Class Action Park (2020) -

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There ain’t nothing like the 80s!

Hearing about Action Park is one of those things that makes you go “how the hell did that ever happen?” and then you remember that this was the 80s where you could blow up an entire building and no one would do much besides laugh. Class Action Park does a pretty solid job of documenting some of the history surrounding the park and its questionable attractions and shady business practices.

The documentary starts with a very brief history of how Action Park came to be before eventually covering the layout of the park and some of its main attractions. Eventually we learn about the decline, and some of the key incidents responsible, followed up by the current state of the park.

I think my biggest problem with this documentary was how shallow it was. They tried to fit decades’ worth of history into 90 minutes, and it shows big time. I was left with lots of questions regarding some of the details that were simply brought up and skipped over. There were so many more incidents that weren’t given the same attention as the first death at the park. Its not fully explained how Gene Mulvihill managed to make his own “insurance” company and get away with it. In fact, practically none of the business loopholes are explained.

This documentary would have heavily benefited from being turned into a multi-episode docuseries instead. Things wouldn’t have felt so rushed, and they could have focused on covering the same topics to a deeper extent than they did after breaking them up into episodes. I don’t know why but the documentary covers the attractions for a majority of the time and this was just completely unnecessary. I get it: the rides were absolutely insane and there were a lot of them, but at some point it becomes redundant and I was starting to get bored. I was more interested in the history of the park and some of the legal battles, not just the things that took place at the park.

Regardless, the material they did cover was fascinating and entertaining enough to keep me invested and make me feel like I learned something by the end of it. There were times where I felt like the structure was a bit wacky, but then I decided to say it was simply a creative choice to match the energy the park brought about. Jokes aside, I had fun watching this, and for an amusement park lover this did a great job of riding the line between being entertaining and informative. I think it’s certainly worth a watch if you want to hear some crazy stories about the wildest and most dangerous park in America.