Freejack: El inmortal

OK, I'm a sci-fi movie buff. So I'm the type of person who'd like this film.

But I do have some basic standards, and Freejack is just the right sort of campy flick, sort of a "Blade Runner" gone slumming. It's bad, but it's a good bad, if you're into cult classics.

Who should see this film:

-- sci-fi movie buffs, but don't go out of your way, oh and see Demolition Man too which is similar but better

-- nobody else

I enjoyed the film, but campy special effects and silly plot mean I can only give it a 6 out of 10.

In 1991's "Freejack", 2009 is a dystopian future where nearly all-powerful corporations rule a ruined environment and a wrecked economy. OK, they got that correct but then again so did the equally cheesy "Robocop". By 2009, humans have mastered the ability to control the space-time continuum to the extent they can draw people forward and replace their minds with another being held in electronic stasis. OK, we haven't really mastered those things yet but damn our telephones have gotten pretty cool. Against this shaky premise "Freejack" puts together a cast that includes the less lunatic of the Sheen brothers, the criminally underused David Johansen, the peerless Anthony Hopkins and, yes, in the Boba Fett role, Mick Jagger. And despite the compelling screen stars, it is Jagger who maintains the audience's eye despite the ridiculous headgear he wears in most scenes and the equally ludicrous haircut beneath. Jagger's charisma nearly carries the film but given that it consists of one extended car (or motorcycle or champagne truck or tricked-out golf car) chase after another after another eventually even his power to charm cannot keep the mind from drifting. During this drifting one wonders why a man with the foresight to run the world's most powerful corporation wouldn't have had a back-up plan to pluck some other body from the past if things didn't work out with the first particularly given that any screw-ups would have meant his death? Anyway, in short, people who like their sci-fi cheap and cheesy or anyone who wishes Mick Jagger and David Johansen had done more movie work will be all-jacked-up by this film.

Veteran writer & producer Ronald Shusett scripted this one (along with Steven Pressfield and Dan Gilroy), inspired by the novel "Immortality, Inc." by Robert Sheckley. It's a far cry from the heights attained by "Alien", which Shusett had concocted with Dan O'Bannon, but at the very least it's mildly amusing, the kind of movie for which the phrase "mindless diversion" was invented. It's silly stuff, but delivers a lot of gunfire and a lot of chases, not to mention a tacky visual approach (Joe Alves, production designer on the first two "Jaws" films and director of the third, was the p.d. here). Most of the cast have been better utilized in other projects, but it's still nice to see a bunch of familiar faces here.

Emilio Estevez, not anybody's image of the ideal action hero but reasonably likeable, is race car driver Alex Furlong. Moments before he would have met his maker in a fiery crash, his body is snatched and transported into the "future" year of 2009. Now, for all the other characters, 17 years have passed, but for him the trip is instantaneous. And now he has to run, run, run, since his body is a prized possession for the person who sponsored his "trip", and he's being pursued by relentless "bone jackers", led by legendary rock star Mick Jagger in a blatant case of stunt casting.

Emilio is ably supported by lovely leading lady Rene Russo (who married Gilroy shortly after the movie was released), a slumming Anthony Hopkins (who literally "phones in" his performance), a highly animated and amusing David Johansen as Alex's shameless "friend" Brad, Jonathan Banks of later 'Breaking Bad' and 'Better Call Saul' fame (at his cold-eyed, contemptuous best), Amanda Plummer (a hoot as a gun-packing, computer-savvy nun), Grand L. Bush, Frankie Faison, Esai Morales, John Shea, and Jerry Hall. But, alas, Jagger is one of those classic "don't give up your day job" type of deals: he's simply boring as the antagonist.

Overall, "Freejack" is plenty dumb, but it's dumb enough, noisy enough, and energetic enough to rate as a true "guilty pleasure". The director is the late, talented Kiwi filmmaker Geoff Murphy, who'd previously guided Emilio in "Young Guns II"; in the 80s he did a picture called "The Quiet Earth" that is much more interesting than this junk.

Kicking off the closing credits with a solid Scorpions tune, "Hit Between the Eyes", was one good idea, in any event.

Five out of 10.

In my mind Freejack has always merged with other 90's sci-fi movies like Johnny Mnemonic and Chain Reaction. All of these had cool poster images that were seen in magazines, but other than the posters I pretty much missed out the actual movies.

Another thing that comes to mind is that the phrase "Freejack Soundtrack" is a thing...maybe even more than the actual movie. That's because I had a phase when I was a huge fan of the band Scorpions, and I remember noticing that the song "Hit Between the Eyes" was featured on the soundtrack album of this movie. So I always thought that someday I'm going to see what this Freejack actually is.

Third notion is that this is the gimmick film with Mick Jagger as an actor. I feared that if he happened to be a bad actor, then that would explain why this movie seems so forgotten. Maybe it was a flop?

All right then, let's take a ride to the danger zone and see does Freejack hit between the eyes or miss completely.

The story is original and interesting. A supposed-dead guy is hijacked to the future to be used as a new body for a dying businessman. But the body accidentally escapes, and right there we have a recipe for an action packed chase adventure.

The cast is interesting. Antony Hopkins is probably the best actor in the film but he doesn't have much screentime so it doesn't make much difference. Then we have of course the rocker Mick Jagger as a tough leader of the bad guys' army. Even though Jagger isn't a seasoned actor he looks good in the role and acts decent enough. The hero is played by Emilio Estevez. I've never really liked him. I always thought he's like a poorman's version of Michael J. Fox. But in the end Estevez redeems the role. He manages to use his blank face to create a puzzled character lost in time. The female lead is played by Rene Russo who's always got class.I just like her whenever she's on the screen. One more mention: Jonathan Banks (Mike Ehrmantraut from Breaking Bad!) is in this movie too. That's awesome!

The budget is not enormous but it's big enough and used effectively. I really like the comic book vibe of the visual style, the "futuristic" vehicles that actually just are some army jeeps painted red but... hey, it works! The coolest machine is Jagger's techno-truck that unforrtunately is not seen that much.

Overall Freejack might not be a cinematic masterpiece if judged by indiviudyal acting performances, or if you're looking for some deep message that will change your life. But as an action movie it's really entertaining and stylish, and has an diverse cast of actors that just feels...cool. More than the sum of its parts I'd say.

Oh, and last but certainly not least: you can bang your head and play air guitar during end credits when one of the hardest rocking songs from Scorpions starts playing. Yeaaah!

I lap up anything with Emilio Estevez. I've always thought he was extremely underrated. Sometimes, he picks the silliest scripts. I did have some fun with this movie, but It's far from a good movie. The futuristic storyline has been done to death, and nothing really stands out about it. It has some entertaining action, good humor, and a great cast to keep you watching. As much as I love Emilio, he's not really the action star type. That being said, he managed to pull it off with his natural charisma. He borders on cockiness at times, but his charisma manages to keep him likable and easy to root for. Mick Jagger is terrible as the villain. He should have kept his day job, in lieu of dabbling into acting. Anthony Hopkins is here for a paycheck, nothing more. Rene Russo is classy as usual. She takes a one-dimensional part and makes it worthwhile. That's what genuine talent is able to do.

I enjoy it for what it is! Then again, I dig anything that is enjoyably cheesy. This movie falls under that category. They were obviously aiming for much more, but they weren't able to pull it off. Keep your expectations low, and you'll have a decent time

5.5/10