Matrixston Wow! Such a good movie.

Acensbart Excellent but underrated film

Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

gavin6942 A data courier (Keanu Reeves), literally carrying a data package inside his head, must deliver it before he dies from the burden or is killed by the Yakuza.Author William Gibson said, "Basically what happened was it was taken away and re-cut by the American distributor in the last month of its pre-release life, and it went from being a very funny, very alternative piece of work to being something that had been very unsuccessfully chopped and cut into something more mainstream." That is a fairly understanding position from the author.Truthfully, this is not that bad of a movie. While maybe not as great as it could be, it works well as a 1990s futuristic thriller. The ideas are interesting, and it is even more interesting considering that Reeves went on to star in "The Matrix", which has a similar feel in many ways.Interesting note: This was Dolph Lundgren's last theatrically released film until 2010's "The Expendables". What an unfortunate 15 years that was for all the cinema fans.

Josh Apple Johnny Mnemonic has probably the strangest production history i ever heard of. originally planned as a low-budget art-house film with acclaimed sci-fi writer William Gibson to write a screenplay based on his short novel by the same name and Robert Longo new york artist and painter to direct this feature despite having little to no experience with directing films. unable to get the funding but and somehow they struck a deal with sony pictures under their sister company "Tristar" for a budget of 30 million to make a cyberpunk action blockbuster.Gibson was forced to sacrifice his original screenplay to appeal to wider audience and changing major plot points from his novel. which ruined his reputation in Hollywood. Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is "mnemonic courier" data storage device implanted into his brain to carry classified or useful information for his buyers, but everything goes wrong when he makes a deal with a bodyguard agent (Udo Kier) to get an upgrade for more storage for him which later reveals that information that Johnny received links to the Yakuza's operation lead by Takahashi (Takeshi Kitano) who wants Johnny dead before they uncover the truth about a their operations related to a lethal disease that cause many deaths. the cast is surprisingly good, sure Keanu's hockey dialogue and stupid moments are here, but he's hilarious, delivering funny lines of dialogue sometimes. Dina Meyer's major film debut is probably the best actress/character in the film she's likable, bad-ass, strong female lead and helps johnny more times then the other way around which is rare for mainstream blockbusters.Legendary Japanese actor Takeshi Kitano in his only English speaking role in Hollywood feature film which is also very minor, playing the main villain, despite given very little screen-time and dialogue he's performance shows how great he is. rebel-hacker J-Bone (Ice-T) also gave a good performance an improvement in terms of his acting and let's no forget the best character of the film Karl (Dolph Lundgren) the psychotic street preacher, delivering his lines is gold mine of awesomeness. despite the criticism the film received over the years, it's not a bad science fiction film at all, i had a lot going for it. it suffered from poor direction, pacing and a lot of studio interference. the US version (97 min.) does not do the film justice at all, the out of place music, some plot points and characters development scenes have been cut, and some of the violence have trimmed for an "R" rating. thankfully there is a "Japanese Cut" (103 min.) a much better version, slightly better pacing, much better music, character development, Takeshi Kitano and Dolph Lundgren's characters scenes are restored (in the US version both are barely in the film, almost all their scenes have been cut completely despite Lundgren getting top-billing in the credits!).

Tweekums In a future where data is power, protagonist Johnny makes a living smuggling the data in his own brain. The upgrades enabling him to do this meant removing some of his own memories and now he is ready to retire and wants them back… inevitably he must do just one more job first. The job involves carrying stolen data from Beijing to Newark, New Jersey. There are two problems though; firstly there is more data than he is equipped to handle so he will die if it isn't extracted in forty eight hours and secondly the original owners of the data want it back and have sent Yakuza killers after him to retrieve his head! Once in Newark he learns that his employer has double-crossed him; he is forced to go on the run with cybernetically enhanced bodyguard Jane to find somebody else capable of extracting the data and delivering it to those who need it.This film had promise but unfortunately ends up fairly average. The world shown is a cliché dystopia; the corporate elite live the good life and dress in sharp suits while everybody else seems to live in a wasteland in rough clothes and sporting facial tattoos. Keanu Reeves is okay as Johnny, and Udo Kier is amusing as his agent but Takeshi Kitano is wasted as the corporate bad guy. The computer special effects are fairly dated now. If you can ignore these flaws or even enjoy their cheesiness the film isn't too bad. Overall I'd say it is an okay way to kill an hour and a half but if you want a really good cyberpunk film from that era watch 'Ghost in the Shell' or 'The Matrix'.

SnoopyStyle It's the year 2021, and the whole world is suffering from the Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS). Johnny Mnemonic (Keanu Reeves) has an implanted memory chip, and much of his memory erased to create space to store computer data. He's been hired to transport important data while trying to escape from the Yakuza. On his journey, he's helped by bio-engineered muscle Jane (Dina Meyer), and anti-government group led by J-Bone (Ice-T).The similarities to The Matrix is astounding. I'm not saying there's any copying, but I'm sure the Wachowski brothers had a lot of this in mind when they cast Keanu Reeves. He's basically playing the same cool emotionless hero. There are guys in black trench coats. They're dealing a lot of issues with computers. There is a lot of Asian motif. In the end, they are not really the same. I like to call this the trial run for the Matrix. You can see some of the problems. The budget isn't big enough. The real effects are too clunky. The computer FX and graphics would vastly improve in the Matrix. Overall there are all kinds of ideas in this movie that a real world setting just won't do it justice. The story is simple enough. It's a quest and a road story. There are good guys and bad guys. What this movie really need is a better visual effects department.