Action Jackson is an overlooked action classic that lives up to its name. As awesome as 80's cinema was, black action heroes were scarce. The blaxsploitation era has gone and stars like Wesley Snipes and Denzel Washington have not made their mark yet. To fill that void, enter Carl Weathers to deliver a tough, cool performance as Detroit supercop Jericho "Action" Jackson. Opposite Carl Weathers is Craig T Nelson as auto tycoon Peter Dellaplane, who brings his A game here as an excellent villain. This is the directorial debut of Craig R Baxley who worked as action/stunt director with Weathers on Predator. Baxley delivers action galore and keeps it fast and loose with lots of one liners, fights and explosions. Also from Predator, Bill Duke appears as a police superior and Sonny Landham appears as a dope dealer. For good looks we have an early performance from Sharon Stone and also singer Vanity. Action Jackson has all the action that fans of the genre need and Carl Weathers did a hell of a job as the lead in this film.

Carl Weathers is a tough cop named "Action Jackson" who takes on a crooked Detroit auto executive with a dishonest scheme going. As a fan of action movies and football I love Carl Weathers and never understood why Hollywood never did more with him as an actor. His movies are pretty darn awesome, besides this one he co-stared with Arnold in "Predator" and with Harrison Ford playing the role of the African American Sergeant in the WW2 adventure "Force 10 from Naverone" all great movies in their own right because of Carl Weathers. This is not a great movie, but it does have Sharon Stone in a backless dress.The script is too stupid, and the directing too pedestrian to result in anything but B-movie filler. It isn't quite bad enough to be fun, though it has some moments that are just stupefying in their ridiculousness, and not good enough to be good. The violence in this movie is brutal and efficiently directed, the action sequences spectacular. If you can appreciate movies from the 80's, this one will be a welcome addition to any collector's library.Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

Action Jackson (1988) is a throwback to the days of Blackpolitation. All the nasty characters are white power hungry bigots. Carl Weathers (of Rocky fame), plays the title character. He has been demoted from Lieutenant to Sergeant, due to pulling the arm off of someone "he had a spare" says Jackson, to his boss. Jackson sets involved in trying to stop a big wig crime lord setting up one of his people to run for high office and control government. On the way there is lots of fist fighting and violent action. Best thing about this is the stunning Vanity, playing a junkie singer, and she is not really know for her acting prowess. I just found the story to be confusing and rather boring and I found it hard to engage with the film. Most people seem to like it so I am in the minority.

Dumb but fun '80s actioner with a rare starring role for Carl Weathers. He plays the title character, a tough Detroit cop obsessed with bringing down wealthy psychopath Craig T. Nelson. Weathers is great, with lots of cool one-liners and macho swagger to spare. For his part, villainous Nelson is appropriately evil and gets to bed young Sharon Stone and Vanity, officially making him the king of all studs. Speaking of Sharon and Vanity, they both appear naked in this, which is reason enough to recommend it. Also features support from Bill Duke, Robert Davi, and Biff from the Back to the Future movies. If you're a fan of '80s action movies, cheese and all, you'll surely like this one.