FREEJACK (1992)

FREEJACK (1992)

Tagline: Alex Furlong died today. Eighteen years from now, he'll be running for his life.

(Sci-Fi, Crime, Bounty Hunters from The Future) [R]

I wouldn’t want to dance to it, but that’s a pulse…

In this one, Alex Furlong is just minding his own business racing cars when he gets into an accident and his vehicle is shot into a giant sign and explodes. Just before Alex dies a team of bounty hunters from the future project him to the year 2009. The bounty hunters will stop at nothing to sell his healthy body to a rich man named Ian McCandless. In this future, Alex is known as a “freejack” and will now have to survive a future of violence and debauchery. 

It seems like sometimes you get a huge rock star and they can actually act a little. Gene Simmons and David Bowie come to mind, but Mick Jagger actually does a really solid job in this movie just playing a straight-up bounty hunter character named Victor who just wants to get his money and expects his crew to stay in line. Mick Jagger apparently said that if he had read the script a few months before filming he wouldn’t have even done this movie. He wasn’t the only one involved in making it that thought it sucked. Do you want to know who didn’t think it sucked? Me. I didn’t think it sucked. 

One thing I love about this thing is the premise. I get that some people see the gaping holes in the tapestry of storytelling here, but explaining that the future would need bodies from the past due to pollution and radiation and all of that I thought made sense on a certain level. You would think that if there were rich healthy people around then they would pick off their own, but it seems like the “world runners” kind of like to stick together. The film also gets into how you really don’t know who your friends are until the chips are down or money is involved. It also touches on the depths of love and what people really are or are not willing to give up for it. If you really want to start digging it also echoes in a way something that seems to be the complete opposite of reality. Alex becomes sort of a folk hero for resisting “the man”. In reality, going against “the man” gets you called a conspiracy theorist depending on which “the man” you seem to be going along with, even if you really just want to do the right thing (and especially if you associate with Jesus Christ). 

Acting wise I am a pretty big Rene Russo (AVENGERS: ENDGAME) fan, so any time she shows up it typically improves the movie. She plays Alex’s former fiancé Julie and this is a pretty solid performance from her. Emilio Estevez (MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE) is good as Alex, but I don’t think anyone is going to say this was one of his best. I like Alex as a character pretty well, in this future world they take us to, he is one of the few people with any morals (comparatively speaking). Anthony Hopkins (TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT) is fine here but isn’t asked to stretch his acting skills at all. We also have a Grand L. Bush (DIE HARD) sighting. He is one of those super versatile actors you can put in anything and he is just going to rock whatever role it is. Wrapping up the notables I thought it was cool that they had Amanda Plummer (SO I MARRIED AN AXE MURDERER) in this as a nun. She gets very little screen time, but she’s got range and does a good job here.

Regarding the productions, I thought this thing had a pretty cool ROBOCOP look to it. The score however is pretty terrible. It’s almost like whoever scored this thing had no idea when the action sequences were or any of that. The soundtrack is fine, it's hard to go wrong getting the Scorpions involved. The design work is pretty great in most of this thing especially when it comes to the vehicles. This is not to say there weren’t a few terrible designs thrown in. I do think the bounty hunter's armor could have been better. It looks like everyone is running around in painted football pads and fighter pilot helmets. 

I get that this thing is nearly universally hated, but I really don’t care. Could it have been more than it was? Sure. Could they have cut 20 minutes from the run time and been fine? Sure. Did it have lines so cheesy you could start your own pizza delivery service? Sure. However, this thing is fun, and creative and has a fantastic cast that I thought did well with what they were given. 

FREEJACK gets a 5 out of 7. I would definitely watch it again. 

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