Action Jackson

Remember Shaft? Or Superfly? O.k., not that well. But we do remember the songs by Isaac Hayes and Curtis Mayfield, right? Action Jackson doesn't even have memorable music, despite the fact that Herbie Hancock (no slouch, when it comes to hot jazz) composed some, and Prince protégé Vanity performs a couple of numbers. The basic plot: Peter Dellaplane (Craig T. Nelson), auto industry maven, begins knocking off United Auto Worker members for reasons which are never quite crystal clear (the reasons apparently have everything to do with POWER, and almost nothing to do with common sense). When Jericho (Action) Jackson (Carl Weathers) begins to interfere, Dellaplane gets smart and kills his wife--his own wife! Are you still with me? Jackson teams up with Vanity (Dellaplane's mistress) who is notable mainly for her extraordinarily bad acting, and goes after Dellaplane (who is preparing to knock off yet another important personage, for reasons which are never qui...right). The two principals meet in a showdown, lifted wholecloth from the producer Joel Silver's last picture Lethal Weapon, and kung-fu each other silly. Lots of blood, cars, costumes, cars, dirty jokes, and cars were used for this one. But they sure saved on brains. Not recommended.