson rough and gritty for an urban texture to match Jackson's style (and this was an era when Detroit still had some vitality as a city). The film never received a decent treatment on DVD; Warner cranked out a quickie release using a VHS-vintage master with an open-matte 1.33:1 aspect ratio. To my knowledge, this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is the first presentation of the film on home video in its original aspect ratio (or close to it; as usual, Warner has opened up this 1.85:1 film a few pixels at the top and bottom, here to 1.77:1).

Some viewers will complain of graininess, but there's nothing here that shouldn't be. Action Jackson has the natural grain and texture of a certain kind of film from this era, and it has been reproduced on Blu-ray with that grain and texture intact. Look past the film grain to the image it reproduces, and you'll see considerable detail in clothing, faces and decor. Colors are distinct and well-saturated; Jackson favors a sharp wardrobe, and his vintage auto is a bright red that makes you wonder how his police buddies could have possibly missed his presence near a crime scene. (Then again, asking for logic from a film like Action Jackson is like demanding that everything in Middle Earth conform to the laws of Newtonian physics.) There's no sign of high frequency filtering or other inappropriate digital manipulation, and since the film hasn't had a new release since the Stone Age of video, it's a reasonable inference that this is a new transfer from the best available elements. With no extras, the 96-minute film fits comfortably on a BD-25 at an average bitrate of 23.92 Mbps, which appears to be sufficient to avoid any compression artifacts.

Action Jackson Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Action Jackson's original stereo soundtrack is offered in lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0. While there isn't much in the way of surround activity, the track has good dynamic range, which provides bounce and energy to the terrific Herbie Hancock/Michael Kamen score and the wonderful selection of pop tunes included with it (notably The Pointer Sisters' rendition of "He Turned Me Out" and the aforementioned "Shotgun"). Even Vanity's two songs are tolerable, although "Undress Me" sounds like a Prince knock-off. The dialogue is clear, although it often sounds ADR'd (and almost certainly had to be), and the various explosions, gunshots and several unusual action sequences with cars are loud enough to have the requisite impact.

Action Jackson Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The disc has no extras. Neither did Warner's 1999 DVD.

Action Jackson Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Action Jackson is pure popcorn fare, and it's cheesy popcorn fare at that. One can't help but feel a certain nostalgia, however, for the vibrant Detroit shown in the title sequence, one where industry still thrived and car manufacturers still thought unions were worth battling. In more than one way, the film is an artifact of another time and another place. Recommended as a Blu-ray reproduction of the film, which may or may not be to your taste.