Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

... it's still a shot in the arm.Before it wears out its welcome in the last 1/2 hour (too many set-ups where people "break" and run off as though dance routine-ing, when someone had the upper hand on the other, guns incl.), this is a rich body of material come to life with recognizable actors who, one would think, would want to be part of the next generation of art/culture/thought: Ice-T and Henry Rollins in a William Gibson movie? Lo Teks brought up out of the story (et al.) and located in a milieu where they could broadcast back, using technology that, by then (1995), would be familiar to filmgoers? Methinks there was more than a sly hint or two up Gibson's sleeve as towards pushing the audience a bit "left-of-center" and more towards a sustainable future that didn't entail asking corporations in their benevolence or governments in their competence and infinite wisdom to look after us. Radical chic don't work if it ain't "got that swing," though, and this movie's a hoot and a holler ("All ... I ... want ... is: laundered .... shirts, a (hand gesture) club sandwich ... and colllld Mexican beer," or however the line goes -- yeah buddy, that's how they get ya!), and fun for people who're willing to climb on board.I'm surprised I regretted missing it more than I thought I would ... 2018's a little late to catch up, but as they say better than never. Now go read Neuromancer before I look at you funny and you start stammering out excuses.

My review of the underrated cyberpunk film, Johnny Mnemonic(1995) starring Keanu Reeves, Dina Meyer, Ice-T, Takeshi Kitano, Denis Akiyama, Dolph Lundgren, Henry Rollins, Barbara Sukowa, and Udo Kier. Johnny Mnemonic is a 1995 American cyberpunk sci-fi action film directed by Robert Longo. It was loosely based on the short story "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson.Keanu Reeves plays the title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. The film portrays Gibson's dystopia view of the future with the world dominated by mega corporations and with strong East Asian influences. Seriously this movie kicks ass. Keanu Reeves and Dina Meyer are awesome. I love when An assassin try's to kill Johnny he aim his gun on his back and says "Time to die" and Johnny says "Time" and he switch's his watch and the bomb explodes. Dina Meyer as body guard Jane throws a grenade and kills a few assassins. Dina Meyer also co started in her latest movie in the 90's Starship Troopers unfortunately her character in that movie was killed. I really love Dolph Lundgren as Street Preacher "It's Jesus time!" "HALT SINNERS!" Dolph shows up after next 45.mins. in the movie I wish he would have showed earlier. He's acting is still pretty good. Ice-T and Udo Kier did a great performance in their roles. This movie is very underrated an solid Action flick I wish there would be more Action flick like are this today. In my opinion The Matrix and Johnny Mnemonic are my top 2 best Action Sci-fi flicks from Keanu Reeves of the 90's. Movies like are this don't exist today anymore. The film was shot on location in Canada, with Toronto and Montreal filling in for the film's Newark, New Jersey and Beijing settings. A number of local monuments, including Toronto's Union Station and Montreal's skyline and Jacques Cartier Bridge, feature prominently.The film premiered in Japan first on April 15, 1995, with a longer version (103 Min's) that is closer to the director's cut and features a previously composed score by Mychael Danna, different editing, and more scenes with Japanese star Takeshi Kitano and Dolph Lundgren notably. Val Kilmer was originally set to star, but left the project after he was offered the role of Batman in Batman Forever.The character Molly Millions, from the original story, was changed to Jane for the film. They are very similar characters except that Molly had retractable razor blades under her fingernails and augmented vision. It is believed that the change was due to the "Molly" character being attached to the rights for any possible future Neuromancer film adaptation.The script was rumored to have been dumped on the doorstep of Keanu Reeves' house, a tactic that piqued his interest and led to him accepting the role of Johnny.B.J. Rack, one of the producers, is still credited although he left the project due to creative differences with director Robert Longo First of all, the prologue is different and more poignant. Here it is, in this exact form:"New century. Age of terminal capitalism.The armored towers of multinational corporations rise above the ruins of the democracies that gave them birth.Soldiers of the Yakuza defend them.Hackers, data-pirates, LoTek media rebels are the enemy, burrowing like rats in the walls of cyberspace.A new plague convulses the cities: Nerve Attenuation Syndrome, incurable, fatal, epidemic, bringing fear and misery as old as the species itself.But the most precious data is sometimes entrusted to elite private agents, wet wired to function as human data banks.Mnemonic couriers."10/10

The film is based on William Gibson's short story "Johnny Mnemonic" and also draws heavily on his later novel "Virtual Light". In this film, Keanu Reeves plays a man who smuggles data from cyberspace. 4 years later Keanu Reeves starred as a computer hacker who learns about "The Matrix".William Gibson is the writer of this movie and tries to shoehorn several of his concepts into the "Johnny Mnemonic" movie. The differences will probably annoy Gibsons fans. The biggest problem is that the movie feels like a bunch of ideas thrown together with no real connection. This is a movie with Yakuza killers , fanatic priest , a data decoding dolphin; some girl's soul stuck in a corporate computer system and laser whips. Some of them are cool and work , but most of them don't work at all. The story doesn't really tell anything deep or interesting about the future world.The movie is badly directed by Robert Longo who isn't a professional director , but a… painter (!). Keanu Reeves can't act and the other actors (including raper Ice-T) are on his level of bad acting. There is one surprisingly good performance here – Dolph Lundgren who plays fanatic priest. He's a colorful , funny and memorable character , even if he feels out of place here.There are some cool CGI special effects sowing "what is going inside in the Internet" , even if they feel pointless. The action elements are weak .I give it 2/10. Better watch "Strange days" instead.

In a future where data is power, protagonist Johnny makes a living smuggling the data in his own brain. The upgrades enabling him to do this meant removing some of his own memories and now he is ready to retire and wants them back… inevitably he must do just one more job first. The job involves carrying stolen data from Beijing to Newark, New Jersey. There are two problems though; firstly there is more data than he is equipped to handle so he will die if it isn't extracted in forty eight hours and secondly the original owners of the data want it back and have sent Yakuza killers after him to retrieve his head! Once in Newark he learns that his employer has double-crossed him; he is forced to go on the run with cybernetically enhanced bodyguard Jane to find somebody else capable of extracting the data and delivering it to those who need it.This film had promise but unfortunately ends up fairly average. The world shown is a cliché dystopia; the corporate elite live the good life and dress in sharp suits while everybody else seems to live in a wasteland in rough clothes and sporting facial tattoos. Keanu Reeves is okay as Johnny, and Udo Kier is amusing as his agent but Takeshi Kitano is wasted as the corporate bad guy. The computer special effects are fairly dated now. If you can ignore these flaws or even enjoy their cheesiness the film isn't too bad. Overall I'd say it is an okay way to kill an hour and a half but if you want a really good cyberpunk film from that era watch 'Ghost in the Shell' or 'The Matrix'.