Pokes along...

Paul Hogan attempts yet another screen comeback outside of his "Crocodile Dundee" films in 1994's "Lightning Jack," a Western spoof/buddy flick in which Hogan plays a bank robber who ends up kidnapping the mute Ben (Cuba Gooding, Jr). They become fast friends, criminals and, well...isn't it really sounding stupid already?

The film also stars Beverly D'Angelo and Kamala Lopez-Dawson as the stereotypical hookers with hearts who become their love interests. In supporting roles, there's a tad bit of interest in the casting of Roger Daltrey and Richard Riehle does a decent job in his usual quirky role.

Hogan and Gooding have a touch of chemistry, but it's wasted here in the script by Hogan. How weird is that? How can you write yourself a bad part? I don't get that...did he want to make himself look bad onscreen? What was that all about?

Australian director Simon Wincer helms the film, as he has several other Hogan productions. More a television director, Wincer's other film projects have included the classics such as "D.A.R.Y.L." and "Operation Dumbo Drop," though, to his credit, he also directed the heartwarming (but overly sappy) "Free Willy." Here he appears to have no grasp on the buddy concept or how a Western is supposed to feel, and the film constantly feels disjointed and disconnected.

Thankfully, this film was a box-office bomb, practically guaranteeing that this "Lightning" will not strike twice.
 

© Written by Richard Propes

How We Rated This Film TC Candler -     Richard Propes - D Jacob Hall -

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