Cyberjack (1995) User Reviews

Die Hard ripoff with actual funny one liners

[KHayes666 · 3/10 · 29 May 2005]

The long and the short of this movie is basically Die Hard set in the future. Same cop as hero, same terrorist with one liners, same dumb henchmen, same police squad arriving 20 minutes after the shyt hits the fan. Cyberjack is interesting for this reason alone, if you liked Die Hard you'll kinda like this one.

The plot is a down on his luck ex-cop gets thrust into a hero's role when a terrorist from his past along with unfriendly helpers show up to steal a computer virus. You know the rest, good guy goes through the henchmen before nailing the boss and getting the girl.

Some stuff I should point out. There is one henchmen with a Jamaican accent who smokes and his name is Reef. Not that this is stereotypical or anything.

The one liners from Naseem the bad guy are funny though. "I'm in a room with a bunch of helpless people. In a few moments, one of them is gonna contract a 44 calibur sinus infection!" and "You gonna hand over the virus, or do I have to put a very large hole in your frontal lobe?"

Ripoff but interesting....3 out of 10

Pretty standard stuff

[Tito-8 · 4/10 · 24 March 1999]

This film didn't leave much of an impression on me, and that's about what I expected. The action is okay, the humour is generally sad, and the plot is competent, but certainly nothing to brag about. This film is also VERY predictable, but then again, I've never seen a sci-fi action flick that wasn't. So basically, if you're a fan of the genre, then there's no reason for you not to like this film, but I have a strong feeling that most people would get little or no enjoyment out of a movie this forgettable.

"Break the code Dr. Royce, not my heart"

[hwgrayson · 3/10 · 22 February 2024]

Another film paying tribute to 'Die Hard' or ripping it off. What you will. Michael Dudikoff plays Nick James the janitor who is in the science research building he works in when terrorists burst in to steal a virus. The actual nature of the virus escaped me but apparently it will give the main villain Nassim god-like powers. Nick though is an ex-cop so he takes down the villains by the usual way of crawling through air vents. The film is full of clichés. There is even a cop who says, "What a day to commit smoking". Nassim's minions are an assorted bunch of quirky characters of course. There is the standard meet-cute. One has seen this stuff scores of times before. The best thing is Brion James as Nassim who is entertainingly over the top and steals the movie in every scene that he is in. There are also some nice explosions to liven up the screen. Otherwise this is a chore to sit through.

one of Dudikoff's weakest

[MichaelM24 · 11 April 2002]

CYBERJACK (or VIRTUAL ASSASSIN, as it's known in the States) is one of Dudikoff's weakest movies, despite some good moments and Brion James at his over-the-top best. Dudikoff's character, as ex-cop now working as a janitor(!) at a computer company, remains something a mystery throughout the film. He appears to be killed in the film's prologue, but no mention is made afterwards of how he survived. There are hints that maybe he's some kind of "virtual" version of his former self, but that plot point is never carried out with. (It's like trying to figure out if Deckard was a human or a Replicant in BLADE RUNNER.) James shows up with his motley crew of Village People rejects to steal a computer virus and have it implanted in himself. The effects are mediocre, some better than others, none of them anything special. My favorite moment is the sequence where Dudikoff uses a series of transmitter cubes that project holographic images of himself, leading some guards on a wild goose chase through the halls, culminating in a funny moment in which the real Dudikoff is painfully revealed to one guard. The effects of a large robot (like the one in ROBOCOP) are decent, but otherwise, it's a pretty lackluster film of interest only to Dudikoff completists.

Another Forgettable Dudikoff movie

[deshan-78580 · 4/10 · 19 September 2015]

Before I start this review, I will let you guys know that this review may contain some spoiler alerts, viewer discretion is advised. Virtual Assassin (or Cyberjack outside the US) is a 1995 direct-to- video action sci-fi movie starring the one & only, Michael Dudikoff. The plot of this film is about a group of assassins trying to get the virus in order to conquer the world, it leaves us to the Janitor Nick (aka Michael Dudikoff) to stop them from taking over the world. This movie had potential to be decent, but instead it ended up being quite lame & forgettable. The action scenes are alright & some special effects are alright as well, but crippled with a poor & cliché as hell storyline, sub par acting, uninteresting characters and more. I'll give this movie a straight up 4 out of 10. Unless you have nothing else better to do, I suggest you skip this movie, the end.

Rated R for strong action violence, coarse language, and a graphic nudity scene.

Amusingly overblown Die Hard copy

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 14 August 2018]

VIRTUAL ASSASSIN is an amusingly overblown B-movie thriller with futuristic touches. I had no idea what it would be to begin with, except for a vehicle for low-rent action star Michael Dudikoff, but after a slightly slow start things eventually make sense: this is nothing more than a sci-fi styled DIE HARD rip-off, with Dudikoff's janitor tangling with a bunch of typical over-the-top bad guys led by the typically exceptional Brion James. The budget is low and the action scenes cheap, and there's laughable dialogue throughout, but for fans of '90s cheese VIRTUAL ASSASSIN isn't too bad. The film has a fast pace and plenty of action to see it through, and the dependable Dudikoff gets the job done, as always.

"He looks like a lab rat on steroids."

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 23 February 2023]

American Ninja Michael Dudikoff is cast as Nick James, a former cop in an Earth of the future, haunted by his inability to save his partner. Now he's a boozer, a terminally unlucky gambler, and a *janitor* (!) at a technology company. But he's still the best bet to save the day when cyber-villain Nassim (the late, great bad guy specialist Brion James) and his incompetent henchmen take over the building and take hostages. Nassims' goal is to acquire a cutting-edge, partly biological virus and achieve world domination.

A shameless, B-level imitation of "Die Hard" (the script even has Nick talking to himself at some points), "Cyberjack" a.k.a. "Virtual Assassin" is overall extremely routine. The characters, the plotting, and the action scenes are delivered with no real zeal. Much of the supporting cast is pretty nondescript, with star attraction Dudikoff not coming off much better - despite his attempts to actually deliver a performance. At least Suki Kaiser ("The Virgin Suicides") is excellent eye candy as an egghead essential to Nassims' plans, and James was always great value, whether acting in mainstream movies or independent clunkers like this one. He's at his hammy best (and sports a ridiculous wig), managing to save the picture to some degree.

Most of the digital effects in this sci-fi flick are no more than passable, although there is one fairly decent robot effect on hand.

Best of all is the sequence where Dudikoff uses some gizmos to project holographic images of himself, allowing him to get the drop on one of the ultra-moronic henchmen (most of whom can't hit the broad side of a barn, in the action movie tradition).

The oddest element is that the movie never makes it clear if the Dudikoff we see throughout the balance of the story is "real", because Nassim thought he had killed off his nemesis long ago.

Overall, this is one to see only if you're a Brion James fan. If you're a Dudikoff fan, just revisit "Avenging Force" instead.

Five out of 10.

Virtual Assassin rises above from the usual Die Hard knockoff.

[tarbosh22000 · 7/10 · 16 May 2014]

Set sometime in the future, Virtual Assassin is the story of Nick James (Dudikoff), a cop who, after the death of his partner at the hands of the evil Nassim (James) hits the skids. Due to his drinking and gambling, he lives in a trailer and is generally down and out. He gets a job as a janitor in a computer research facility, where Dr. Royce (Kaiser) is working on containing a deadly virus. Then along comes Nassim back into Nick's life - he and his band of goons overtake the facility, with the aim of controlling the virus and Nassim becoming the lord and master of the universe because he holds untold power. But they didn't count on one thing: a badass janitor who intends to foil their nefarious plans. Will Nick James settle the score with Nassim? Or will he become the ultimate VIRTUAL ASSASSIN? Find out today! It's comforting to see Michael Dudikoff's hair is still awesome in the future. Virtual Assassin is one of the better "DieHardInA" movies we've seen to date. Besides Die Hard (1988), the movie seems to be influenced by Blade Runner (1982), Robocop (1987), The Terminator (1984), Firepower (1993) and Freejack (1992) (the movie's original title, Cyberjack, would seem to indicate that). But, far and away the film that Virtual Assassin most closely resembles is Virtuosity (1995). It borrows many ideas and plot points from that movie. Even the re-titling would indicate the desire to bring more "Virtuosity" to the goings-on. But it was the 90's after all and cyber-things were huge. Hackers, VR, giant helmets and The Lawnmower Man were everywhere. So it was only a matter of time until two of the most popular DTV concepts of the 90's - cyber-matters and DieHardInA - merged, and thus we now have Virtual Assassin for our viewing enjoyment.

Dudikoff rarely disappoints, and here he's great as the grizzled, burned-out ex-cop who just wants to listen to baseball on a transistor radio (you'd think the technology would be a bit better there - everything else around him is a tad more high-tech), but has to not only face plenty of goons in order to save the day, but also a law-enforcement robot which doesn't at all resemble ED-209. Brazenly, there's something called "Skynet" - where have we heard that before? That seems especially blatant. Dudikoff's personality carries the movie - but luckily it also has a good pace, some good ideas (besides the stolen ones) and is entertaining. Helping with that is the performance of Brion James, which is especially animated. Here he seems to be playing yet another albino baddie - let's not forget Nightmare at Noon (1988) - but he's better here. He makes a great villain to face off with Dudikoff. Face off with Dudikoff would also make a great name for a talk show.

Of course, because this is a Die Hard-esque DTV movie from the 90's, there has to be one of those super-annoying, skinny, Eurotrash underlings, here named Numb (Cross). Probably the funniest underling is Reef (McKenzie) who is a stereotypical Jamaican who wants to trick Nick James into "smoking some spliff" with him. The impressively-named Topaz Hasfal-Schou as Meghan, Nassim's evil female sidekick, resembles Robin Quivers, and Jerry Wasserman as Neil Jervis deserves some recognition as being one of those working actors you see a lot, but never makes the talk show or magazine circuit. We applaud actors like Wasserman. But just why all Nassim's underlings are dressed in strange Halloween costumes is not explained.

Thanks to some nice touches and Dudikoff's performance, Virtual Assassin rises above its lowly station as a humble 90's Cyber-Die Hard. We enjoyed it, and the 90's nostalgia factor has only ensured its enjoyability for the foreseeable future.

Pretty enjoyable

[megasharktopus · 8/10 · 14 August 2010]

I thought the movie was a lot of fun. Yes, it was a Die Hard rip off, but Michael Dudikoff is just as entertaining to me as Bruce Willis, so I enjoyed it. Some of the dialog is so bad its funny. Overall, pretty underrated. It's not as good as American Ninja or Platoon Leader, but still not one of his worst. I'd say this is probably on the level of Chain of Command, also an enjoyable movie. Dudikoff plays the part perfectly, mostly laid back, but ready to kick ass if he needs to. Brion James is good, way over the top, but still one of his more memorable parts. His faux British accent comes and goes at the drop of a hat, and that is pretty ridiculous, but it just adds to the humor of the film. The effects are also very bad, like a lot of bad CGI from the early nineties. Bottom line, if you like Michael Dudikoff, you'll like this movie. If not, you won't.

Cyber Assassin

[fmarkland32 · 6/10 · 23 August 2020]

Michael Dudikoff stars as Nick James, an ex-cop turned Janitor who (through plot contrivance) ends up doing battle against Brion James, a terrorist trying to rule the world via cyber space in this surprisingly entertaining goof-fest. Cyberjack AKA Virtual Assassin is a pretty standard issue Die Hard riff with an absolutely silly idea to base it on the villain trying to take over cyberspace. It's actually rather well made for a straight to video rip off and James is a wonderful villain with very quotable lines. My favorite being 'Tonight, God will be lucky if I return his phone calls!' being the stand out. Dudikoff is more lively than than usual playing the role tongue in cheek and while the film is fairly low budget, the special effects have their moments and while things follow a predictable path, there are a few nice touches (Like Dudikoff using a Robot device to help fight the bad guys) that give it a jolt. Cyberjack then, while certainly no classic, and doesn't match the American Ninja or Avenging Force charm, is probably Dudikoff's best 90s endeavor. I'm just more surprised that I liked it more than I thought I would.

* *1/2 Out Of 4-(Pretty Good)