Crackerjack 3 (2000)

User Rating:

5.1/10   

Director:

Lloyd A. Simandl

Writer:

Chris Hyde (writer)

Release Date:

24 March 2003 (UK)

Genre:

Action | Adventure

Plot:

A group of retired spies once former enemies, are forced to work together in an attempt to retrieve a neutron bomb stolen by a group of new-wave...

Plot Keywords:

Third Part | Sequel | Die Hard Scenario

Cast

Bo Svenson	...	Jack Thorn
Olivier Gruner	...	Marcus Clay
Leo Rossi	...	Ricky Santeria-Ramos
Amy Weber	...	Kelly Jones
Milan Gargula	...	Benny Goldman
Robert Russell	...	Yuri Katchkov
Jan Nemejovsky	...	Kurt von Brunner
Gregory Linington	...	Griswald
Noel le Bon	...	Kelp
Max Norlin	...	Dieter
Borivoj Navrátil	...	Pierre Lapin
Phillip Lee Seger	...	Pvt. Berman
Michael Rogers	...	Sergeant
Daniela Krhutova	...	Young French Woman
Robert Porkert	...	Sergei

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for action violence, a scene of sexuality and brief language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:18 | USA:PG-13

Filming Locations:

Prague, Czech Republic

Company:

North American Releasing

Movie Connections:

Follows Crackerjack (1994)

Soundtrack:

The Fishing Song

Unfunny farce of an "action" movie that did not even seem to be trying

When I stumbled across a home video release of Crackerjack 3, I bought it for a couple of reasons. First, I thought it was a "sequel" to a 1994 movie called Crackerjack, with Thomas Ian Griffith as a cop and Christopher Plummer as a neo-Nazi, clashing at a mountain resort over a complicated plan to steal millions in mob diamonds and to cover it up. That movie had lame writing and acting, but still managed to be a fairly entertaining low-budget knockoff of movies in the Die Hard mold. Second, I bought the movie because of Bo Svenson, who I had liked years earlier in "Walking Tall."

As Crackerjack 3 played, I could barely believe my eyes. The supposed "action" movie does not even try to be serious. It is sheer farce. The "Crackerjack" name is a misleading gimmick. There is no continuity with anything from before. The music, tone, pacing, acting, and characters are all suited for a bad comedy, not a drama. Everything in the film, including the rag-tag assortment of elderly ex-spies, assembled by Svenson to combat his corrupt successor as head of a covert spy agency, seem to be played for an unfunny joke. The story is so thin, disorganized, slow-moving, aimless, and boring that the only thoughts it provokes are of the clock and the fast-forward button. The prior review gives a fuller description, with which I agree, except for its belabored, undue partiality for the actor playing the villain; he floundered as ineffectively as everybody else in the film.

I can honestly think of nothing good to say. This movie is as close to a pointless, worthless waste of time and money as any I have ever seen.