FREEJACK (director: Geoff Murphy; screenwriters: Steven Pressfield/Ronald Shusett/Dan Gilroy/ based on the novel “Immortality Inc.” by Robert Sheckley; cinematographer: Amir Mokri; editor: Dennis Virkler; music: Trevor Jones; cast: Emilio Estevez (Alex Furlong), Mick Jagger (Vacendak), Rene Russo (Julie Redlund), Anthony Hopkins (McCandless), Jonathan Banks (Michelette), Amanda Plummer (Nun), Jerry Hall (Reporter)David Johansen (Brad); Runtime: 105; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Ronald Shusett/Stuart Oken; Warner Bros. (Morgan Creek); 1992)
“A predictable cliche-ridden futuristic sci-fi thriller, lacking smarts and wit.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
A predictable cliche-ridden futuristic sci-fi thriller, lacking smarts and wit, as directed by New Zealander Geoff Murphy(“Young Guns II“/”Utu”/”The Quiet Earth”) in a sluggish pedestrian way. It pales considerably when compared to the 1959 novel it’s based on, Robert Sheckley’s “Immortality Inc.”. Writers Steven Pressfield, Ronald Shusett and Dan Gilroy turn it into primarily an uninvolving chase film.
The fantasy is set in 2009. It’s a time when the rich can achieve immortality by stealing bodies from the past to replace their own defective bodies. When the daring race car driver Emilio Estevez is saved from death after an auto accident, his brain is abducted by bounty hunter Mick Jagger before the car goes up in flames and is sent to NYC for sale to the dead tycoon Anthony Hopkins, appearing through a video hologram and spiritually kept alive at a high-tech facility. Jagger loses his prize captive when he miraculously during the mind transfer regains consciousness and goes on the run as a “freejack. ” Thereby Mick, some 18 years later, thanks to time-travel, still pursues Emilio. The fallen race car driver now seeks help from Renee Russo, his former girlfriend in 1991, and must elude double-crosses.
The unfulfilling ending comes with computer animation and all the nonstop action turns out to be nothing more than mindless entertainment.
It’s only honest laughable moment has Amanda Plummer as a gun-toting nun. The other laughs are unintentional and are the result of the stiff acting and absurd story.
REVIEWED ON 9/1/2015 GRADE: C
Dennis Schwartz: “Ozus’ World Movie Reviews”
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