Action Point Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		3.5

Action Point Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman August 31, 2018

A dangerous, sloppily assembled amusement park, held together with chicken wire and duct tape, with a deadly hazard at every bend, is the perfect playground for a performer like Jonny Knoxville, the no-fear stuntman who thrives on danger and general jackass-ery. In the film, Knoxville portrays both himself and his older self, for fans of the performer perhaps the best of both worlds and in a world that affords him, and several of his friends, the opportunity to stare down danger in the name of a painful laugh. But the film doesn't hit any truly hard stunts, which is its downfall. Some play with dangerous animals, a catapult, some rickety water slides, and a few other bits and set pieces generate some humor but don't push boundaries, probably for the best for the daredevil cast's well being. The film instead attempts to build a (trite) story around the shenanigans, which results in adequate, but not particularly compelling, companion drama.

In a flashback, D.C. Carver (Johnny Knoxville) shares the story of his infamous amusement park, Action Point, with his granddaughter. He put the park together from scratch and hired kids, dubbed “The Sh*tbirds,” to help him oversee operations, which amounts to little more than a number crunching nerd and a bunch of people who are having as much fun as the patrons and whose jobs amount to little more than trying and make sure nobody is actually killed. He took out a $100,000 loan on the land and park, but the numbers aren’t looking good. Investors, including the slimy Mr. Knoblach (Dan Bakkedahl), come around looking to seize the land for a bargain and hone in on the park’s dangerous, and in some cases illegal, attractions as leverage. In an effort to bolster attendance, Carver decides to “take the brakes off” -- literally and figuratively -- and offer more pure and dangerous fun with no rules. And to make sure people know about it, he and his employees “protest” against their own park while actually extolling its virtues. Matters are complicated when Carver’s daughter Boogie (Eleanor Worthington Cox) arrives on the scene with news that her mother and her mother's long-time boyfriend are looking to seize custody of her, entirely.

The theme park that's at the center of Action Point drew inspiration from a real place called "Action Park" which was a notoriously dangerous, but widely attended, New Jersey theme park that was a very popular destination back in the day (here's a decent primer article on the place). The film's primary problem is that draw away from pure, dangerous insanity and the work to build a pair of surrounding stories. It's not that the stories are poorly integrated, they're just not at all imaginative. The film attempts to humanize Knoxville's character, a man who is unafraid of physical bumps and bruises but who reveals his vulnerability when his role as a father is challenged, when he melts around his daughter whom he obviously loves very much. It's a decent juxtaposing dynamic but ultimately does little to build the movie in any meaningful way within the larger context of its stunts. The same goes for the story of the park in financial and legal crisis. It allows for some inventive work to keep things going but it's ultimately, really, neither here-nor-there and the story of a park (or summer camp, usually) in danger of being closed down, bulldozed, sold off, whatever is one of the most generic dramatic crutches in movies.

Action Point Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Action Point was reportedly photographed at 8K and finished at 4K. It's a shame the movie didn't do well enough to warrant a 4K release with those specs, but the 1080p Blu-ray is certainly more than adequate. As mentioned in the Blu-ray's supplemental content, the movie was made to capture a certain aesthetic, attempting to replicate a slightly desaturated 1970s/1980s appearance, which was the heyday for Action Park, that real New Jersey death trap that was the inspiration for this film. The image is razor-sharp, very clean and precise in the modern day scenes and a little more texturally gritty, "grainy" in the past. Both ends of the spectrum impress, with he bulk of the movie occurring at the park in Carver's retrospective story. Here, textural qualities are always top-end, where facial and clothing textures excel but the real joy comes in gazing around the park and soaking in all of the dusty, weedy terrain and the shoddy attractions and locations that reveal all of the inherent wear and tear with enjoyable definition down to the finest little details. Colors dazzle in the present and are still abundant and fruitful in the past, just with a more run-down, slightly desaturated and very mildly warm appearance. Skin tones and black levels hold serve and the image struggles with no discernible source or encode flaws. Action Point is a looker on Blu-ray.

Action Point Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Action Point's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack delivers a fairly routine listen. Music often plays with little verve and mostly wide front-end spacing but does add intensity on a few occasions, such as a Pop beat in chapter seven that it expands with some surround depth and low end support, but that moment is short-lived. Various crashes, the result of dangerous stunts -- Carver flying through the broad side of a barn, for instance -- play with good, but hardly significant, depth or sonic focal attraction. Light background din featuring park-goers chatting and milling about is pleasantly filling in various scenes. It's in the general park atmosphere where the 7.1 channel configuration truly helps in expanding the sonic scope of any given scene and drawing the listener into the park's audible life. Dialogue dominates the film and its presentation is without notable flaw.

Action Point Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Action Point contains several featurettes, deleted and extended scenes, and a blooper reel. An iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase. The release ships with a non-embossed slipcover.

• Benny and the Sh*tbirds (1080p, 7:22): A brief exploration of the movie's primary cast and characters. It looks at cast camaraderie, filming in South Africa, and more.
• Anarchy in the Amusement Park (1080p, 4:12): A brief look at the dangerous amusement park depicted in the film: the basis on New Jersey's Action Park, building the park from scratch in South Africa, rides, park rules, and capturing a 70s color and texture.
• Old School, Bone Crunching Stunts (1080p, 5:04): A closer look at the film's raw, insane, painful stunts that are performed by the actors, not stunt doubles.
• Drinking Beer with Grizzly Bears (1080p, 4:37): This supplement briefly explores the cast's work with the wildlife that appears in the film.
• Deleted and Extended Scenes (1080p, 12:13 total runtime): Included are Billboard Fun; Leave it to Me; Animal Hunt; Porch Talk; Mousey Brown; That's a Mixed Message, Pete; Boogie Is Upset; Rescuing Boogie; and To Action Point!.
• Bloopers (1080p, 2:00).

Action Point Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Action Point doesn't deliver the wall-to-wall insanity of pleasure and pain as most of Koxville's earlier works. It's a more mature film, attempting to add narrative structure to the stunts. It works to a degree, allowing for some natural progressions within the park rather than just movement from station to station, from one gag to the next. The park itself, spartan and crude as it may be, is the main attraction, and the cast seems to have fun taking risks when engaging with its obviously unsafe play conditions. It's a watchable movie but replay value seems less than some of Knoxville's more popular films, if only because it's not as rapid-fire as others. Paramount's Blu-ray delivers top-rate video, technically solid if not inherently unspectacular 7.1 lossless audio, and a handful of extras. Worth a look.