Freejack

"Freejack" is a frustrating film. It starts off well and has an excellent premise. But then, well, it all falls apart after that.

When the story begins, Alex (Emelio Estevez) is starting an auto race. However, something extraordinary takes place. As his car flies out of control and he is about to die, his body is stolen from the future. Why? Because in the future, it's not illegal to retrieve bodies from the past just before they'd die anyway. And what do they do with these retrieved bodies? Well, the rich and powerful pay fortunes to have them for organ transplants and even entire body transplants where the consciousness of the dying rich person is implanted into these retrieved bodies....and someone wants Alex's body.

The problem with this procedure is that normally they electrically lobotomize these people....but an attack on the truck that retrieved Alex enables him to escape. Now, lots of bounty hunters are looking to capture him...alive. And Alex has no idea WHAT is going on here!

So why did it fall apart after Alex arrives in the future? Well, there are MANY reasons. First, he is transported from 1991 to 2009 and simply too much has happened during the interim...way too much. Folks in the future drive cars, retrieve folks from the past, and fire phasers that might work if it was the year 2100. Second, there really isn't a lot of story...just action, action, action....making the film a bit mindless. A few things about this future also make no sense...such as the shotgun wielding and cursing nun (Amanda Plummer)! What?! And, finally, the central premise makes no sense. After all, if the retrievers lose Alex...why not just retrieve some other guy from the past?!?! Why is HE so important?! With many millions of deaths between 1991 and 2009, they surely could have found someone else!

I actually saw this on cable back about 1993 and thought it was a pretty cool movie. Well, I just rewatched it in 2021 and think it's pretty dumb. Times do change as do people. Hmmm....1993 and 2021...kinda like 1991 and 2009!

"Freejack" has one of the more unique twists on time travel, with people of the present being snatched away from a certain death to the future. It also begins to develop a unique feel and look to it. However, it's slow in several spots and doesn't develop the imagery as well as it could.

Emilio Estevez didn't seem right for the part, he looked and came across as a kid playing in a role meant for someone older and wiser. Rene Russo is wonderful as always, and Anthony Hopkins does the best he can with his limited character, but both of them are spent on the sidelines.

The real surprise was Mick Jagger, who made a wicked villain. I wonder why he hasn't tried acting in more movies. "Freejack" has largely been forgotten, but it's still worth a look.

There are good films and there are bad films, but my favourite 'genre' seems to simply be 'entertaining' films. I'm sure most people won't be putting 1992's 'Freejack' up there with 'The Godfather' and 'Empire Strikes Back' and there are probably those (mainly professional film critics with no sense of fun!) who would describe it as 'bad.' However, I totally disagree. I enjoyed it so much back when I was a teen and I still smile at it now.

Emilio Estevez plays 'Alex' - a racecar driver who dies in an explosion during a lap in 1992, only to wake up in the (at the time!) 'far flung future' of 2009 where he's been plucked from his own time a split second before his death and now someone wants to use his body for, er, some nefarious purpose.

What follows could probably fall into the 'sci-fi/chase' movie where Alex in on the run in his new surroundings while being pursued by shady forces. Now, I should mention that Sir Anthony Hopkins is on the cast list. But don't get ideas of some great 'Hannibal Lecter' performance. He's pretty much just an extended cameo. We also have Rene Russo as the 'love interest' and, like so many roles, she is only really there for the romantic element and doesn't really get much in the way of character development. However, the best 'actor' is not one of these heavyweights.

The ever awesome Mick Jagger (yes, not really known for his 'acting') is the black leather-clad henchman, in charge of a small private army of futuristic goons hell-bent on brining Alex's body in for... you'll find out what. Now, he's no actor. And it shows. I'm not going to say his performance is 'fantastic,' only that you're guaranteed to remember it for all time. The film may actually be 'average' to most, but Jagger's swagger as the henchmen is pure cinematic gold. He steals every scene - sometimes menacing, sometimes comical, always brilliant and is worth the film's run-time alone.

Nowadays, I've seen 'Freejack' has developed a small cult following in the sci-fi community and many have put it in the 'so-bad-it's-good' category. That may be true to a degree (especially when discussing Mr Jagger!), but I think it's actually a good little action, sci-fi B-movie.

Don't be too hard on it and just enjoy the ride as it's very well put together and covers quite a few sci-fi concepts that are actually quite original. Plus, when I watch it now I also realise that I've been watching 'Mike' from 'Breaking Bad/Better Call Saul' in this film for all these years and I never realised.

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.

You know, one thing that really bothers me is the amount of people who just refuse to relax and watch a move without having to consider whether it should win an Oscar. I don't think Freejack was ever intended to be made for serious viewing - I think every actor in it at one time during the movie has got their tongue in their cheek.

What you do get in this movie are some spectacular effects, and I'm not talking about the end when you could just as soon go get a sandwich rather than watch the 2001-type slideshow.

It's just downright funny. Mick Jagger as the villain giving Emilio Estevez a "headstart" by counting 1-Mississippi, 2-Mississippi is priceless. David Johanson shines as the shyster in any timeframe. Rene Russo gives us an early indication of screen presence. So just relax and have fun with it.