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Johnny Mnemonic, 1995
Step on up to this film's portrayal of the horrifying future of . . . January 2021.
Yes, imagine my surprise when someone in this film mentions the current date and it's something like January 2021. The movie's portrayal of a near future is, above anything else, a fascinating window into the limits of imagination when it comes to the future of technological advancement.
Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is an information smuggler. Using an implant in his brain, he stores valuable information until it can be safely downloaded. In exchange for the ability to use the implant, he has given up his long-term memory. As the film begins, Johnny takes on one final job to earn enough money to get the implant removed and restore his memory of his childhood. But the job proves more complicated than expected, and involves a vast conspiracy related to a plague that has infected half of the population.
I know that Keanu Reeves gets a lot of crap for his acting sometimes, but I think that this is a good example of a film that didn't know how to use its main character. The script, which is adapted from a William Gibson novel, struggles to portray characters who feel like actual people.
A huge part of the issue here is the clumsy world-building. About every other conversation feels more like an exposition dump than anything a person would actually say. It's not uncommon to get lines like "So she has NAS?" "Yes, NAS, also known as Nerve Attenuation Syndrome. The same disease that has infected half the planet. No known cure, and huge companies getting rich off of treating it."
Reeves (along with co-stars Dina Meyer, Henry Rollins, Ice-T, and even Takeshi Kitano) are so frequently saddled with clumsy dialogue that it's hard to connect with them or empathize with them. Kitano probably does the best with his role--the head of a large pharmaceutical company whose daughter died of NAS--but that's due to a lot of heavy lifting on his part.
As for the vision of the future? Yikes. Probably the worst moment of the whole thing is when Reeves has to go exploring on the internet. Donning a ridiculous VR-type visor and a pair of gloves, Reeves is forced into an absurd mime act whereby he must act out "physically" interacting with the internet. Years later, Minority Report would do a much better job of showing similar technology. But Johnny Mnemonic seems worried that the audience won't understand anything that isn't shown in the most literal sense of the word. Late in the film, a computer figure says that she is being "burned out" of a database, and we are helpfully shown literal flames dancing around her figure.
There are some innovative glimpses here and there, such as when Johnny discovers that one of the underground hackers is actually a dolphin. There's even some good humor, like when Johnny discovers that the aforementioned dolphin will be performing the delicate brain-straining operation to download the secret information. There is also the occasional interesting image, like a huge pile of plastic-wrapped mannequins or a series of trenchcoated men lining up to take an elevator (echoes of The Matrix probably make this moment seem cooler than it actually is).
Mostly this movie is too silly to enjoy as "real" sci-fi, but not silly enough to hit the heights needed for cult fun status.
Johnny Mnemonic, 1995
Step on up to this film's portrayal of the horrifying future of . . . January 2021.
Yes, imagine my surprise when someone in this film mentions the current date and it's something like January 2021. The movie's portrayal of a near future is, above anything else, a fascinating window into the limits of imagination when it comes to the future of technological advancement.
Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is an information smuggler. Using an implant in his brain, he stores valuable information until it can be safely downloaded. In exchange for the ability to use the implant, he has given up his long-term memory. As the film begins, Johnny takes on one final job to earn enough money to get the implant removed and restore his memory of his childhood. But the job proves more complicated than expected, and involves a vast conspiracy related to a plague that has infected half of the population.
I know that Keanu Reeves gets a lot of crap for his acting sometimes, but I think that this is a good example of a film that didn't know how to use its main character. The script, which is adapted from a William Gibson novel, struggles to portray characters who feel like actual people.
A huge part of the issue here is the clumsy world-building. About every other conversation feels more like an exposition dump than anything a person would actually say. It's not uncommon to get lines like "So she has NAS?" "Yes, NAS, also known as Nerve Attenuation Syndrome. The same disease that has infected half the planet. No known cure, and huge companies getting rich off of treating it."
Reeves (along with co-stars Dina Meyer, Henry Rollins, Ice-T, and even Takeshi Kitano) are so frequently saddled with clumsy dialogue that it's hard to connect with them or empathize with them. Kitano probably does the best with his role--the head of a large pharmaceutical company whose daughter died of NAS--but that's due to a lot of heavy lifting on his part.
As for the vision of the future? Yikes. Probably the worst moment of the whole thing is when Reeves has to go exploring on the internet. Donning a ridiculous VR-type visor and a pair of gloves, Reeves is forced into an absurd mime act whereby he must act out "physically" interacting with the internet. Years later, Minority Report would do a much better job of showing similar technology. But Johnny Mnemonic seems worried that the audience won't understand anything that isn't shown in the most literal sense of the word. Late in the film, a computer figure says that she is being "burned out" of a database, and we are helpfully shown literal flames dancing around her figure.
There are some innovative glimpses here and there, such as when Johnny discovers that one of the underground hackers is actually a dolphin. There's even some good humor, like when Johnny discovers that the aforementioned dolphin will be performing the delicate brain-straining operation to download the secret information. There is also the occasional interesting image, like a huge pile of plastic-wrapped mannequins or a series of trenchcoated men lining up to take an elevator (echoes of The Matrix probably make this moment seem cooler than it actually is).
Mostly this movie is too silly to enjoy as "real" sci-fi, but not silly enough to hit the heights needed for cult fun status.