By Lee Pfeiffer
Warner Home Video has released a widescreen DVD edition of the 1996 adventure film North Star starring James Caan and Christopher Lambert. The film is probably unknown to most audiences, as it was cobbled together by a mind-boggling array of European finance sources and was barely released theatrically in America. However, there is much to recommend in this film and the second chance the DVD release affords it is justified. For all intents and purposes, the story is that of a traditional western - with the caveat that it is set in Nome, Alaska in the late 1800s when gold fever was still a lure for thousands of immigrants. Caan plays a charismatic, but ruthless local power broker who controls all aspects of mining. He's happy to have the immigrants labor to uncover lucrative gold veins, only to pass laws that deprive them of reaping the benefits. If anyone chooses to fight back, they end up dead with Caan mysteriously turning up as the beneficiary of their claim. Caan's tactics please local xenophobes who are happy to send the immigrants packing, but when his greed carries over to trying to snare a local sacred Indian burial site, he comes up against Lambert, who plays a tough-as-nails tribe member who vows to thwart the scheme. Lambert kidnaps Caan's main squeeze (the fetching Catherine McCormack) and a relentless pursuit takes up the majority of the action on screen.Â
The film boasts any number of cliches, but that adds to the charm as this is a straight-forward and unpretentious adventure movie, competently directed by Nils Gaup, who takes full advantage of the eye-popping, frigid locations. (The movie was shot entirely in Norway). As usual in these kinds of affairs, the hero serves as a rather bland catalyst for the evil doing committed by a larger-than-life villain. Lambert, who apparently underwent a charisma quadruple bypass early in his career, is still in his familiar "grunt-and groan" mode which was typical of action stars who emerged in the 1980s. Although he compensates for this shortcoming by performing some impressive stuntwork, he's overshadowed at every turn by Caan, who clearly relishes the rare opportunity to portray an outright scoundrel. It's a pity he doesn't get more opportunities to do so, as he provides a fascinating portrait of a true monster whose outward charm hides his inner demons. Catherine McCormack is also impressive as the initially gullible girlfriend who comes to see Caan for the villain he is. There's also an enjoyable supporting performance by Burt Young as a henchman to Caan who is so slovenly he makes Srother Martin's character in The Wild Bunch look like Noel Coward.
This is not a particularly memorable film, but is highly enjoyable - so it if it's unpretentious entertainment you want, this is one North Star you can follow.(The only extra on the DVD is a theatrical trailer)
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