Freejack (1992) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Menu Animation & Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Theatrical Trailer Listing-Cast Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	1992
Running Time	109:23
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Geoff Murphy
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Emilio Estevez Mick Jagger Rene Russo Anthony Hopkins Jonathan Banks David Johansen
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Trevor Jones

Video (NTSC)		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	480i (NTSC)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English French Spanish	Smoking	Yes, frequently
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes, mildly
		Action In or After Credits	No

    There is a good reason why Freejack bombed when it was released in 1992 to an audience that had already experienced such awesome science fiction films as Total Recall and Terminator 2. It mostly has to do with a ridiculous central premise, but since The Matrix succeeded in spite of that, you also have to count the appallingly bad acting, although The Matrix is guilty of that too. Maybe it's the script, with childish plot devices and such inane dialogue that Anthony Hopkins must have been rueing the day he agreed to do this project. Mick Jagger does his best with a nondescript role, but the fact that he has hardly worked in a feature film since should tell you something, and Emilio Estevez is well, Emilio Estevez.

    The year is 2009, and the one thing that eccentric millionaires fear the most is death, prompting an industry to spring up around the idea of going back into the past and taking young bodies at the moment of death for said millionaires to transfer themselves into. Yes, I know how ridiculous it sounds, and the amazing part is that it is actually based on a novel called Immortality, Inc. by Robert Sheckley (I bet you thought I was about to say L. Ron Hubbard). The film begins with Alex Furlong (Emilio Estevez) waking up on the morning of an important race, exchanging words with his soon-to-be-wife, Julie Redlund (Rene Russo), and then being killed in an accident on the race track. It'd be a short film if that was all there was to it, of course, so this is where the ridiculous science fiction element comes into play.

    Victor Vacendak (Mick Jagger) is a bonejacker, a man who is paid by rich men such as McCandless (Anthony Hopkins) to take the bodies of "dead" people from their point in the past and deliver them for use as new habitation by these rich eccentrics. The idea is that if these mercenaries can keep delivering a fresh body every so often, these rich eccentrics can live forever without having to make too many serious lifestyle changes. Of course, Alex has other ideas than to be a new body for a millionaire, but with this man's private armies hunting him down, the question is whether he can avoid the authorities, make up for lost time with his girlfriend, and get back his freedom. It's basically a mindless actioner with plot devices that are so childish in execution that you have to wonder if Ronald Shussett and Steven Pressfield didn't hand the writing assignments to their school-age children or grandchildren at some points of the story.

    As I said, there is a good reason why Freejack disappeared without a trace after its release in 1992, and it just doesn't hold a candle to Total Recall, which was Ronald Shussett's previous production. Granted, it's a lot more enjoyable than The Matrix since it doesn't take itself so damned seriously, but you cannot help but wonder whether a more serious tone could have helped here. Still, if you're a fanatic about action films and can't get enough of Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Rene Russo, or Anthony Hopkins, then this disc might be a worthy addition to your collection. However, I don't recommend it if you're looking for an original or particularly intellectual piece of entertainment.

Video

    The transfer is presented in the aspect ratio of 2.35:1, and it is 16x9 Enhanced. It is NTSC formatted, so please ensure your television and DVD player are compatible with this standard before purchase.

    The sharpness of this transfer is good, but not great, with some long shots looking slightly blurry and unfocused, although I am not sure whether this is the fault of the transfer or the principal photography. Neither of those answers would surprise me. The shadow detail is average, with enough discernable detail in the darker sections of the transfer to make out the salient action. Low-level noise is not a problem in this transfer.

    The overall colour scheme of the film can be divided into three parts: the exposition of the film, the poor areas of the future, and the office of the McCandless corporation. The first section, which takes about ten minutes of the running length, is brightly saturated and very rich in texture, while the second is very dull, dark, and cold. The more comfortable-looking settings had a clinical, cold look that suited them well. The transfer captures all of these schemes without missing a beat.

    MPEG artefacts were not a specific problem in the transfer, although I thought I noticed a slight touch of posterization in such things as flames. Aliasing was a minor problem in the transfer, with an instance of aliasing taking place roughly every eight minutes, usually on the edges of steel objects or the side of road-trains. The biggest instance of aliasing came at 102:48, when a road-train with a spotted white line on its side passes by the camera. Film artefacts consisted of some small black and white marks on the picture, and matte lines were visible at such points such as the ride in the elevator at 86:24.

    Freejack has the dubious distinction of having some of the worst subtitles I have ever seen on an NTSC disc, which is saying a lot. They are generally placed right in the middle of the picture, or as close thereto as to completely obscure the lip movements of whomever is speaking, which makes them more distracting than helpful. To cap that off, burned-in subtitles were noticed at 31:07, during the business meeting with the Japanese executives.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    Freejack sports a very clean and powerful audio transfer, one that does a great deal to immerse the viewer in the action.

    There are two soundtracks on this DVD, both of them in Dolby Digital 5.1 with a bitrate of 384 kilobits per second: the original English dialogue, which is the default, and a French dub. I listened to the English dialogue, not being particularly interested in French at all (and I'm sure the other countries that make up Region 4 won't be, either).

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at almost all times, although Mick Jagger's bizarre and frankly unnecessary accent was quite distracting at times. There were no discernable problems with audio sync.

    The score music in this film is credited to Trevor Jones, with a song called Break The Spell by Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider making up what would seem to be the length and breadth of the contemporary music. Given that Public Image, Ltd's song The Body was heavily used during the time when the television spot was making the rounds, I was surprised to find it didn't even appear in the credits. It is a far better song than the one we do get, which sounded more appropriate for a revival of Spinal Tap than a science fiction film.

    The surround channels are aggressively utilised by this transfer to support passing cars, gunshots, music, and everything else you care to think of that would occur in a film like this one. Right off the bat, the surrounds come to life and never really die off, even during the quieter moments when the story, such as it is, is being further developed. The best example is when Rene Russo is in the apartment, simply walking in and going about her character's usual business, with the reverb from her steps echoing all around the soundfield in a way that makes the action seem that little bit more intimate.

    The subwoofer was also aggressively utilised, but there were times when it was overemphasised in the overall sound field. The best example is at 27:45, during Emilio Estevez's confused-looking search through a derelict building. The subwoofer began to vibrate loudly and overwhelm the rest of the speakers, which is a tad disappointing considering how much better a subtle effect would be for the scene's needs. Aside from this and one other instance much later in the film, the subwoofer was well-integrated into the soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menus are animated, and accompanied by Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded audio. They are 16x9 Enhanced.

Theatrical Trailer

    This ninety-five second trailer is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.33:1 with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound. It is very good at advertising the film without giving any but the most basic plot details away.

Cast Filmographies

    Filmographies for Emilio Estevez, Mick Jagger, Rene Russo, and Anthony Hopkins are available under this submenu.

Web Links

    Someday, distributors and film studios are going to get the hint and drop these from their discs. If we want to find their website, then that's what search engines are for.

    Information about the Region 1 disc was a little hard to find, but it appears the two discs are identically specified. The only difference is that the Region 1 disc is packaged in a snapper case, making ours the version of choice, although it would have been nice to see a PAL formatted disc.

    Freejack is a film based upon an interesting idea that it ultimately fails to capitalise on, thanks in no small part to miscasting and a rather shaky script. Emilio Estevez's career was in a decline at the time this film was made, and Mick Jagger was and still is a walking museum, making his appearance in a science fiction film just that little more unnerving.

    The video transfer is very good.

    The audio transfer is very good.

    The extras are minimal.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall