2017 Movie #128: Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

2017 Movie #128: Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

Johnny Mnemonic is bad. Almost incoherently bad. Keanu Reeves, for one thing, does not have the range to pull this particular role off. Reeves, at his best, is capable of being an action star, but this film demands more from him and he’s unable to deliver.

There’s a kernel of a good idea at the core of this film, which is unsurprising given its origins as a William Gibson short story. But this film is almost impossibly bad; perhaps the only redeeming quality of Johnny Mnemonic is a small appearance by Henry Rollins, who appears as a semi-skeezy doctor specializing in implants; it’s a memorable appearance.

Not much of this film has aged well, but nothing has aged worse than its almost comically ridiculous depiction of the internet.

It’s hard to imagine this being remade, but I’d be curious to see this concept re-imagined within a modern context and put in the hands of a capable creative team.