The Mighty Quinn (1989) – Review
1 Star
The lackadaisical plotting and uninspired dialogue, made harder to interpret due to some wavering accents quickly sink this breezy oddity. In essence The Mighty Quinn is a musical, made even odder since the source material is a 1982 novel that presumably had no musical cues. So it is the interpretation of writer Hampton Fancher and director Carl Schenkel to infuse this multi-genre mishmash with a spattering of local spice and reggae fever. Admittedly for short passages this works, but when the mechanics of the plot kick in the melodrama rockets sky-high and characters motivations become murky and their actions are downright baffling.
Surprisingly The Mighty Quinn has an unusually positive score on aggregated critic sites like Rotten Tomatoes or Metacritic. I guess 1989 was a pretty lousy year for cinema in the eyes of the critical masses to award this film such an esteemed status. Proving himself a one-off talent, Carl Schenkel would later helm the atrocious Casper Van Dien led reincarnation of Tarzan that sank all careers involved. If you are a Denzel Washington completist than this should be viewed, all other should just watch Virtuosity…again.
Director: Carl Schenkel
Stars: Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend, Mimi Rogers