A disgraced cop vows to take down a crime syndicate that kidnapped his girlfriend with the help of two criminals in Lanfia Wal’s over-the-top, lo-fi, hilarious ‘80s throwback New Jack Fury.
Dylan Gamble is a straight-laced by-the-book cop on the tough streets of New Jack City (yes, the title of the 1991 Wesley Snipes crime film, absolutely on purpose). The Style Syndicate has a grip on the city, and Gamble’s attempts to take them down have lost him his job (cue grizzled Captain demanding “turn in your badge and gun!”). And now he’s lost his girlfriend when she’s kidnapped by Style thugs, forcing him to become a vigilante to take them down with the help of two criminals he’s previously booked. In an over-the-top parody of 80s action crime-thrillers, New Jack Fury is a blast from the past from writer-director Lanfia Wal.
You gotta love when everyone involved with a film tosses everything at the wall to see what sticks, and love it more when it most of it does. New Jack Fury is the sort of wild and weird film, filled with a neon-lit insane energy and earnestness, that will play well with midnight crowds as well as rowdy and game party guests.
New Jack Fury (damned if I don’t write City every single time instead of Fury) follows Gamble as he works through all the cliches of the sort of film you’d find on USA at 11 pm after some terrible Hulk Hogan flick. In fact, that’s how it’s presented: like a TV airing, adding another level of the lo-fi throwback (perhaps a taped TV airing, with tracking lines and other A/V artifacts). Andre Hall is great as Gamble, playing the straight man to the wild around him, especially be-wigged small-time gangster Hendrix Moon, and a moon-walking, Jeri-curled Michael Jackson impersonator (a Smooth Criminal, perhaps? I’ll see myself out). Paul Wheeler and Dean “Michael Trapson” Morrow, as the pair, respectively, steal the show, spouting a continual series of quotable lines and sheer fun.
It’s all perfectly cheesy, mostly taking the feeling of that sort of film with perfection. The action is replicated hilariously, the performances delightfully over the top, and Wei takes a few extra jumps for the shits and giggles. One video game-inspired sequence can bring the house down.
However, it must be noted that the majority of the film is in front of a green screen with limited sets. This can be unintentionally awkward at times, as the blocking is limited to spouting the lines in a small space. Notably, the actors are attempting to work through, but without the ability to move too much in some scenes this can be stilted. The computer-rendered backgrounds can be a little too obvious at times. But there’s enough fun around these little off-putting moments as the trio work their way through, whether verbally or physically sparring with all the sorts of expected characters: street walkers, drug addicts and sellers, crooked cops, and random thugs.
Mixed within all the action are a series of fake commercials; remember, this is presented as a late-night movie. These additions are always a favorite of mine, perhaps a little too guaranteed ot win me over if on the edge. Well done fake commercials function as very short short films, distilaltions of style; small slices of parody in a tight package.
These bring home the package, taking what already works as a solid satire and bumps up into another level of hilarity. They also help break the green-screen stylings of the main feature, allowing a release of the building awkwardness.
Reveling in the purposeful use of cliche, with a few surprises along with way, New Jack Fury is overloaded with a delicious throwback energy. Game performances delivering hilarious lines make the whole presentation a total joy, buffeted with pitch-perfect fake commercials. While the greenscreen blocking may be a little awkward at times, the overall film of New Jack Fury is a ridiculous blast.
Presented as part of the Seattle International Film Festival May 15-25 in-person; select films May 26 – June 1st online – including New Jack Fury! See www.siff.net/festival for more!