Jackson Bolt stars Robert D. Parnham as the eponymous hero, a former kickboxing champ turned cop on the edge who's been framed for murder and now needs to clear his name. Meanwhile, he has demons he's dealing with, like his failed marriage, and these demons have created a mental block that gives him migraines whenever he tries to use his gun--a major issue for a cop on the edge in an action film. Enter his psychiatrist, played by DTVC Hall of Famer Fred Williamson. He needs to get Jackson straightened out quickly, as whoever has had him framed is trying to kill him too. As all this is happening, there's a subplot with James E. Meyer as a pimp turned debt collector who has press-ganged one of his ladies of the night into helping him. Will Jackson manage to make it all happen and take down the baddies?
Mike was definitely nicer to this movie than I was going to be, but maybe he has the right approach, because at the very least, this film was made in earnest, which I think is very important. But where does that leave us, saying "at least you tried"? For me one big issue was how story elements seemed to be slapped on, like Jackson getting migraines when he tries to shoot someone, or the secondary thread about a pimp who decides to be a debt collector. Parnham is a former kickboxing champ in real life, but the fights don't really bear that out, which makes them look clunky compared to their modern counterparts. That's a problem when it's supposed to be a key component of the film. I liked the Williamson factor, but he's not in it enough to prop it up the way we know he can. I guess that does leave us with "at least they tried," because, with all its flaws, it does have a labor of love feel with all parties involved, and maybe that's the selling point: if you're looking to support indie, and can overlook the flaws, this may be a good one for you; but if you're looking for your classic hard boiled Williamson action, this is probably a pass for you.
Fred Williamson was 80 when this came out. What does that make 80, the new 60? At 80, he still has the ability to carry his scenes as if he were doing this in the late 80s instead of the late 10s. But I think that's the issue, he can't be expected to carry a movie anymore; and I also think he wanted to let Parnham shine here, to usher in a new generation of black action leads. So then we end up with a situation where his scenes are the best scenes in the film, leaving us wanting more, but that's not what he's really here in this film for. I honestly don't know how you mitigate that.
This brings up a good point too when comparing Parnham and Williamson when it comes to action leads. Parnham was a former kickboxer, but Williamson, who picked up martial arts later in life and never competed professionally (at least not at Parnham's level if he did), looked better onscreen when he did a fight scene back in his prime, and then had tons of charisma to boot. These are all things that can be worked on, but the problem is, in a smaller budget production, like everything else, any flaws Parnham has as he's trying to gain his footing become that much more apparent. A fight scene that isn't as well choreographed is going to come off more harshly on a Parnham than it does on a Williamson--even an 80-year-old Williamson. By the same token, that's not Parnham's fault, he goes for it in this for sure--and can we blame him if he's not at the level of a legend like Williamson?
When we think about which genres of film are the toughest to do on a small budget, we usually think of action because of the effects, and we also think that now with CGI a filmmaker can do more of those effects on the cheap--like there's no need to blow up a car if I can show a car and use CGI to make it look like it exploded. The thing is though, we forget how difficult fight scenes are to do on a budget. It's not just about having the talent onscreen, or the right choreographer, but the actual editing and film work needed is also expensive. The result is, when it's done on the cheap, we saw all the flaws in it, not to mention all the parts where they aren't actually hitting each other. It was ambitious that this film tried to pull that off on the budget they had, but I wonder if the better bet would have been to keep it quick and easy with the fights, or lean on more shoot-outs instead.
Finally, going back to Williamson, the date of this film, 2018, not only marks his 80th birthday, but it also marks another important milestone: 50 years in the acting world. He retired from football that same year, at only 30 years old, and went on to have an even bigger film career, which I think we don't appreciate as well as we should. For most of his first 30 years on the planet, he's putting everything he has into playing football at the highest level, only to have to turn around and carve out a new career for himself, and here he is 50 years later in this film, fully established as an acting legend, not simply a former football player who became an actor later. As we see former football players like Gronk taking a stab at this, I think it's important to realize just how much Williamson was the exception instead of the rule, and just how much of an accomplishment it was that he made this transition as successfully as he has.
And with that, let's wrap this up. As of my writing this, you can still check this out on Tubi. I think it boils down to the binary I mentioned above: if you're really looking to support indie films, I think it's worth checking this out; but if you're looking for some hard boiled Williamson action, I think you're better off going into his 80s/90s catalog.
For more information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4795624
And if you haven't yet, check out my novel, Chad in Accounting, in paperback or on Kindle!
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