Johnny Mnemonic (1995)
Directed by Robert Longo
In a dystopian 2021, Johnny is a data trafficker who has an implant that allows him to securely store data too sensitive for regular computer networks. On one delivery run, he accepts a package that not only exceeds the implant's safety limits—and will kill him if the data is not removed in time—but also contains information far more important and valuable than he had ever imagined. On a race against time, he must avoid the assassins sent to kill him and remove the data before it, too, ends his life.
6 connections found
View:
6 connections, in both directions
What critics compared Johnny Mnemonic to
What follows is an unexpected big-budget reprise of the Keanu Reeves flop, “Johnny Mnemonic,” with Copley’s despicable assassin chasing down a man whose brain literally holds the data necessary to level the playing field between the 99% and the 1%.
Fond memories of Keanu Reeves in “Johnny Mnemonic” intoning, “I had to dump a chunk of long-term memory—my childhood” do not supplant “Transcendence”‘s grim pastiche.
Watching Hotel Artemis , I can’t help but think of movies like Johnny Mnemonic, Strange Days, and a wash of similar movies; stories set it the fairly near future where technology is just a touch ahead of our own and where the problems of today have become full, raging epidemics.
The good news is that South Korean superstar Choi Min-Sik (Oldboy) gets a mainstream American debut in a juicy role that nonetheless feels like a wasted opportunity (see: Beat Takeshi in Johnny Mnemonic).
Advertisement
A storyboard artist with "Johnny Mnemonic" among his credits, Natali has made several short films, including "Elevated" (1996), in which three people, trapped in an elevator, are menaced by an unseen force.
Clearly influenced by films like The Terminator, Videodrome, The Matrix, RoboCop, and there may even be a little bit of Johnny Mnemonic in there as well (hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?), Whannell transports us into the future where technology has taken over nearly ever facet of our lives, but Grey Trace (Marshall-Green) still clings to his analog-loving existence by working on classic cars and expressing his desire to make pizza from scratch.