Jake Speed has its best intentions but unfortunately thanks to the lack of charisma from the main actor, and some half-baked writing, this comes across as a D-grade Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Jake Speed
(1986)
Genre(s): Adventure, Comedy
Arrow Video | PG – 105 min. – $39.99 | December 3, 2019
Date Published: 12/09/2019 | Author: The Movieman
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Arrow Video provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
THE MOVIE — 2.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: When her sister is take by a gang of white slavers, Margaret (KAREN KOPINS) knows she needs a hero with a difference to bring her home. Enter Jake Speed (WAYNE CRAWFORD), leaping from the pages of pulp thriller novels and into the real world. With Margaret and his trusty sidekick Desmond Floyd (DENNIS CHRISTOPHER), Jake arrives hot on the heels of the kidnappers in a southern African country gripped by civil war. But it soon turns out Jake got more than he bargained for when he discovers that the ringleader of the slavers is none other than his own arch-nemesis: the criminally insane Sid (JOHN HURT)…
Quick Hit Review: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Steven Spielberg’s love letter to the action hero of pulp novels and comics, was a trendsetter for sure with many attempted copycats, and one of them was Jake Speed, an adventure-comedy released in 1986, taking in a meek $1.06 million at the box office and, from what I can tell, not much of a following since. This is a movie I never heard of before this Arrow Video release and after watching… can’t really say I was impressed. This isn’t to say it doesn’t have some entertainment value as the stuntwork wasn’t half bad and the acting was at least passable, although Wayne Crawford as the titular character didn’t possess amazing charisma, both just on the screen or with Karen Kopins playing a feisty woman akin to Karen Allen in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
One of the issues, beyond a pretty weak script, was the lead actor, Wayne Crawford (who was a co-writer). Not saying he’s bad, but as the titular character, didn’t have a whole lot of charisma to him nor the certain playfulness necessary for someone like Jake Speed. In addition, Crawford and leading lady Karen Kopins also shared little on-screen chemistry, though the filmmakers seemed to be trying to have shades of the love-hate-love relationship between Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones and Karen Allen’s feisty Marion Ravenwood. In the end, it’s flawed but maybe worth checking out for any adventure hounds out there. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.0/5 |
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This release comes with a reversible cover of the original poster artwork and inside is a nice booklet with an essay. By Arrow standards, this was a lighter release, there are two interviews one with Co-Writer/Producer/Director Andrew Lane (21:01) and the other with Producer William Fay (12:00). Shame they couldn’t get Wayne Crawford for some sort of sit-down interview… |
VIDEO – 4.5/5 |
| Arrow Video releases Jake Speed onto Blu-ray where its presented with a 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio and given a new 1080p high-definition transfer which was taken from the original 35mm interpositive and scanned in 2K resolution. This was a great looking picture and some nice cleanup work was done with instances of dirt, debris, scratches, etc were removed though due to some condition issues, some wear was still present, but nothing overly distracting. |
AUDIO – 4.0/5 |
| The movie includes a DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track which was remastered using the original magnetic reels. As such, the dialogue does come through with good clarity and some okay depth during the action sequences. |
OVERALL – 3.0/5 |
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Jake Speed has its best intentions but unfortunately thanks to the lack of charisma from the main actor, and some half-baked writing, this comes across as a D-grade Raiders of the Lost Ark, however it’s still has some entertainment value for what it is. This Blu-ray from Arrow might have great transfers, the features are a bit lacking for the studio. |
Check out some more 1080p screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.