"Evil Gets An Upgrade"
Disclaimer: When it comes to the infamous debate of Freddy vs. Jason, this review comes from the perspective of someone who is firmly in the "Elm Street" camp. I grew up fascinated by the surreal settings of the Nightmare On Elm Street franchise, as well as Freddy Kruger's sadistic wit. While I didn't hate the Friday The 13th series, Jason's silence and the stalk-kill sequences did nothing for me.
The reason I bring this up is because, while many fans felt burned by the goofy direction this movie took the series, I delighted in it. Therefore I think it deserves to be mentioned that, if you are a fan of the Friday the 13th series, there is a good chance that this film will piss you off.
Jason X comes off like a fan fiction done extremely right. I say this because pretty much everything about it screams "unofficial". Not necessarily in terms of quality, just the "stand-alone" and "spin-off" vibe that it gives off. For example: when we last saw Jason, he literally went to Hell. Yet when this movie begins, he is in the custody of the Government. How did Jason escape Hell? Why is there a research facility at Crystal Lake? How did the military manage to chain up Jason Voorhees? The movie gives exactly zero fucks in explaining any of this.
Right off the bat, Jason, played by Kane Hodder, escapes (again; how? No fucks given) and murders just about everyone in the facility. Scientist Rowan LaFontaine (Lexa Doig) manages to freeze him in a cryogenic pod, but not before he sticks both the pod and her with his machete, freezing both of them and causing the room to automatically seal.
455 years later, they are found by a professor and his students on some kind of Science field trip. Jason and Rowen get taken back to the shop, Rowen gets thawed out and Jason gets taken to the morgue. Yes there's a morgue on the ship, just go with it. Of course Jason wakes up, as Jason does, and begins murdering the ever-loving hell out of anything that moves. As Jason does.
Oh but the plot synopsis does not even begin to properly capture the delicious absurdity of this movie. You see, while Director James Isaac may not have been as obvious with making the material as meta as, say, the Scream franchise (a character doesn't just list out the rules, for example), there are definite winks to the audience. You get the impression that they realized the weight of Jason X's ridiculous premise, and consciously decided to fully embrace it. In my opinion this was the right call. I can't imagine taking the idea of Jason being in space too seriously.
The script, the acting, the dialogue, etc. all reflect this less-then-serious route. Sometimes it manifests in off-the-wall humor; other times it's the self-referential scenes that unabashedly poke fun at slasher tropes. From the sleazy professor trying to entice Jason with riches or fame, to the dominatrix android, to nanotechnology reconstructing Jason as a cyborg (called "Uber Jason), this Friday the 13th wears its campiness like a badge.
That's not to say that common themes of the series aren't present. Jason is still an unstoppable killing machine that can't be reasoned with. The teenagers are still horny. The kills are still gruesome. There is even a scene that takes place in a holographic Crystal Lake.
As I said in the beginning, I enjoy the wit of Freddy Kruger more than the stoic silence of Jason. Perhaps that's why this movie felt so off to so many long time Friday fans; it almost felt like the tone came from the Elm Street series. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this flick. I'm not saying that Jason X is a great movie. But I am saying that it's a great bad movie. If that's what you're into then sit down, grab some popcorn, and let the bodies hit the floor.
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