FireWalker

FireWalker follows a pair of wisecracking treasure hunters (Chuck Norris’ Max and Louis Gossett Jr’s Leo) as they agree to help Melody Anderson’s Patricia Goodwin track down a rare artifact, with the film subsequently (and perhaps inevitably) detailing the trio’s ongoing efforts at both finding said artifact and avoiding the advances of several nefarious figures. Filmmaker J. Lee Thompson, working from a script by Robert Gosnell, kicks the proceedings off with a silly yet fast-paced action sequence that effectively establishes the lighthearted dynamic between the two protagonists, with the movie’s shot-on-the-cheap appearance and proliferation of less-than-appealing elements, as a result, initially not quite as problematic as one might’ve feared. (Norris’ grating and hopelessly underwhelming performance, on the other hand, remains problematic from start to finish, as the actor is simply unable to convincingly step into the shoes of his larger-than-life character.) It’s not long before FireWalker begins to morph into a progressively interminable experience, however, with the stagnant bent of Gosnell’s screenplay ensuring that the movie, generally speaking, lurches from one poorly-conceived action set piece to the next (ie the whole thing is just irredeemably sluggish). The ongoing inclusion of eye-rolling bits of irreverence (eg Max takes a sip of beer during a bar fight) only heightens the movie’s amateurish feel, and there’s little doubt that the seemingly endless third act cements FireWalker‘s place as a palpably worthless relic of the 1980s.

* out of ****