is not my intention to justify the many failures of Johnny Mnemonic, or convince the reader that it is actually a good movie. Just wanted to write about it some time to at least outline some of the many interesting concepts in it, and place it as an important part of the universe "cyberpunk" established by novelist William Gibson (one of my favorite writers, incidentally) a quarter century ago. Then, I'll start by admitting that Johnny Mnemonic is, at best, an interesting failure with semi-prophetic airs only managed to reveal the inconsistency of the sharp and ethereal prose style Gibson with the surface of modern cinema. I still like it and I've seen more times than I care to admit. The story unfolds in 2021, and follows the adventures of Johnny Smith (Keanu Reeves), a "messenger mnemonic" with a cybernetic implant in the brain that allows you to carry large amounts of information for clients of questionable legality does not want to expose their data to the insecurity of the Internet (which by then is a vast world of "virtual reality" with great benefits and even greater risk ... .) But Johnny wants to go out of business and recover memories of his childhood, which sacrificed to accommodate the "hard" that resides in your head. For the money it will cost this difficult operation, the amoral agent Ralfi (Udo Kier) Johnny suggests to accept one last job for a number of Japanese scientists who want to defect from your company, emporium PharmaKom pharmacist. The problem is that the messenger should be stored more information than can fit in your implant, and the excess begins to produce a "synaptic overflow" that will kill him within 24 hours. Worse, the Japanese mafia (Yakuza ") is behind the same information, and his thugs will not stop until the head of Johnny cut to remove the implant. Then, with the help of mercenary Jane (Dina Meyer) and a mysterious artificial intelligence of uncertain origin, the messenger must be associated with different street gangs to escape the Yakuza, keep your head and extract the information that is killing him.
sounds complicated and no certainly is. And not even mention the fanatic Christian murderer played by Dolph Lundgren , Dr. Spider (Henry Rollins ), specializing in bionic implants and the secret mission to cure the epidemic plaguing mankind as a result of excessive interaction digital world, the legendary Takeshi Kitano as an immutable criminal leader secretly devastated by the death of his daughter, and the rapper Ice-T as the leader of the gang "Lotek" violently opposed to technology that contributes to dehumanization of the planet. In short, there are too many arguments for a movie of 100 minutes, and although that saturated ambiguous style works well in the novels of William Gibson, compressing in a short script causes a deluge of information, characters and concepts that no one stops to explain, and does not make much sense unless the viewer has read novels like Neuromancer, Count Zero and Mona Lisa Overdrive , which form the "Sprawl Trilogy" that began the literary movement "cyberpunk" mid-eighties.
But it would be fair to blame only Gibson and packed script. The director Robert Longo made his film debut in this complicated (bad idea) and although his celebrity in the world New York art denotes a strong visual talent, did not achieve a successful transition to film narrative environment. They were also the nineties, when he began to be fashionable theme "cyber", and therefore the film includes some digital inevitable effects (especially the end), ambitious then, but now will not impress anyone. And, of course, the production design on a budget should be attached to the film, creating a world "futuristic" in the same low level they got other bands of that time, as Cyborg , Nemesis or Split Second. Finally ... the actions . I suspect that none of the actors had no idea what was happening, and as a result his dialogues are atonal, cold and lacking in conviction. Or maybe that's all part of the "vision" Longo. Anyway, I fully understand why Johnny Mnemonic was a flop at the box office, the public and critics. Yet I maintain that it has many good ideas as to dismiss it as a simple action movie noventera.
Such ideas could point ("spoilers, I guess?): The hard drive in the brain, which not only sounds very useful and futuristic, but that somehow represents the persistence of the human and physical space in a world controlled by virtual presences and computer networks. Believe me since then sleep with something similar, unfortunately it seems there is still much for such a "gadget" ("Ibrain, Mr. Jobs?). I also like the details that are thrown casually, but that could be used by themselves as a subject of interesting films: the dolphin hacker heroin addict, whose addiction was created by the United States Navy to control, the economy based on "corporate nations, where people are not loyal to a flag or a government, but a trademark and a board of directors, the virtual puppet is controlled by moving your hand over laser sensors, the artificial intelligence that raised awareness and escaped to the Internet, from which manipulates global events with a mysterious end, the mono-molecular strand used as a weapon ("I see that transforms your herremienta shame") and, finally, the gang Lotek "subsisting below the over-digitized society as" urban primitive ", using last century technology to fight twenty-first century.
Anyway ... is that this is just a rant of "fanboy". As said earlier, I can not argue that Johnny Mnemonic is a "jewel misunderstood" or a "cult classic" (or maybe yes?). I just wanted to revisit one of my favorite movies and express their value in addition to the novels of William Gibson ... at all necessary, but fun and creatively executed. Finally, there is only thanks to its resounding failure has been avoided so far, the film adaptation of more works of the author, who probably would face the same fate (well, exception is New Rose Hotel , but it is a film so different and strange that it's easy to forget). I know that for many people the "cyber-cinema" began with The Net and the innocent charm of Sandra Bullock , but for me was Johnny Mnemonic , so I have great affection for his incoherent script , poor performances and poor management. If I had a hard drive in the brain, would not miss this film in my "playlist" essential. Behind the lofty Hackers.
Rating: 8.5
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