From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 6 14:44:30 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!uunet!iway!sct.fr!rain.fr!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: ecl@mtgp003.mt.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03673 Keywords: author=Berardinelli Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: JBERARDINELL@delphi.com (berardinelli,james) Organization: - Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:29:16 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 70 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3045 rec.arts.sf.reviews:778 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 (jberardinell@delphi.com) From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 6 14:44:30 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!uunet!iway!sct.fr!rain.fr!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: reederp@lot.eng.ohio-state.edu (P Douglas Reeder) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03674 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Reeder Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com ~Reply-To: reederp@lot.eng.ohio-state.edu (P Douglas Reeder) Organization: Electrical Engineering Dept., Ohio State University Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:29:48 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 45 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3046 rec.arts.sf.reviews:779 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by P. Douglas Reeder Copyright 1995 P. Douglas Reeder In summary: fairly good cyberpunk action adventure. Keanu Reeves (playing Johnny) does a fine job on a character without any great depth. Jane (sorry, I can't remember the actress's name) is fine as a romantic interest, which is how the character in the movie is written, but is not unduly plausible as a bodyguard. Ice-T, playing the head of the Lo-Teks (which are aren't that low of tech) is fine, mostly because he doesn't have that many lines. He has the right visual appearance to carry the character. Costuming and sets are well done, convincing, and (where appropriate) tasteful. (The sets look properly futuristic, though we all know that the future is going to look a lot like the present, only with better computer graphics. The cyberspace sequences are esthetically pleasing and not overdone, i.e. don't take up an excessive amount of screen time. Perhaps the most convincing scene is Johhny wearing data gloves and a VR headset, making motions that seem very plausible to manipulate things in cyberspace. The screenplay is a good adaptation of the short story, and uses all the short story elements well, adding some elements that fit well, such as a degenerative nerve disease. There is some gore, but not overly much, especially for a current action-adventure movie. No sex, and not more than a flash of nudity., and only one kiss, not too steamy. This is good, because it wouldn't work, not without radically changing the characters. As it is, Jane is too sentimental to be convincing as a bodyguard. The movie doesn't get any deeper than the action-adventure level, though I can't think of any particularly obvious way it could. I suppose the main characters could have been a bit deeper. The supporting characters are well done, having personality. Johnny's most revealing scene is where he says he wants his shirts pressed like they are at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. How deep! Jane, we have no idea why she is what she is now or how she got there. Okay, that's definitely a missed opportunity. -- P. Douglas Reeder reederp@er4.eng.ohio-state.edu From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 6 14:44:30 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!uunet!iway!sct.fr!rain.fr!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: legeros@cybernetics.net (Michael J. Legeros) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03675 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Legeros Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com ~Reply-To: legeros@cybernetics.net (Michael J. Legeros) Organization: SAS Institute, Inc. Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:31:18 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 49 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3047 rec.arts.sf.reviews:780 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by Michael John Legeros Copyright 1995 Michael John Legeros (Tri) Directed by Robert Longo Written by William Gibson, from his short story Cast Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Takeshi, Ice-T, Dina Meyer, Udo Kier, Denis Akiyama, Henry Rollins, and Barbara Sukowa. MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for language, violence, and gore) Running Time 100 minutes Reviewed at General Cinemas at Pleasant Valley, Raleigh (28MAY95) == We're back in BLADE RUNNER territory with this one, conceptual artist Robert Longo's vision of a William Gibson-inspired future where information is the commodity to kill for. Front and center is Johnny (Keanu Reeves), a "cyber-courier" who smuggles data via a "wet-wired" implant. He's ready to quit the biz and get a portion of his long-term memory restored, but, first, he has to finish one last, dangerous job.. The pressing problem in JOHNNY MNEMONIC is that Keanu Reeves seems to have forgotten how to play an action hero since his stint on SPEED. He's walking wood in a forest of stiffs that includes Henry Rollins, Ice-T, and Dina Meyer. (Dolph Lundgren's street preacher is in an acting category all its own. :-) Without a believable performance between them, all we can do is sit back and watch the atmosphere, which is pretty good in places. The VR sequences are way cool, but the physical FX--such as miniatures and mattes--leave a lot to be desired. Watch out for those bad blue-screens! We wouldn't mind a minute of JOHNNY MNEMONIC if the action played better. Too bad the debut director isn't very strong in this de- partment. His big finale is a sloppy, silly mess that runs twenty minutes too long, which is way past the time that most of our "wet- wired" processors have already shut down. BOTTOM LINE: YATF (Yet Another Tortured Future). Skip it. Grade: D+ -- Michael J. Legeros Raleigh, North Carolina From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 6 14:44:30 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!uunet!iway!sct.fr!rain.fr!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: ben.hoffman@bcsbbs.com (Ben Hoffman) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03675 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=B.Hoffman Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com ~Reply-To: ben.hoffman@bcsbbs.com (Ben Hoffman) Organization: The BCS BBS - Los Angeles, CA - 213-962-2902 Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:31:43 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 39 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3048 rec.arts.sf.reviews:781 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by Ben Hoffman Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman No one I have known has actually ever accused Keanu Reeves of being able to act. This film will change no one's mind. Johnny (Reeves) keeps a straight face throughout the whole film. If we are looking to give him credit it must be that the plot is so ridiculous, no one could have done any better. The film opens with a big splash across the screen: INTERNET. Innocent me, I thought maybe at last they have made a movie based on real scientific electronic know-how. Forget it. That is the last of any credible science fiction. In the 21st Century, the most important asset is information. To keep things secret and unavailable to competing corporations, "mnemonic couriers" are employed. Johnny is a professional courier who has a chip implanted in his brain (did I say "brain?"). Into this chip containing thousands of gigabytes of memory, Johnny is supposed to store the information he has stolen. As in everything, there is a price and the price Johnny must pay for what he gets is that his own childhood memory is removed to make room for the chip. Little wonder he looks befuddled. Others in this mess are Dona Meyer, Ice-T, Takeshi, Denis Akiyama, Dolph Lundgren and a mysterious ghostly Barbara Sukowa, a strange ghost in cyberspace. Very weird film. Directed by Robert Longo. 1 byte 4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money. Ben Hoffman From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 6 14:44:30 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!seunet!news2.swip.net!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!oleane!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: sprdon@ix.netcom.com (Stephen Donaldson) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03677 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Donaldson Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com ~Reply-To: sprdon@ix.netcom.com (Stephen Donaldson) Organization: Netcom Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:40:26 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 47 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3026 rec.arts.sf.reviews:774 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by Stephen Donaldson Copyright 1995 Stephen Donaldson Donny the Punk reviews “Johnny Mnemonic” I rarely get excited about a film, but Sarah and i saw the opening of the new Hollywood $$$$film JOHNNY MNEMONIC in New York City today, May 26. For anyone into the Internet (i.e., anyone reading this) this is a MUST SEE! Its based on William Gibsons pioneering cyberpunk short story, and Gibson also wrote the screenplay, so you have to call it a faithful adaptation. It's the (mostly crusty/squatter type) punx of the year 2020, led by Ice-T and former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins (as a brain surgeon running an underground hospital), versus the pharmaceutical corporations, who have kept secret a cure for a horrible disease which has swept the planet, in order to keep making huge profits off a drug that treats some of the symptoms but still allows the patient to die after a while (sound familiar?), and their Yakuza Japanese Mafia goons (well, it *is* a Sony film), all in the context of a totally wired planet. Most of it takes place in the Free City of Newark, NJ (but was shot in Toronto), much of the rest takes place inside the Internet. It is very fast-paced, bloody (lots of severed body parts), well-photographed and well-directed. Not a dull moment, and I can't wait to get it on video and watch it in slow motion. Keanu Reeves tries to avoid losing his head over the secret cure, which has been electronically downloaded into his brain for storage as a courier and delivery to Dr. Rollins. The eponymous hero delivers his lines deadface but in a voice which struck me as remarkably similar to that of Emilio Estavez in REPO MAN. His female bodyguard is a role model for all riot grrrls. Henry's acting is nothing to make an Academy nomination with, but the legions of punk anti-Rollins fans may enjoy seeing him get killed by a deranged cyborg Christian (Dolph Lundgren, who made the most of a small part). Run, don't walk, to your nearest theater and see it now. Donny the Punk PS--Tristar has a Web site with info on this flick: http://www.sony.com -- Stephen Donaldson sprdon@ix.netcom.com http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ellens/SPR/spr.html. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 6 14:44:30 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!seunet!news2.swip.net!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!oleane!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: null@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu (Christopher Null) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03678 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Null Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com ~Reply-To: null@utxvms.cc.utexas.edu (Christopher Null) Organization: Null Publishing Co. Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:42:36 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 54 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3027 rec.arts.sf.reviews:775 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by Christopher Null Copyright 1995 Christopher Null In 2021, when the world is basically ruled by corporate Japan, humans with microchip brain implants are used to transport the most important of data files. Computer networks are unsafe, because people can "jack in" and neo-physically enter the complex world of cyberspace, where a computer virus won't just knock out your computer, it'll kill you outright. This is the world of writer William Gibson, and it seems like a pretty interesting place to visit. It's unfortunate that JOHNNY MNEMONIC does very little in this setting and comes off as little more than a remake of TRON, without the lightcycle sequence. The plot (if you can't guess) is like this: Keanu Reeves is one of these cyber-couriers, his brain so packed with information he doesn't even know his last name. The information? The cure for "NAS," the plague of the next century. Out to get him? Both the corporation he's working for and their rivals, preacher/mercenary Dolph Lundgren (yes, it's true), plus the LoTeks, a gang of antiestablishment types led by Ice-T. On his side is a doctor (Henry Rollins, rounding out the pop culture cast) and newcomer Dina Meyer, as his bodyguard. Lots of characters here--almost all of them plastic and lifeless, especially Reeves in what could have been a great role. In fact, the whole movie is a "could have been," but it mostly sells out to the young video game crowd the film is destined to attract and never makes a point except for one brief scene with Rollins jumping around and howling about how technology is bad. Whatever. On the redeeming side are the ultra-cool cyberspace sequences, which are required viewing on the big screen. Also good, but overpowered by the animation, is Meyer as Johnny's bodyguard and eventual love interest. Together, these two aspects of the movie make it largely watchable. The main problem with JOHNNY MNEMONIC (as if I hadn't listed enough already) is the plot: the bad guys are trying to get Johnny's *head* in order to extract the information. What's the point of a human courier if you can get the info out just by chopping his head off? Maybe a portable hard drive would be cheaper next time. RATING: **1/2 +---------------------------------------+ |* Unquestionably awful | |** Sub-par on many levels | |*** Average quality, hits and misses | |**** Good, memorable film | |***** Perfection | +---------------------------------------+ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 6 14:44:30 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!seunet!news2.swip.net!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!oleane!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: rfurr@jazz.ncren.net (Rob Furr) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03679 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Furr Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com ~Reply-To: rfurr@jazz.ncren.net (Rob Furr) Organization: MCNC Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:44:13 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 93 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3028 rec.arts.sf.reviews:776 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by Rob Furr Copyright 1995 Rob Furr I've paid my dues when it comes to cyberpunk in the visual media. I've seen all the episodes of MAX HEADROOM, I've seen both versions of BLADE RUNNER, I even still have an episode of WHIZ KIDS on videotape somewhere. And now, I've seen JOHNNY MNEMONIC. Of course, I could have skipped that last one and missed nothing. Every scene in this movie (save one, and I'll get to that in a bit,) gave me a galloping case of the "Been there, done that"s. Which is *incredibly* depressing, as the original short story was exactly that: original. "Johnny Mnemonic" and the other stories that were collected in William Gibson's BURNING CHROME, were original, well-constructed, painfully clear and brilliantly vivid short stories. Gibson's talent has been slowly fading since NEUROMANCER, it seems. COUNT ZERO was good, MONA LISA OVERDRIVE was all right, THE DIFFERENCE ENGINE was tolerable, VIRTUAL LIGHT was boring, and now he's got sole writing credit for this film, and it fits into that linear descent just fine, thank you very much. There are a few elements left in JOHNNY MNEMONIC from the original short story, but they're hidden behind an inordinately large load of, and I'm using this word intentionally, crap, and the good bits are the ones that Gibson chose to change. Instead of the film noir-esque aura of the short story, where there *are* no good guys, Gibson ladled gallon after gallon of Hollywood Motivation into the plot--he's no longer just a courier with information that matters nothing to him, he's now The Sole Hope Of The World. He's no longer just in danger of getting diced by a monofilament thumb, he's now got a Tragic Flaw, by jiminy, and He'll Die Because Of His Own Mistakes. Sigh. This is not to say that I'm writing a rotten review because of how different JOHNNY MNEMONIC is from "Johnny Mnemonic"; that's just why I'm disappointed. I'm giving JOHNNY MNEMONIC a rotten review because, unfortunately, it's a rotten movie. It's stunningly unoriginal in production design; remember what I said about having seen MAX HEADROOM? Well, if you've seen any given episode of MAX HEADROOM, you've seen what the designers of JOHNNY MNEMONIC were trying to do, and you've seen it done twenty times better than JOHNNY MNEMONIC did it, on an incredibly smaller budget. It features some stunningly bad acting: Keanu Reeves is rotten ... totally, unreservedly, completely rotten. It's not his fault--the script is the primary culprit--but, as bad as his portrayal is, he gives the best performance of the cast. Ice-T *could* have given a decent performance--he's a better actor than Keanu is, in my humble opinion - but he's got about six lines and about four seconds of screen time, which makes it kind of hard to tell whether or not it was a decent go at the role. It's got some hideously bad special effects. Oh, *one* scene is well done, but the rest was on a level with the effects done for STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. It's got ... well, why go on? Bad acting, a bad script, unoriginal and badly executed design ... this movie is a turkey. Almost. One scene--*one* single, solitary scene is impressive, and it's almost enough for me to forgive most of the rest of the movie. Fortunately, the people who assembled the trailer also saw a good scene when they saw it, so most of it was included. The "What are you doing?" "Making a long-distance phone call." scene is probably the best virtual reality scene ever done on film or on TV. It's believable, well-done--Keanu performs well--and if I had my way, I'd pull that one single scene out of JOHNNY MNEMONIC and film an entirely different movie around it. At any rate, I'm calling JOHNNY MNEMONIC a one-point-five star two-star movie. It didn't aim very high, and it missed what it was aiming at, but it had a redeeming feature or two. (On the Furr Scale, I rate movies by ambition and execution: rating EVIL DEAD II (a four-star one star movie, i.e., it didn't aim very high, but, boy, did it succeed) on the same scale as HEAVEN'S GATE (a one-star four star movie, i.e., it aimed very, very high, and failed utterly) is ludicrous. So I don't do it. A few examples; ROBOCOP is a three-star three star movie (aimed relatively high, did what it wanted to do,) THE RIGHT STUFF is a three-star four star movie (aimed very high, did pretty much what it wanted to do) and THE LAWNMOWER MAN was a two-star two star movie (didn't aim too high, and did what it was supposed to do, but not very well.)) -- Rob Furr's HTMLized .SIG is at http://www.groucho.com/ From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 6 14:44:30 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!seunet!news2.swip.net!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!oleane!jussieu.fr!math.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: wizardru Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03680 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=? Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com ~Reply-To: wizardru Organization: Net Access - Philadelphia's Internet Connection Date: Fri, 2 Jun 1995 20:44:36 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 50 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3029 rec.arts.sf.reviews:777 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by Copyright 1995 I've got to admit that I'm suprised that no one has submitted a review of JOHNNY MNEMONIC yet, so here's my quick capsule report. I caught JOHNNY MNEMONIC over the weekend. I had some good expectations, having browsed the Sony Web pages devoted to it. I saw it with a small crowd (having gone to the 12:40 showing). First, let's talk about the story. While some parts were cohesive, the plot felt like it had been 'picked at'. There were some things that occured that seemed to deserve more discussion or coverage than they received. I had hoped for some more 'meat' on the future, but didn't really get any. The plot, for those who haven't heard, is that Johnny--a mnemonic courier--is sent to get some critical data for a final run. He wants to get his Mnemonic data implant removed so that he can get part of his long term memory back, which he had to sacrifice to get the implant in the indeterminate past. The data he gets is hot, and the Yakuza (constantly mispronounced thorughout the film as Yak-ooze-a, instead of Yah-koo-zaa) are hired to retrieve the data. Johnny, meanwhile, has overloaded his storage capacity (how this is accomplished is never discussed, it's just assumed that an 80 Gig drive, doubled by hardware to 160 Gig, can hold 320 Gig (?) ). The data, it turns out, is the cure to a disease called NAS (an AIDS for the plugged-in set) that the corporation PharmaKOM has been hiding, so that they can make a huge profit in treating the disease, instead of curing it. Things get muddy from here. Keanu Reeves seems to walk through the part, and Johnny ends up feeling like Keanu, distanced and impersonal. We never fully grasp Johnny as a character, or anyone else, really. This is partly because the plot never really gives you a chance to meet them, anyway. Too much happens so quickly, so that you're never sure what made it happen in the first place. The effects are first-rate, and the cyberspace sequences are highly effective. The set designs are nice, as are the costuming jobs. Action is good, and the fight sequences are well staged. All in all, I would recommend this for a matinee or a rental. It was a good watch, but unless you're a Gibson fan, or you really like Keanu Reeves, you probably won't like spending a lot of money to see this. WizarDru@netaxs.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Mon Jun 12 13:37:16 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!trane.uninett.no!nac.no!Norway.EU.net!EU.net!howland.reston.ans.net!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!uwm.edu!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: robin@interlog.com (T. Robin Sutherland) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03706 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=Sutherland Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: robin@interlog.com (T. Robin Sutherland) Organization: Interlog Internet Services -Voice (416) 975-2655 -Data 515-1414 Date: Fri, 9 Jun 1995 15:33:50 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 72 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3069 rec.arts.sf.reviews:785 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by T. Robin Sutherland Copyright 1995 T. Robin Sutherland On the up side, this was a fun way to spend the afternoon. A futuristic action movie with lots of whiz-bang special effects, a decent soundtrack, and not a few interesting shots and stunts. But this will not be one of the science fiction films we look back on and say "this was a pivotal moment in cinema." In fact, it seems to me that somewhere along the line, the society which Gibson & Co. have helped to fashion with their ideograms of cybericity has caught up and now dictates to that work. Too bad. It would have been nice to seen a screenplay--so extensively modified from the original short story--take advantage of the transformation to continue to challenge its audience. Johnny Neumonic does not do this. It doesn't come close. Instead, it panders to the pop hysteria surrounding the Internet, hacker culture, and the glitz and glamour which has become associated (ironically) with the "power (computer) user." Worse--it is as shallow a movie as that same pop hysteria. I dunno. Maybe I was expecting too much when I found out that Gibbie was doing the screenplay. Maybe the cult following which has been cyberpunk is so much a part of our culture now is just too much to challenge. But I don't think so. It just all smells of a Hollywood which is much more concerned with flash and bucks than making a good film. Acting? C'mon--this is sci-fi. We don't get much of the talent. Just watch the guys on DS9, B5, or SeaQuest. I hear they're remaking DEMOLITION MAN this year as DREDD. Keanu's prowess as an actor has never been in question as far as I've been aware, but the guy does have something besides a 1995 face, which I think I finally have figured out. He's Arnie for Generation X. And Gen-X doesn't use one-liners; they just let their phases hang there without any meaning. Done effectively, this will leave you going "What-?" and KR pulls this off from time to time. But a lot of the scripting was just plain dumb. Much of it felt like ninja turtle fare. Two shots I immediately saw James Bond in. Lines like "You will regret this," "It's time to let your daughter die," and "You need to rest," come off as trite and cliche as they are, and there is finally no way to take anyone seriously. Reeves' forced intensity drives the whole thing, along with fairly quickly paced shooting sequences of fights, special effects, and loud music. As for the story itself--the twins are still there, as is the dolphin and a guy named Ralphie (and a familiar bartender with a mechanical arm), but even Molly is gone, replaced with a Jane who's good in a fight, but has none of Molly's cyber-novelty. Many layers of story have been added, most of them pointless, some of them seeming to have the Gibson hint of obscure metaphor, but all drowned in a diatribe against dependence on the machine. Despite all of that, it is fun to watch if you like mind candy and are not set up for a parable of our times. Gibson fans will go in droves and all of them will either be dazzled or disappointed. And on the upside once again, this was a short story. No one seems to have been stupid enough to go for the mother lode, yet. If anyone has any brains, they'll do one or two more short stories first. I read an interview in WIRED with Gibson and Robert Longo, which said that this was originally designed to be a $1.5 million "artsy" movie, and then went to $30 million budget. I really wish now that I could have a chance to see the former. -------------------- T. Robin Sutherland Sharon L. Sutherland http://www.interlog.com/~robin/rant/movies/movies.html From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Jun 20 09:53:57 1995 Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!sunic!sunic.sunet.se!trane.uninett.no!nac.no!news.kth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!news.kei.com!newshost.marcam.com!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!lll-winken.llnl.gov!fnnews.fnal.gov!gw1.att.com!nntpa!not-for-mail From: ben.hoffman@bcsbbs.com (Ben Hoffman) Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Summary: r.a.m.r. #03721 Originator: ecl@mtgp003 Keywords: author=B.Hoffman Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Nntp-Posting-Host: mtgp003.mt.att.com Reply-To: ben.hoffman@bcsbbs.com (Ben Hoffman) Organization: The BCS BBS - Los Angeles, CA - 213-962-2902 Date: Thu, 15 Jun 1995 13:50:35 GMT Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Lines: 37 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3084 rec.arts.sf.reviews:788 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by Ben Hoffman Copyright 1995 Ben Hoffman No one I have known has actually ever accused Keanu Reeves of being able to act. This film will change no one's mind. Johnny (Reeves) keeps a straight face throughout the whole film. If we are looking to give him credit it must be that the plot is so ridiculous, no one could have done any better. The film opens with a big splash across the screen: INTERNET. Innocent me, I thought maybe at last they have made a movie based on real scientific electronic know-how. Forget it. That is the last of any credible science fiction. In the 21st Century, the most important asset is information. To keep things secret and unavailable to competing corporations, "mnemonic couriers" are employed. Johnny is a professional courier who has a chip implanted in his brain (did I say "brain?"). Into this chip containing thousands of gigabytes of memory, Johnny is supposed to store the information he has stolen. As in everything, there is a price and the price Johnny must pay for what he gets is that his own childhood memory is removed to make room for the chip. Little wonder he looks befuddled. Others in this mess are Dona Meyer, Ice-T, Takeshi, Denis Akiyama, Dolph Lundgren and a mysterious ghostly Barbara Sukowa, a strange ghost in cyberspace. Very weird film. Directed by Robert Longo. 1 byte 4 Bytes = Superb 3 Bytes = Too good to be missed. 2 Bytes = So so. 1 Byte = Save your money. From rec.arts.sf.reviews Fri Feb 16 15:26:52 1996 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!newsfeed.tip.net!newsfeed.sunet.se!news01.sunet.se!sunic!mn6.swip.net!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!weld.news.pipex.net!pipex!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!newsfeed.internetmci.com!chi-news.cic.net!news.midplains.net!gw2.att.com!nntphub.cb.att.com!not-for-mail From: bt18@cityscape.co.uk (Allan Toombs) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: REVIEW: JOHNNY MNEMONIC Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.current-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 12 Feb 1996 20:22:25 GMT Organization: ? Lines: 102 Sender: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: ecl@mtgpfs2.att.com Message-ID: <4fo7i1$2t5@nntpb.cb.att.com> Reply-To: bt18@cityscape.co.uk (Allan Toombs) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtgpfs2-bgate.mt.att.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #04703 Keywords: author=Toombs Originator: ecl@mtgpfs2 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:3943 rec.arts.sf.reviews:898 JOHNNY MNEMONIC [Spoilers] A film review by Allan Toombs Copyright 1996 Allan Toombs A Real No Brainer (Some Spoilers) A Film Review by Allan Toombs Copyright 1996 Allan Toombs The first thing that JOHNNY MNEMONIC did was make me laugh, after that it was all downhill. The cause of my laughter was a TRON style image of moving light pathways upon which came the title 'THE INTERNET' and then '- 2021'. This kind of glib acceptance of current gee-whizz predictions for the future typifies the film's crude approach to the SF genre. Johnny Mnemonic began in 1981 as a short story in OMNI by William Gibson. Over the next few years the kind of bleak near-future vision embodied by the story would gain itself the label 'Cyberpunk' to distance it the more optimistic mainstream of science fiction. This tag soon grew to encompass films like BLADERUNNER which seemed to share the same stark stylism. Today the term has broadened to become a set of alt. newsgroups with horrific noise to signal problems and an album by Billy Idol, yet the hyper-realistic vision posited by that original SF clique continues to exert a powerful influence. It must have seemed a natural winner to adapt Gibson's simple tale of stakeouts into a big budget movie. Bill himself got to do the screenplay yet somewhere along the way his intensely cerebral brand of SF excitement got lost in the morass of action/adventure. Attention to detail is a crucial part of cyberpunk's effect; 'Fragments Of A Hologram Rose' is another Gibson short with this close-up view at the heart of it's narrative and it's title. Similarly Ridley Scott's film drew our attention to a single snake scale or the reflection in a mirror enhanced and amplified. Yet director Robert Longo fails to bring any style to the cinematography. The direction is neither poetic and lingering nor ram-raidingly crude like the MAD MAX series; just bog-standard direction. Even the soundtrack was neither a stirring classical score nor a moody synthesiser back-drop but somewhere inbetween. The Japanese actors in this piece were impeccable, displaying well-starched malice and the absolute possesion of the Yakuza. Even the much maligned Ice-T gave one of the best performances in this movie. Whereas Keanau Reeves was awful, looking far too much like Harrison Ford and delivering lines like someone doing a bad Scwarzenegger impression. Right from the opening scene where is sun-bronzed physique was dwelt upon he seems wrong as the technophile who has a chip in his head. He is meant to be fragile, head over full with precious data, yet he slugs into every fight there is. Towards the end he makes a speech straight out of GRAND CANYON and sounds like a spoilt child throwing a tantrum. Gibson's words (if they are his work) are memorable "I want starched shirts like they have at the Tokyo Hilton" but Reeves makes them risable. William Gibson's novels always have a strong woman at the heart of the action. In the original short story we have Molly Millions, ultra-cool in mirrorshades that are her augmented eyes and razor sharp blades the retract into her polished nails. Last year's excellent VIRTUAL LIGHT had the quick-witted cycle courier Chevette Washington. Dina Meyer is woefully miscast in this role and drifts through the movie like an extra from Baywatch. It must be hard keeping your hair blow-dried when you live on the street. Dolph Lundgren portrays a psychopath well, but the character was surplus to requirements. It's as if Fox's bosses felt that there had to be a white bad guy in case Gibson's deeply multi-ethnic future confused audiences or over-use of the Yakuza offended Japanese corporate sensibilities. I would have prefered alot more of Takeshi who was intensely charismatic and conveyed loss and redemption very convincingly. There are some virtuoso computer animated sequences in JOHNNY MNEMONIC bringing alive Gibson's vivid conception of Cyberspace (hey, the man coined the term) yet these seem disconnected from the plot. Beautiful yet pointless. Cyberspace has become nothing more than a fly-through MTV video. What we do see of the net's future is couched in lazy gee-whizzery. Our hero opens a world map, points to Beijing and then goes straight to the Hotel he wants. Where's the vaunted information overload? Some moronic use was made of stock footage including a clip of an aircraft landing - it's a Concorde. Now where's the attention to detail? I thought everyone knew the Concorde fleet only has 20 years more life left in it (many of them are cannibalised already!) and that the successor project won't have a replacement for alot longer than that. By pitching JOHNNY MNEMONIC in 2021 it's ensured that the Concorde is out of place. Similarly there's a pitiful model shot of a communications satellite that is gratingly cheap sat next to the computer generated sequences. Overall JOHNNY MNEMONIC shows how Hollywood can take a promisingly cinematic story, chew it up and spit it out without any soul. Evertything has to be literal and visual. At the end of the movie with the contraband data safely broadcast Reeves and Meyer kiss (happy ending ahoy!) and the wicked corporate building bursts into flames, "Somebody getting some early revenge" he explains. As if anyone can bomb a tower-block on a whim just to give us a James Bond style ending. This is a tragicly wasted opportunity to bring a unique science-fiction vision to the big screen and a reminder of what a mess Hollywood creates when it thinks it knows what the kids want. Everyone want's to cut off Johnny's head but in the end it's the movie itself that runs around like a headless chicken. Allan Toombs http://www.cityscape.co.uk/users/bt18/atoombs.html mailto:toombs@cityscape.co.uk From rec.arts.sf.reviews Tue Apr 15 13:36:38 1997 Path: news.ifm.liu.se!liuida!newsfeed.sunet.se!news99.sunet.se!news-b.uni-c.dk!news-inn.uni-c.dk!news2.planetc.com!news.planetc.com!news.isdn.net!isdnlin.mtsu.edu!hubcap.clemson.edu!gatech!news-out.communique.net!communique!mr.net!cyclic.gsl.net!news.gsl.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!worldnet.att.net!cbgw2.lucent.com!nntphub.cb.lucent.com!not-for-mail From: syegul@ix.netcom.com (Serdar Yegulalp) Newsgroups: rec.arts.movies.reviews,rec.arts.sf.reviews Subject: RETROSPECTIVE: JOHNNY MNEMONIC (1995) Followup-To: rec.arts.movies.past-films,rec.arts.sf.movies Date: 3 Apr 1997 15:30:47 GMT Organization: Jackie Chan's Kung Fu Process Servers Lines: 64 Sender: eleeper@lucent.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Approved: eleeper@lucent.com Message-ID: <5i0if7$d4f@nntpa.cb.lucent.com> Reply-To: syegul@ix.netcom.com (Serdar Yegulalp) NNTP-Posting-Host: mtvoyager.mt.lucent.com Summary: r.a.m.r. #07236 Keywords: author=Yegulalp Originator: ecl@mtvoyager Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.movies.reviews:6661 rec.arts.sf.reviews:1249 JOHNNY MNEMONIC A film review by Serdar Yegulalp Copyright 1997 Serdar Yegulalp CAPSULE: Silly and inane adaptation of Gibson's short story, which is nowhere in sight. Gibson's script only adds insult to injury. JOHNNY MNEMONIC is an awesomely bad movie. I say "awesomely" because it's one thing to fail, but another thing entirely to fail so completely that even the chances for camp value are sabotaged. Keanur Reeves (who is terrible) stars as Johnny, an "information courier" who can carry dozens of gigabytes of data in his head. He is given "one last job" (whenever you are in a movie and you hear those words, RUN), which involves him shoving so much data into his cranium that it could be lethal. One of the neater touches that the movie brings in is that the only way he could make such an arrangement work was by ditching all of his childhood memories, but it's only followed up on in a token fashion. For his trouble, Johnny gets chased by the Yakuza, who seem to be the new bad guys in all the high-tech thrillers. What's funny is that if you watch gangster movies made *in* Japan, there are whole gobs of details about genuine Yakuza behavior and ethics, but of course there's no room in this movie for any of that. The Yakuza are simply used to point guns, wave swords, flaunt tattoos, and grimace menacingly. (I could go on about how gangsters and criminals of many other ethnicities have gotten thoughtful examinations in the movies -- BOUND BY HONOR, SUGAR HILL and AMERICAN ME come to mind -- when Asians remain perpetually stereotyped. But that's another essay.) Anyway, Johnny runs and eventually winds up in Newark. Why Newark? Maybe because it was cheaper to fake a future Newark than a future New York, that's why. There, he meets an assortment of odd characters (Ice-T, Dolph Lundgren and Henry Rollins play a whole gallery of weirdos). The script deals with them with all the depth of pieces of furniture. It turns out (what else?) that the data in Johnny's head could save a lot of people, but of course Johnny only wants it out of his head so it doesn't kill him. Handled right, this could have been absorbing, but the script manages to mangle any chance of real sympathy for Johnny at every opportunity. The details about the look and feel of the future are all phoned in from other, better movies -- BLADE RUNNER and BRAZIL come to mind. Everything looks run-down and scummy, everyone dresses like they're punk rockers, and videophones are commonplace. Snore. The only really interesting flourish is an extended depiction of the way the Internet might work in the future (complete with VR goggles and feedback gloves), but I kept thinking that it was more like what some relatively un-technical fellow would *think* it would look and behave like. A hacker of Johnny's caliber would be blasting away with one command-line function after another, instead of wasting all this time twiddling with holograms, but of course that's not cinematic. Whatever. What went wrong with this movie? Gibson wrote his own screenplay, which I guess is part of the problem: what works as a short story doesn't work in a movie. His ear for dialogue is terrible and the plot doesn't advance, it convulses. From the script on out, it was probably all downhill. Renting the movie to make fun of it is sort of pointless; there's no fun in kicking a wounded dog, is there? One out of four gigabytes of stolen pharmaceutical data. ____________________________________________________________________________ syegul@ix.netcom.com EFNet IRC: GinRei http://serdar.home.ml.org another worldly device... ____________________________________________________________________________