Before transitioning to Hollywood features, director Geoff Murphy had already built up a great deal of critical acclaim in his native New Zealand. The likes of Goodbye Pork Pie (1980), Utu (1983) and The Quiet Earth (1985) are all great examples of their genre's and show Murphy at the top of his game.
Even his first American made feature, television movie Red King, White Knight (1989) was an exceptionally tense spy thriller that had a cinematic quality to it. He followed this up with Brat Pack Western Young Guns 2: Blaze of Glory (1990), which in many ways improved upon the enjoyable original.
Taking all this into consideration, it is unclear what went to so wrong with Freejack (1992). Freejack had the potential to become a sci-fi blockbuster with Murphy reteaming with his Young Guns 2 leading man Emilio Estevez and with a supporting cast that includes Rene Russo, Anthony Hopkins and even Mick Jagger.
With a memorable cast and an interesting concept, it would seem that a great deal of behind the scenes issues resulted in the uneven mess that ultimately became Freejack.
In its defence, Freejack is not the complete disaster that it is touted to be. There are a number of well done action scenes peppered throughout and the quality of the set design at least keep things visually interesting.
Loosely based on Robert Sheckley's 1959 novel Immortality Inc. Freejack finds race car driver Alex Furlong (Emilio Estevez) transported through time just before the point of his death. Waking up in the year 2009, Furlong manages to escape just before his brain is scrambled.
The purpose of Furlong being snatched is so that he can be used as a substitute body for a recently deceased billionaire. The billionaire’s memory has been uploaded to the "spiritual switchboard", a terminal where the rich store their memories before they can be uploaded into a new host.
Hosts who escape are called "freejacks", looked down on by society. After his escape, Furlong is constantly chased by mercenary Vacendak (Mick Jagger) who is in the employ of the McCandless Corporation, ran by billionaire Ian McCandless (Anthony Hopkins).
After some near escapes, Furlong turns to former Fiancé Julie (Rene Russo), who is now an executive at the McCandless Corporation. At first she is reluctant to believe him but eventually realises he is telling the truth. Now the two must work together so Furlong can escape the clutches of Vacendak and live in peace.
It isn't clear, how much of the completed film actually belongs to Murphy. After initial test screenings proved to be unsatisfactory, writer/producer Ronald Shusset apparently reshot over half the movie, inserting more character scenes and humour.
Leading man Estevez would later complain that Murphy let them down by focusing too much on action. Surprisingly the one area of the film that works is its action, with a handful of violent shootouts and an exciting car chase being clear highlights.
The only drawback during the car chase is that the supposedly futuristic cars don't exactly scream 2009, looking more like something that would have been in Paul Bartels' Death Race 2000 (1975). Still, this is a minor issue in comparison to other parts of the film.
Production values are generally decent. There are some noticeable rear projection and matte shots, but these are limited. Still I'd rather a nice matte painting than the now obligatory CGI effects that are now on offer in modern blockbusters.
Emilio Estevez seems an Ill fit for the lead role of Furlong. Although he does his best with the part, he doesn't come across as the action hero type, with an absence of the humour that he used to great effect in the Young Guns movies or even Men at Work (1990).
In addition he and leading lady Rene Russo share next to no chemistry. Perhaps this is to do with the height difference or that Estevez looks considerably younger. This isn't to take away from Russo as she looks fantastic; it is just that Estevez seems to be perpetually youthful.
Russo was a last minute replacement for Linda Fiorentino, who was originally cast in the role. Russo is able to inject some personality and class into an otherwise one dimensional role. At least her roles would begin to get better after Freejack, going on to co-star in such hits as Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), In the Line of Fire (1993) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1999).
While it may not be the best role of her career, it is still an important one as this was where she met future husband Dan Gilroy. Gilroy was one of the writers who would come to work on Freejack.
Gilroy is probably better known these days as the writer/director of Nightcrawler (2014). I think it's safe to say that doesn't include Freejack when speaking off his best work.
Supporting Estevez and Russo is rock icon Mick Jagger. While you could never consider this a good performance, Jagger is terrific fun, adding a touch of campy humour to proceedings which is entertaining.
There is also Anthony Hopkins who clearly showed up for a pay cheque. His part could have literally been shot in a day, with his screen time being no more than five minutes at most.
Jonathan Banks makes more of an impression as weasely villain Michelette, who like Russo is able to make the most out of a generic part.
Writer/Producer Ronald Shusset is probably best known among sci-fi fans for writing the story of Alien (1979) and his script for Total Recall (1990). While his work on these is commendable, the majority of his output is more in line with the quality of his work on Freejack.
The likes of The Final Terror (1983), King Kong Lives (1986) and Hemoglobin (1997) aren't exactly the finest examples of the genre. When compared to them, the cheesy quality of Shusset's script doesn't seem so bad.
Considering the quality of his writing output and the fact he wasn't actually a director it is surprising he was the one put in charge of the reshoots. Him being one of the producers probably played a part in this.
The humorous elements he added do nothing but hurt the overall flow and feel of the film and jar with the bleak dystopian world Murphy was trying to create. This becomes clearly apparent in regards to Jagger’s role, whose character seems to be brought in from a different movie.
Not all the blame for the script can be laid at Shusset's feet however, as he co-wrote it with Steven Pressfield and the afore mentioned Dan Gilroy.
He and Pressfield had previously collaborated on King Kong Lives and the Steven Seagal actioner Above the Law (1988). Pressfield is probably better known as an author, with one of his more famous novels being The Legend of Bagger Vance which Robert Redfor later made into a film of the same name.
While Freejack has a lot of issues, I would still recommend it for viewing at least once, as it is definitely an interesting failure.
Rating: 2.5/5
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