In what feels like a movie that could also play at Fantastic Fest or Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, the SxSW Midnighters entry NEW JACK FURY landed on my desk with a thud! And an exclamation point! This looks like a total throwback to the worn VHS tapes that I used to grow up with!
About: It’s the 80s. Dylan Gamble is a straight-edged, undercover police officer working to take down a powerful crime organization called the Styles Syndicate. However, Dylan is fired before doing so. A year passes, Gamble has a new life and a new girlfriend by the name of Tanisha. Unfortunately, she is kidnapped by the Syndicate and Gamble must save her. He reluctantly gets the help of a small time crook named Hendrix Moon & Moon’s arch-rival, a mild-mannered moonwalker named Leslie Kindall. Will Dylan find his sweet thang, Tanisha? Will he be able to also take down the Syndicate? Can Moon & Leslie go the entire length of this film without killing one another? Find out more on NEW JACK FURY!
Reaction: Though I felt this got off to a rocky start with the throwback style trying a little too hard, NEW JACK FURY really picks up and becoming a pretty funny Midnighter entry and one that I think could have a bit of a life down the road. The “investigation” and buddy-cop plot line is light as a feather and seems more of just a clothesline for a series of comedic interlude and funny performances from the ensemble cast, all the way down to a tribute to the late, great Michael Jackson. The movie plays as if someone dusted off a VHS tape recording and didn’t pause out the commercial breaks, complete with a combination of film dirt and tape damage, making it the best of both worlds when it comes to 1980s exploitation movies. It’s all very silly and it makes me want to rewatch NEW JACK CITY pretty quickly (which of course is less of a comedy and more of a serious drama, but what can I say with that title!). Though I’m not sure where this movie will go down the road — either to just some genre festivals or something straight to streaming — I still had fun with this one and curious where it ends up down the line.
This is one of the many movies playing in this year’s South By Southwest Film & TV Festival. For more information on the festival, point your browser to www.sxsw.com!