Freejack

In the hopes that audiences haven't been spoiled by "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," along comes Freejack, a technically inferior but broadly entertaining futuristic adventure. Though Arnold is nowhere in sight, his spirit looms large. Attempting to fill his vast void are Emilio Estevez and Mick Jagger, an unlikely but likable duo who provide the majority of the film's action...Freejack definitely gives the audience its money's worth. [3 Feb 1992]

There are two entertaining small characters in Freejack - Amanda Plummer as a gun-toting nun and Johansen as Estevez's exploitive pal. As the lead, Estevez is appealing, if bland. He takes his future shocks in stride. [18 Jan 1982, p.12]

It takes a while to get used to Mick Jagger as a paid predator, wearing a goofy helmet and spouting lines like, "Get the meat!" But by the end of Freejack, a fairly silly new sci-fi action thriller, rock star Jagger has made the role his own. [20 Jan 1982, p.C7]

There are some wonderful special effects, but, alas, the movie bogs down with shooting, car chases and plot twists that make it a bit tiresome. Still, it's some fun, especially watching Jagger, Hopkins and the supporting cast tangle with a future in which fried rats seem delicious. [21 Jan 1992, p.27]

Emilio Estevez (Stakeout, the Young Guns movies) isn't exactly Michael J. Fox, but he qualifies as a sympathetic hero, and Rene Russo (Major League) is fine - if a bit bland - as his girlfriend. Besides, the real fun is in the supporting cast. Mick Jagger plays a sort of bounty hunter, and although he has only about 2 1/2 expressions, they're good ones. Jerry Hall, who appears very briefly, plays a newswoman with only one expression: You've seen it before, and it is plenty. [21 Jan 1982, p.D1]

The film is fun to watch, but you never emotionally buy into the story or its world, and when you leave the theatre, they're gone. There's a lot to this speedy little complex science fiction adventure but what's missing is imagination. Read full review

Freejack is the kind of picture that you watch and scoff at, and then when it's over, you leave the theater having had a good time, only mildly aware that the good time had something to do with the quality of the movie. Freejack is convoluted, a meeting of bad writing and bad science fiction. And yet, taken as a whole, it's really not bad. [18 Jan 1982, p.C3]

Although delayed several months for fine-tuning, Freejack hijacks any potential cult status with drab visuals and a lousy score. Even Jagger fans aren't going to get much satisfaction out of that. [20 Jan 1992, p.4D]

The trouble with low-rent science-fiction movies is that beneath all the futuristic gimcrackery — the video phones and laser guns and hyperspace leaps, the obligatory time-travel setups — you realize, at some point, that you’re watching a routine urban chase thriller: Lethal Weapon 2000. For most of its running time, Freejack bounces and sputters along atop the usual action- movie chassis. Read full review

The film’s premise is promising but undeveloped. Read full review

Time-travel movies don't come much dopier than Freejack. [18 Jan 1982, p.C5]

The special effects and stunts are marvelous, but director Geoff Murphy (``Young Guns II)'' gets only perfunctory acting. No room for nuance at a fast trot. Even the fastest pace gets monotonous when nothing else is happening. 'Round and 'round and 'round they go, getting nowhere but making great time. [20 Jan 1982, p.C06]

Directed by Geoff Murphy, Freejack is rife with run-of-the-mill action sequences and glaring inconsistencies. Read full review

The film's frequently dark, grimy look and such digressions as a demonstration of how to eat river rat will appeal chiefly to those who like their science fiction on the squalid side. Read full review

Whenever things get boring, which is often, the double-crossing factor is increased, which complicates the plot without adding substance to the two-dimensional characters or to the mechanical suspense. Read full review

Freejack is among the most incoherent sci-fi action films we've seen in a while, despite the credentials of producer- screenwriter Ronald Shusett, who brought us Total Recall and Alien. [24 Jan 1992, p.G5]

The matte work is awful, the lighting terrible. Many of the vehicles look like bumper cars, borrowed from the nearest amusement park and covered with plastic tops; the rest look like Disneyland rejects. Chase sequences are boring. [24 Jan 1992, p.3F]

A ridiculous futuristic adventure film starring Emilio Estevez as a race-car driver who is captured by forces in the near future - 2009 to be exact - and used in a world-controlling power play. Mick Jagger co-stars, wearing a dyed mop of hair. An indecipherable plot isn't worth the effort. [24 Jan 1992, p.C]

Indeed, the only bright spot in the film is Amanda Plummer — the wacky object of Robin Williams' desire in The Fisher King — with a brief but memorable cameo here as a futuristic nun who swears like a trooper, carries around a rifle and thinks turning the other cheek is kicking a guy in the balls. Read full review

Alas, even the lowest expectations go unmet by FREEJACK, which turns out to be an inexplicably lame, penny-pinched futuristic actioner. Read full review

You know you're in trouble when the cars in a science fiction movie look like those golf carts with football helmets on them. That's if the presence of Emilio Estevez wasn't already enough of a tip-off...Though the action is nonstop, it's so unengaging that we might as well be watching a blank screen. Read full review

Aside from a few nifty computer-generated "trip" sequences and a foul-mouthed nun (Amanda Plummer) who advises her torturer to turn the other cheek before flattening him, Freejack has little to recommend it. [18 Jan 1982, p.1D]