Freejack | |
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Directed by | Geoff Murphy |
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Starring | |
Music by | Trevor Jones |
Cinematography | Amir Mokri |
Edited by | Dennis Virkler |
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Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Running time
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110 minutes |
Language | English |
Box office | $17.1 million |
Freejack is a 1992 science fiction action film directed by Geoff Murphy, starring Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins. Upon its release in the United States, the film received mostly negative reviews. The screenplay was cowritten by Ronald Shusett.
In 2009, the super-wealthy achieve immortality by hiring "bonejackers", mercenaries equipped with time travel devices, to snatch people from the past, just prior to the moment of their deaths, for use as substitute bodies. Those who escape are known as "freejacks" and are considered less than human under the law. In this dystopian future, most people suffer from poor physical health as a result of rampant drug use and environmental pollution, making them unattractive as replacement bodies.
Alex Furlong is a Formula One racer who is about to die in a spectacular 1991 crash when a time machine snatches him from the cockpit and into 21st century New York City, now a futuristic dystopia populated by scavengers and killers. When Furlong's captors are ambushed by a hit squad, Furlong escapes from Victor Vacendak, a hardened mercenary who has snatched him on behalf of the powerful McCandless Corporation. Alex's former fiancée Julie Redlund is now an executive at McCandless, handling high-stakes mineral negotiations with a rival Japanese firm.
Alex spends much time escaping the clutches of Victor, a ruthless pursuer who nevertheless lives by a code of honor, and rekindling his relationship with Julie. Ian McCandless, Julie's boss, is revealed to have died and seeks to install his backed-up personality into Furlong's body. Besides evading Vacendak's army of mercenaries and McCandless police personnel, Alex and Julie also have to deal with fleeing from the private guards of McCandless' corporate X.O., Mark Michellete, who is gunning for McCandless' position. Alex finds he cannot trust his old friends from 1991, who are now eager to sell him out.
Tired of running, Furlong pretends to take Julie hostage and negotiates with Michellete to arrange a meeting, counting on Michellete's not knowing about their past relationship; however, Michellete has seen the footage of Julie's grief after Alex's 1991 accident. After she slaps him in return for his mockery, the couple flees. They are thwarted when they encounter a gunfight in the lobby between two factions, now in opposition: McCandless's security guards and Vacendak's mercenaries. Despite Julie's plan to leave the building through an "escape module" on the hundredth floor, the elevator takes them automatically to the complex at the very top of the building where McCandless' mind is in storage. In a virtual reality encounter with McCandless's essence, he explains his goal: to use Alex's body to satiate his love for Julie. Apologizing, he offers to die and let Alex run the company under the guise of being McCandless.