I Remember Johnny

I want to say that Johnny Mnemonic is (like Wagner) better than it looks. Not sure that is true, though.

This 1995 cyberpunk extravaganza stars Keanu Reeves as the title character, a wetware courier who smuggles data in his brain. His capacity is 120 gigabytes - 240 if he uses ZipIt. This astonishing amount of data is almost 10x the capacity of common cellphones. Of course, this is in The Future - 2021.

Cyberpunk was an SF genre popularized by William Gibson featuring a punk rock attitude merged with virtual reality technology. I enjoy cyberpunk, and since Johnny Mnemonic represents a paycheck for William Gibson, I cut it some slack.

Reeves is his usual blank self here, a suit-wearing cipher who had his memories of childhood removed to fit more memory into his head. His "I want room service" monologue is one of the high points of the movie. Henry Rollins as the underground doctor, Spider, is another high point, although I wanted to see more of him - or his tats, any way.

Japanese comedian/actor/director Beat Takeshi plays a "yakooza" boss (they are like yakuza, but scarier). It's a great role, but there isn't much of it.

We saw this in the theater when it came out, and where pretty bemused - liked it, but recognized its weaknesses. Now, it is either forgotten or considered to be one of the worst movies of the 90s. Seeing it now, I judge it to be part of the 90s punk SF oeuvre - from Streets of Fire to Escape from New York to the Matrix. If this is your thing, you'll want to see this one.

I won't guarantee you'll like it...