LIGHTNING JACK
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (Linear 0 to 10): 3.5
Date Released: 3/11/93 Running Length: 1:38 Rated: PG-13 (Language, violence, mature themes)
Starring: Paul Hogan, Cuba Gooding Jr., Beverly D'Angelo Director: Simon Wincer Producers: Paul Hogan, Greg Coote, and Simon Wincer Screenplay: Paul Hogan Music: Bruce Rowland Released by Savoy Pictures
The idea of parodying the Western, while certainly not a new notion, hasn't been done in a while. LIGHTNING JACK may be a perfect example of why. BLAZING SADDLES this definitely isn't.
Riding into Junction City come the legendary Younger Gang, ready to rob the bank. Counted among the nefarious group is the Aussie gunslinger Crocodile Dundee...er, that would be Lightning Jack Kane (Paul Hogan). The robbery goes bad, with Kane as the lone survivor. At his next destination, South Fork, his attempted bank holdup turns into a comedy of errors, the most grievous of which gets Jack saddled with a hostage (Cuba Gooding Jr.) who wants to join up with him and become an outlaw.
LIGHTNING JACK is a well-meaning but completely lifeless comedy that is short on humor and long on boredom. There are numerous examples of movies without a plot or a point, but few are as dull and meandering as this one. The laughs--which are supposed to be the payoff--are occasionally amusing, but there's far too much dead air in between. Besides that, anyone having seen the theatrical trailer has seen nearly every moment worth seeing.
Scenes that have some comic potential turn out strangely sterile, like the botched bank robbery and the attempts at turning Cuba Gooding Jr.'s Ben Doyle into a dreaded outlaw. The only ongoing gag that works at all is Jack's obsession with his own image--he's insulted at the thought that the reward for him might only be $200, then mollified somewhat when it turns out to be higher. This is not, however, the stuff that great humor is made of, and that comes across all-too-clearly in LIGHTNING JACK.
Paul Hogan plays Jack Kane like his most famous creation, Crocodile Dundee, thrown into a time warp. While the actor is pleasant enough to watch, this film is in desperate need of something beyond "pleasant." With his name in the slots of co-producer, writer, and star, Mr. Hogan can hardly be absolved from this travesty. If he was hoping to resuscitate an image battered by a pair of awful films (DUNDEE II and ALMOST AN ANGEL), LIGHTNING JACK isn't likely to do it.
It's a little embarrassing to watch Cuba Gooding Jr. perform the pantomime-like antics of his mute character. Mr. Gooding, whose career started out at such a high level with BOYZ 'N THE HOOD, has shown up in some poor pictures of late, including JUDGMENT NIGHT and HBO's DAYBREAK. The script treats Beverly D'Angelo worse than him, however, relegating her to the role of the "token woman."
It appears that Paul Hogan had one story to tell, and once CROCODILE DUNDEE was made, the wellspring ran dry. Trying to plumb it once too often has resulted in a series of poorly-written, mostly-unfunny motion pictures that the viewing public as a whole does not deserve to be subjected to. For now, Mr. Hogan should hang up his spurs until a truly original impulse comes along.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
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