Review of Johnny Mnemonic (1995) by Jon M — 16 Apr 2013

Adapted from William Gibson's 1981 short story of the same name, (Gibson did the screenplay here), and, to date, the only feature film made by artist and music video director Robert Longo, Johnny Mnemonic has some good ideas on display, but a late studio re-edit where they took 8 minutes out, which happened to leave the story lop-sided and with holes along the way, which is a shame, as it had potential.

In 2021, Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is a mnemonic courier, which means that thanks to an implant in his brain, he can carry information discreetly without having to use the internet, where people could hack it.

His handler Ralfi (Udo Kier), assigns him on a trip to Beijing, to collect some information. But, he finds himself under threat from the Yakuza, and as soon as he gets back to America, he's being targeted for the information he carries by Pharmacology executive Takahashi (Takeshi Kitano) and he's hired trained assassin Street Preacher (Dolph Lundgren) to find Johnny, and get that information.

Johnny goes into hiding, and discovers why people are wanting this data. It's a good idea, but it came out too soon, when computer graphics were in their infancy and they look dated even now. But, this is a dry run for what Reeves would eventually come to do in The Matrix (1999), but despite having a good cast, that's not going to save this film.