Look, there is no arguing that this movie is dated and is rapidly becoming moreso. However, that does not change the fact that this cyberpunk gem stands firmly between Craig Baldwin's underground Spectres of the Spectrum and the Wachowski's mainstream hit The Matrix as a camp rebellion of digital overload in fetish costuming and grungy spectacle. Gibson provides the meat, Longo provides the gusto. From there, it's only a matter of wishing the acting was better and the graphics more advanced. However, digital effects had to develop somewhere between The Crow and Avatar. Hell, there's still an audience for this: why do you think cult filmgoers are turning out in droves for Repo: the Genetic Opera, arguably the musical version of this?
Keanu Reeves plays an unknown prelude to his Neo role via postlude to his Bill and Ted role. To me, this works. For others, I can see what their problem is. But even beyond that, you still have Takeshi Kitano and Henry Rollins to contend with, and they take to their roles without any hesitation, and the result is good. You also have the, in my mind always appealing, assets in radiowave revolutionaries who fight the corporate machine in dirty reverse-engineered hacker lairs while still finding time to put on fantastic make-up and pleather over mesh clothing, Yakuza gangsters with katanas, guns, and lazer-strengthened piano wire, and tripped out mercenaries looking for a client while desperately staving off a tweaked-out race against time. Oh, and hacker dolphins. YEAH YOU HEARD ME. Hacker dolphins.
So hate this movie if you want but this is the roots of all cyberpunk entertainment to me.
--PolarisDiB
Keanu Reeves plays an unknown prelude to his Neo role via postlude to his Bill and Ted role. To me, this works. For others, I can see what their problem is. But even beyond that, you still have Takeshi Kitano and Henry Rollins to contend with, and they take to their roles without any hesitation, and the result is good. You also have the, in my mind always appealing, assets in radiowave revolutionaries who fight the corporate machine in dirty reverse-engineered hacker lairs while still finding time to put on fantastic make-up and pleather over mesh clothing, Yakuza gangsters with katanas, guns, and lazer-strengthened piano wire, and tripped out mercenaries looking for a client while desperately staving off a tweaked-out race against time. Oh, and hacker dolphins. YEAH YOU HEARD ME. Hacker dolphins.
So hate this movie if you want but this is the roots of all cyberpunk entertainment to me.
--PolarisDiB