Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

A data courier, literally carrying a data package inside his head, must deliver it before he dies from the burden or is killed by the Yakuza.

Director:

Robert Longo

Writers:

William Gibson (screenplay), William Gibson (short story)

Stars:

Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Dina Meyer

2 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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

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.

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Plot Keywords:

implanted memory | virtual reality | cyberspace | erased memory | based on story | 

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Taglines:

The danger is all in his head

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sci-fi violence, and for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

This was the only film that Robert Longo directed.

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Goofs

The opening scrawl mentions the second decade of the 21st century, but the date stamp once the movie begins says, "The Internet 2021". 2021 would be in the 3rd decade of the 21st century.

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Quotes

J-Bone: [at the base of the LoTek headquarters: Heaven] Where's Spider?
Jane: He's dead.
J-Bone: [looks over at the twisted and burning hulk that was once Spider's van]
Jane: [shakes head] No, not there. Earlier.

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Alternate Versions

The Japanese version (director's cut) is rather different from the international re-edited cut. It runs ca. 10 minutes longer (the additional scenes focus mostly on Takeshi Kitano's character Takahashi), some additional scenes are intact whereas they were committed in the other version), in other scenes different camera angles were used. It also has a different score composed by Mychael Danna (Brad Fiedel was brought on later re-score the picture) and more violence.

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Connections

Referenced in Fatal Future (2018)

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Soundtracks

SAD BUT TRUE
Performed by Orbital
Written by Phil Hartnoll and Paul Hartnoll
Published by Sony Songs, Inc. o/b/o itself and Phil Hartnoll US (BMI) / Sony Music Publishing UK
Produced and Mixed by Orbital
Recorded at Strongroom 7; London
Orbital appears courtesy of London Records

User Reviews

Gibson doesn't translate well to film

This is not a terrible film as claimed, but it had faults: poor pacing; weak atmosphere (visuals were there, but insufficient music track to back them up); and its largely unexplained universe.

Ideally, you need to have read Gibson's short stories and "Neuromancer" first, and then all the props - cyberspace, 'black ice', grubby streets, brand-name hardware, Yakuza assassins, muscle grafts, etc - make sense. The "Blade Runner" style information dump was no substitute. Incidentally, many of these props appear cliched, but remember that Gibson more or less invented them; it's merely that this film appeared long after they had become standard movie fixtures.

Gibson's written work has fairly sparse dialogue, and makes heavy use of precise and rather introspective visual description to convey character. Perhaps this just doesn't translate well to film.

Details

Country:

Canada USA

Language:

English Japanese

Release Date:

26 May 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Fugitivo del futuro

Filming Locations:

95 Villiers St., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$26,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,033,850, 28 May 1995

Gross USA:

$19,075,720

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$19,075,720

Company Credits

Production Co:

TriStar Pictures, Alliance Communications Corporation, Cinévision

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS (8 channels) Dolby SR Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1