Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
Director
Robert Longo
Cast
Keanu Reeves,
Dina Meyer,
Takeshi Kitano,
Ice-T,
Dolph Lundgren,
Denis Akiyama
Genre
Science Fiction,
Thriller,
Adventure,
Action
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. In a dystopian 2021, Johnny (Keanu Reeves) 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.
San Francisco Chronicle by Mick LaSalle
Written by William Gibson, who adapted his own short story, and directed by New York artist Robert Longo in his feature debut, Johnny Mnemonic is inescapably a very cool movie. Running at a fevered pace, with laser and light explosions, it introduces a fantastic yet plausible vision of a computer-dominated age.
Austin Chronicle by Marc Savlov
For his first shot at feature filmmaking, Longo does an admirable job of keeping the story line rocketing along, though his seeming attempts to out-Blade Runner Ridley Scott in the decaying cityscape department grow wearisome and the occasional wooden drivel that Reeves spouts adds a bit of unintentional humor to the proceedings.
TV Guide Magazine
Keanu Reeves plays a "courier" with a lot of top-secret data stashed in his brain; it's clearly interfering with his minimal acting capabilities, causing several moments of unintentional (but welcome) humor.
San Francisco Examiner
A somewhat-smarter-than-average science-fiction flick.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
Johnny Mnemonic is one of the great goofy gestures of recent cinema, a movie that doesn't deserve one nanosecond of serious analysis but has a kind of idiotic grandeur that makes you almost forgive it.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Offhand, I can’t think of an actor who could use a brain implant more. The trouble isn’t that Reeves talks like a surfer dude; it’s that he tries so hard not to talk like a surfer dude.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Johnny Mnemonic is brash, flashy, and loud, but it lacks a few key ingredients -- namely heart, soul, and intelligence.
Empire
Gibson's future-world may be a cold one, but it should never be seen as a dull one; this is a missed opporunity.
Time Out
Directing his first feature, artist Longo seems dazzled, like a rabbit, by sheer visual overload.
The New York Times by Caryn James
Johnny Mnemonic looks and feels like a shabby imitation of Blade Runner and Total Recall. It is a disaster in every way.
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