Action Point might just be the film that gives Jackass a plot because as much as we enjoyed most of the stunts in the those 3 films there was little holding them together narratively. It seems highly unlikely that there will be a fourth Jackass film with the global success having, at times, a devastating impact on the pranksters mostly in the form of drink and drug addiction but most tragically with one of them killed in a high speed drink drive accident.
It was only ever Johnny Knoxville who ever had any sort of success outside of the franchise appearing films as varied as Men in Black II, The Dukes of Hazzard, Bad Grandpa and even starring alongside Schwarzenegger in his comeback film, The Last Stand. But it seems he’s been unable to resist the suicidal stunts from his years in Jackass and has found a story ideally suited to his brand of mayhem. Titled ‘Action Point’ it’s based on real life water park, Action Park, in New Jersey renowned for its catastrophically poor safety standards.
Knoxville stars as D.C., the crackpot owner of a low-rent, out-of-control amusement park where the rides are designed with minimum safety for maximum fun. Just as D.C.’s estranged teenage daughter Boogie comes to visit, a corporate mega-park opens nearby and jeopardizes the future of Action Point. To save his beloved theme park and his relationship with his daughter, D.C. and his loony crew of misfits risk everything to pull out all the stops – and stunts.
Horror stories about Action Park are legion and include a kayak ride where people were electrocuted by an underwater electricity cable, a loop the loop waterslide that gave riders neck ache, an alpine cart ride where riders usually came off the cart and flipped out off the track altogether and some guests contracted Hepatitis A from the unclean water. Most that attended were wasted on alcohol and so probably numbed the pain of broken limbs and skin grafts that guest suffered after going on many of the rides. It got so bad that ambulances were dedicated to the daily calls from the venue so it’s hardly a surprise that locals renamed it Traction Park. To top it all the staff themselves were usually drunk also. It’s an ideal story for Knoxville although his only Jackass cohort to join him is Chris Pontius.
Trailer looks very funny with some typically mad stunts by the pair of them where Knoxville apparently had one of his eyes pop out of its socket when one of the pranks went awry.
Film opens in US on 1st June and in the UK on 29th June.
Here’s the trailer…….
