Comeuppance Reviews It's Die Hard (1988) in a hotel! Following in the tradition of "It's Die Hard in a ______________" (you fill in the blank) movies, Crackerjack has been said to be something of a cross between Die Hard and Cliffhanger (1993), but really it's much closer to the John McClane side of things. Thomas Ian Griffith stars as the awesomely-named Jack Wild, a Chicago cop on the edge. Does this seem at all familiar yet? His concerned family believes that he is too on the edge for his own good, so his brother Mike Wild (Sali), and his wife and baby all go to the rocky mountains. Why they thought that was a good location remains unknown.While at a remote mountain hotel, a sinister plot to steal millions of dollars worth of diamonds is spearheaded by the nefarious Ivan Getz (Plummer) and his band of vaguely-European goons. Then they're going to cause an avalanche to destroy the hotel, again with no rational explanation. Will the unmitigated power of Jack Wild stop the baddies, and romance "Activities Director" K.C. (Kinski) along the way? Just you wait and see! Actually this movie is not bad at all. It's professionally made, entertaining, and is able to propel itself along on cliché-power alone. It's one of the better T.I.G movies we've seen to date. He has a great entrance and the movie suffers when he's not on screen. T.I.G. is able to win over the audience with his charm, not to mention his fighting ability, and he carries the movie well. You genuinely like Jack Wild. When the classic 90's baddies are holding the hotel guests hostage and shooting a lot of people and blowing things up, you root for Wild. You can't ask for more in a movie like this. You'd be surprised how often filmmakers fail at this formula. Luckily, that did not happen here.As far as Christopher Plummer is concerned, the only question you'll have is, "why?" How did they get an actor of his caliber to appear in this type of product? I guess it wouldn't be the first time, as he was in an AIP movie (Firehead, 1991), so this is gold in comparison. An actor's gotta eat, and they probably told him this was his chance to outdo Alan Rickman, so he went for it. His acting style here seems to be "whisper a lot to seem intense and wear various types of eyewear". We also felt Robert Davi could have played this role.Oddly, there are not one, but two Crackerjack sequels, with different actors as different characters in the lead role. Was this movie that successful? We had no idea it made enough money to spawn sequels. But such is life, and at least this first (and only "true" Crackerjack movie for the fans...just kidding) has plenty of entertaining violence to pass the time.Shot in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, Crackerjack might be one of the more watchable Die Hard knockoffs around.for more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com

John M Upton Maverick cop with family problems and fondness of using his gun – Check! Isolated location with valuable object which is begging to be stolen – Check! Tasty looking love interest – Check! Assorted band of dumb cardboard cannon fodder villains with dodgy European accents – Check! German sounding bad guy played by an English actor with a piece of corny dialogue for every occasion – Check! Corny one liners – Check!Deary me, does this film take the wee wee or what? The clichés come as thick and fast as an avalanche and most of the cast just stand around gawping at just how bad the script is!In a blatantly cheap and cheerful straight to video rip off of Die Hard only set on a mountain (complete with some nicked lines from the aforesaid) we have all the usual action move cliché's ticked off progressively as we go along with some good old fashioned violence and nudity thrown in to wake up anyone in the audience who may just have nodded off.Jack Wild is the cop in full on John McClane mode here who even manages time for the ye ancient bad guy with gun has used all his bullets gag at one point.In amidst this mess, there are a few well known recognisable faces who I can only assume needed the cash and/or were simply playing it for laughs right from the pointless opening scene that had nothing to do with the plot whatsoever through to the final implausible conclusion complete with ropey dialogue and even ropier effects.Looking up this three quid from the Supermarket bargain bin effort on IMDb I am astonished to find that this dud spawned not one but two sequels, I have got to find these gems on DVD! It looks like the first sequel is a rip off of Under Siege 2 and the second sequel, well goodness knows! One thing that is always a bad sign is that the actor playing Jack changes with each film and even the character's name seems to change for the third instalment.Still, blind purchases of cheap DVD's just would not be the same if studios didn't keep trotting out material of this awful quality!!

alexander.stroeck If you like the gifted Kinski and the excellent Christopher Plummer you can give this piece a (one) chance. Bang! Plummer deserves all the praise for his portrait of a real baddie with a clever and cynical mind. But do not expect to much brain of this B-picture.

Tics It's Die Hard meets Cliffhanger when a ski resort is besieged by terrorists and it's up to one cop, Jack (Crackerjack) to stop this.A B-action movie that borrows from other films and is quite good with pretty good action, a ridiculous plot (as always in these movies) and three fine stars. Thomas Ian Griffith as the cop and Nastasja Kinski and Christopher Plummer as terrorists. If you don't like stupid B-action movies this is not for you.