Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

We're back in BLADE RUNNER territory with this one, conceptual artist  
Robert Longo's vision of a William Gibson-inspired future where in-  
formation 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+  

Copyright 1995 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros