Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC

From: [email-masked] (Evelyn C. Leeper)
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:29:16 GMT

JOHNNY MNEMONIC
		       A film review by James Berardinelli
			Copyright 1995 James Berardinelli
 
RATING (0 TO 10):  3.7 
 
U.S. Availability: wide release 5/26/95 
Running Length: 1:38 
MPAA Classification: R (Violence, profanity, mature themes) 
Theatrical Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 
 
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Dina Meyer, Ice-T, Takeshi, Dolph Lundgren 
Director: Robert Longo 
Producer: Don Carmody 
Screenplay: William Gibson based on his story 
Cinematography: Francois Protat 
Music: Brad Fiedel 
U.S. Distributor: TriStar Pictures 
 
     JOHNNY MNEMONIC has an interesting premise:  it's the second decade 
of the twenty-first century and information espionage has become so 
commonplace that human "couriers" are used to transport electronic data.  
These couriers have implants hardwired into their brains to accommodate 
uploading and downloading gigabytes, and they get paid handsomely for 
their services.  Meanwhile, the world is in the grip of a mysterious 
ailment called Nerve Attenuation Syndrome, which threatens half the 
population with neural seizures. 
 
     Unfortunately, once you get beyond this background, the film has 
little to offer aside from a second-rate cast, a dumb story, and cheesy 
special effects.  Computer-generated visuals a la THE LAWNMOWER MAN 
aren't nearly as stunning or interesting as director Robert Longo thinks 
they are.  Aside from being relatively easy to create (most theaters use 
this sort of thing in their self-promotional material), they get dull 
pretty quickly.  Alas, that doesn't prevent Longo from overusing them ad 
nauseam.  Apparently, he spent his entire effects budget on these, 
because several blue screen shots look embarrassingly fake.   
 
     Keanu Reeves, an actor of exceptionally limited scope, plays the 
title character with about as much wattage as a pen flashlight.  Reeves 
alternates between understated and over-the-top with alarming 
regularity, creating several unintentionally hilarious moments.  As 
evidence of how poor this performance is, consider that Dolph Lundgren, 
as a bionic villain, acts circles around Reeves.  That's right, I said 
Dolph Lundgren.   
  
     Johnny's head capacity is 80 gigabytes, but he uses a "doubler" to 
raise it to 160.  Nevertheless, on his latest job, a group of scientists 
have downloaded twice that, leading to a potentially-deadly "leakage" 
situation--if Johnny doesn't get the information out of his head in 24 
hours, his brain will explode.  The problem is, a group of yakuza 
(Japanese mobsters) are after him, because what he's carrying is worth a 
whole lot of money.  So Johnny's on the run through the decaying, 
futuristic city of Newark, New Jersey, with no download code, and a 
protector (Dina Meyer) who's only sticking with him until he comes up 
with the cash to pay her off, or until she falls in love with him 
(whichever comes first--you guess the answer). 
 
     Clearly, JOHNNY MNEMONIC is trying to be a BLADE RUNNER for the 
'90s, using cyber-space as its playground.  The main problem is the 
script, which is as dumb as action stories get.  Just because a film 
takes place in a futuristic setting doesn't mean that all logic and 
coherence have to go out the window.  Above all, why should we care 
whether Johnny's head explodes when Reeves' performance fails to spark 
any empathy for his character?  JOHNNY MNEMONIC is brash, flashy, and 
loud, but it lacks a few key ingredients--namely heart, soul, and 
intelligence. 
 
- James Berardinelli ([email-masked])