Cyberjack (film)

Cyberjack (Japanese: サイバー・ジャック) is a 1995 Canadian–Japanese[1] science-fiction action film directed by Robert Lee, starring Michael Dudikoff, Brion James and Suki Kaiser.

Dudikoff stars as a traumatized cop turned janitor trying to stop a violent anarchist terrorist from injecting himself with a revolutionary techno-organic virus, which would make him all-powerful.

Haunted by memories of the murder of his partner by anarchist terrorist Nassim, former policeman Nick James has become a debt-ridden shell of his former self, and works as a janitor for computer science firm Quantum.

Showing no regard for the risks, Nassim takes over the Quantum headquarters with a heavily armed commando unit, killing several high-ranking officers including Jervis and Alex's father.

[2] Cyberjack was the first production of Everest Entertainment, a new company co-founded by Crackerjack producer John A. Curtis after his exit from North American Releasing, and transposed the same formula to a futuristic setting.

[5] CGI supervisor Alan Marques went through three different software suites, including market leader Wavefront, whose glossy images that did not mesh with the real world footage.

Writing in trade publication Variety, Ken Eisner assessed that "the set-in-the-near-future saga looks way better than its $2 million budget, thanks to nifty special effects and solid set design.

Writing in VideoHound's Sci-Fci Experience, Carol A. Schwartz found that its "inanity wastes some decent f/x and cool gadgets, including a police robot who's a neat riff on RoboCop's ED-209".

[29] According to Robert Lee, the trailer for Cyberjack had so impressed Tom Berenger, for whom he worked as assistant director on another film, that the star had booked him to direct his upcoming production, a British medieval fantasy called Pendragon.

[30] After falling on hard times during the making of its next film Laserhawk, the embattled Everest Entertainment was taken over by the owner of Vancouver-based video game studio Motion Works, which itself would disappear soon after.

Before its demise, Motion Works attempted to monetize the Cyberjack IP by adapting it into a Myst-like point & click adventure game, which used additional views of Vancouver to flesh out the film's world.