I've heard some pretty negative things about this film over the years.
That's probably why it's taken me 20 years finally watch it. So...were all
of those negative comments accurate? Yeah, pretty much.
Set in the year 2021, Johnny is a data courier who stores data in his 80 gigabit
hard drive enhanced brain. On the way to meet a customer in Beijing, he uses a
"doubler" to increase his capacity to 160GB. Unfortunately, the package
is 320GB so Keanu concentrates really hard and crams that 320GB into the 160GB
hard drive. As a result the data starts "seaping" into his brain
and causing him to react violently to bright lights...just like a Mogwai.
Even worse, is right after he downloads the package a group of hitmen bust
in and start killing everybody (one of the killers uses a thumb laser
lasso!). Johnny escapes and now the gangsters are after him. The
only person that can save him is a cyborg dolphin in New Jersey. Of course.
I was hoping that JOHNNY MNEMONIC would surprise me and be actually good
or maybe silly to the point of being funny. Sadly though, it's so
bland that it's difficult to have much of an opinion about it one way or the
other. The story comes off more confusing than it actually is, the future
looks like shit, the CGI is ridiculous, zero nudity, TV show level action
scenes, Henry Rollins as a doctor, an "eye phone", Keanu Reeves acting
like he just saw the lines for the first time 30 seconds before they yelled
"Action".
Good for a few chuckles, but honestly, outside of morbid curiosity or campy
train wreck thrills I can't think of much reason to waste your time watching
this movie.