Crackerjack (1994 film)

Crackerjack (released in the Philippines as Agent of Destruction) is a 1994 direct-to-video action film directed by Michael Mazo and starring Thomas Ian Griffith, Nastassja Kinski and Christopher Plummer.

Plot
Jack Wild (Griffith) is a Chicago police officer dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder after the murder of his wife and two children during an investigation into organized crime. Nicknamed "Crackerjack" by his colleagues due to his reckless behavior, Jack is forced into a family vacation with his older brother, Michael (Sali), and sister-in-law, Annie (Bunting), at an isolated Rocky Mountains resort. Meanwhile, a kidnapped ice scientist named Oliver Green (Turner) has been forced to plant bombs in the surrounding glacier in a mysterious plot organized by the terrorist Ivan Getz (Plummer).

Arriving at the resort via cable car, Jack meets the activities coordinator, KC (Kinski), whom he dances with that evening at dinner. While dancing, however, Jack recognizes the mob boss (Touliatos) he was investigating when his family was murdered and, after causing a scene, leaves in a huff. 

At that moment, the terrorists take control of the resort and attempt to coerce the mob boss to hand over his cache of diamonds, but he refuses and subsequently dies without revealing their location. Meanwhile, Jack has become a thorn in Getz’s side as he slowly picks off his men and searches for the diamonds himself to use as a bargaining chip. Jack signals to a nearby military base for help, but Getz shoots down the rescue helicopter and sets up a bomb to destroy any rescue via cable car. While trying to warn a group of soldiers attempting a cable car rescue, Jack is shot (as the soldiers believe he is a terrorist) and the cable car explodes, eliminating all hope of an immediate rescue.

An injured Jack, realizing that Getz is the man who murdered his family, limps to the resort first aid station and discovers Oliver Green, who is hiding from the terrorists. Green reveals the imminent destruction of the hotel by avalanche to conceal the terrorists' theft of the diamonds and prevent retaliation from the mob. During this conversation, Jack realizes that the diamonds are hidden in the ice in the mob boss’ hotel room. When Jack arrives at the suite, Getz discovers him and the diamonds, which he takes. As Getz explains, the diamonds are to be used to pay for and train a small army to take over the world and to rule it as the leader of a superior race. 

Getz then shoots Michael (who survives thanks to a hip flask in his jacket, which he took from Jack earlier in the film) and attempts to escape via helicopter. But Jack destroys the helicopter, and, along with all of the hotel guests, escapes to a nearby cave just as the glacier explodes, destroying the hotel and killing Getz. KC, now out of a job, promises to visit Jack in Chicago.

Cast 

 Thomas Ian Griffith as Jack Wild
 Nastassja Kinski as KC
 Christopher Plummer as Ivan Getz
 Lisa Bunting as Annie Wild
 Richard Sali as Michael Wild
 George Touliatos as Sonny La Rosso
 Frank Cassini as Mario Bracco
 William S. Taylor as Maury
 Frank C. Turner as Oliver Green

Production
The film began shooting in Vancouver, British Columbia on September 13 and completed shooting on October 23, 1993. The film had a direct-to-video release in the United States on August 18, 1994.

Release
Crackerjack was released in the Philippines as Agent of Destruction by Solar Films on July 29, 1994.

Worldvision Enterprises, a division of Spelling Entertainment, acquired all U.S. rights to Crackerjack from North American Releasing.

Reception

A review by Voices from the Balcony criticized the film's slow pacing, lack of believability and similarity to Die Hard: "It probably sounds like a terrible time, but Crackerjack isn’t that – it’s just a blatant and pale imitation of an all-time classic without any style, creativity, or scope of its own. If you think you’ve seen Die Hard enough times (I highly doubt that’s even possible), there’s always this."

The film received three stars from the DVD & Video Guide 2005, which states that the movie "would have been even better if star Thomas Ian Griffith were a better actor".

Andrew Babcock of Ultimate Action Movies gave the film a positive review, saying "While not Griffith’s best outing... he still turns on the charm and makes Crackerjack [sic] another worthy entry in a leading role career that is far too short."

Sequels
The film spawned two sequels: Crackerjack 2 (released in the US as Hostage Train) with Judge Reinhold taking over the role of Jack Wild, and Crackerjack 3, which does not connect to the first two and focuses on Jack Thorn (played by Bo Svenson).

References

External links
 

1994 films
1990s action films
1990s action adventure films
1990s heist films
American action adventure films
American action films
English-language Canadian films
Canadian heist films
Films about hostage takings
Films about vacationing
Canadian crime action films
1990s English-language films
1990s American films
1990s Canadian films