Plot
A data courier, carrying a data package literally inside his head too large to hold for long, must deliver it before he dies from it.
Release Year: 1995
Rating: 5.1/10 (28,197 voted)
Director:
Robert Longo
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Dina Meyer
Storyline In 2021, the whole world is connected by the gigantic Internet, and almost a half of the population is suffering from the Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS).Johnny with an inplanted memory chip in his brain was ordered to transport the over loaded information from Beijing to Newark. While Pharmakom Industries supported by yakuza tries to capture him to get the informaiton back, the Low-tech group led by J-Bone tries to break the missing code to download the cure of NAS which Johnny carries.
Writers: William Gibson, William Gibson
Cast: Keanu Reeves
-
Johnny Mnemonic
Dina Meyer
-
Jane
Ice-T
-
J-Bone
Takeshi Kitano
-
Takahashi
(as Takeshi)
Denis Akiyama
-
Shinji
Dolph Lundgren
-
Street Preacher
Henry Rollins
-
Spider
Barbara Sukowa
-
Anna Kalmann
Udo Kier
-
Ralfi
Tracy Tweed
-
Pretty
Falconer Abraham
-
Yomamma
Don Francks
-
Hooky
Diego Chambers
-
Henson
Sherry Miller
-
Takahashi's Secretary
Arthur Eng
-
Viet
Taglines:
The future's most wanted fugitive.
Release Date: 26 May 1995
Filming Locations: Casa Loma - 1 Austin Terrace, Casa Loma, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Box Office Details
Budget: $25,000,000
(estimated)
Opening Weekend: $7,420,152
(USA)
(29 May 1995)
Gross: $52,400,000
(Worldwide)
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Japan:
|
USA:
Did You Know?
Trivia:
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.
Goofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized:
When Spider is explaining to Johnny the cause of NAS.
Quotes: Jane:
[Johnny successfully picks a lock to a door of an electronic store]
Where did you learn to do that? Johnny Mnemonic:
Had a summer job breaking and entering.
User Review
Cyberpunk at its best and worst
Rating: 9/10
I must start with a personal statement - I'm amazed at the silliness of
those who bombastically declare this to be the worst movie of all times
and so on... Really? Is it really that bad, worse than "Manos - The
Hands of Fate" or "Cocoon - the Return"?
I think most of the people who diss this film fall, broadly, in three
large categories: 1) those who are so attached to the original short
story that they can't stand the idea of an eponymous film with a
different vision (although, again, its Gibson himself who penned this
script!) This is not "purism", but acting like brats - just like those
who criticized the film "Resident Evil" for not "sticking closer to the
original games". 2) then, there are those who have a personal dislike
for Keanu Reeves, and they follow him over the 'net, criticizing him
for "wooden acting". It doesn't matter to them that the Johnny
character is exactly what Keanu portrays - an egotistic, self-absorbed
bastard, who only cares about his posh clothes, cold Mexican beer and
hookers (and there are already so many out there like him, in the real
world!). Then 3) there are those who are simply too stupid to actually
watch what's going on on the screen, because of personal convictions,
education or background (i.e. those who mention Grenpeace and
anti-capitalism as if they are capital crimes, or those who think
PharmaKom is a Japanese company). I was particularly amused at the user
who launched a furious diatribe against the idea of the Lo-Teks being
so visible in the ruined bridge, despite the fact that the only time in
which they actually identify themselves as the source of
anti-establishment activities is the very end, when they also announce
they'll be going off the air.
The list could go on. But this is supposed to be a review, not an
answer to those who dislike the movie so vehemently.
I believe this is *the* film which, despite its occasional artistic
shortcomings, connects "Blade Runner" to "The Matrix". It was a
courageous endeavour, portraying an all-too possible near future, and
reminded me of another picture, similarly vilified by simpletons who
couldn't see beyond the surface - "Starship Troopers".
The sad fact is that the movie was mistreated, and what we ended by
seeing on DVD in most of the world is not what the director intended.
There is an alternative version (briefly mentioned on this site) which
makes some significant changes, and it's available only in Japan.
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, wetwired to function as human data banks.
Mnemonic couriers."
In this day and age, in the post-Enron, post-9/11 world, all the above
doesn't seem so far-fetched anymore.
The film is more somber in the Japanese version. We see more of
Takahashi's inner desolation, and there are some added bits of gore and
violence in the Beijing fight. Johnny himself is much more of a
corporate puppet - we see it from a longer dialogue with the hooker in
the hotel room, or in the scene in which he acquires the memory
doubler. We see J-Bone sticking a syringe in the dolphin, sadistically
commenting how the creature is a junkie.
There is also more realism involved (Spoiler alert!): the hero doesn't
somehow miraculously recover his childhood memories after being
connected to Jones. And we see how Johnny, exhausted, decides to get it
over with, despite a dire warning that the "looping" procedure through
the dolphin will most certainly kill him. That is a moment of pure
redemption, sadly lost in the official European and North-American film
versions.
Last but not least, the extended cut gives more screen time to
Lundgren's "mad preacher" character. We see him sermonizing in his
church, in front of a rapt audience, using words and gestures that are
scarily familiar to anyone who has watched an Evangelical TV channel.
He discovers along the way that Johnny's "load" is the miraculous cure
for NAS, and he covets it for himself - he even shouts he wants to
"become (like) God." It's easy to see why "some circles" decided to
eliminate all this potentially uncomfortable content... but we ended up
with a caricature, instead of a cunning and shrewd film villain.
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