Johnny Mnemonic (1995) Retrospective / Review
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- Опубліковано 13 вер 2024
- Johnny Mnemonic (1995) Retrospective / Review
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Big thanks to Leon Salmon and Neil Schwartz for the additional audio tracks.
I gotta say there are many retrospective review channels out there but this channel by far is the most impressive and enjoyable I have been bingeing these at work and has brought me hours of nostalgia the way you give a brief glimpse of the movie before the breakdown pulls you in so I just wanted to say I truly appreciate all the work you're doing I plan on watching all of your retrospectives your channel is awesome !
Thanks very much dude!
I had to say, the cyberpunk aesthetics of the 90s and 80s are rougher, grainier, and grittier than that of the 2010's and 2000's. Also I loved this film's set design, I thought they at least did a good job in that department
The 90s did cyberpunk right; nothing has since come close, including the Matrix, which is probably second best. Johnny Mnemonic captured a lot of Gibson's imagination as I interpreted it in the book, particularly the technicolour geometric abstractions of cyberspace and the cynical punk rock attitudes. Sure it could have used a bigger budget, but it was pretty good for its time.
This film is fantastic
No upgrade 2018 got cybeypunk themes & is way better than this shitty movie
Some of that has to do with advancements in cgi and film technology
30:19 god I love your fan-trailer edits. They’re always so much more epic than the real ones. And I _love_ that it ends with,
*”I WANT...ROOOM SERVIIICE!!!!!”*
To this day, I think the Room Service scene and Reeve's performance in it, are an extra-dimensional fragment of a far superior cyberpunk film that inexplicably ended up edited into this movie.
It's only four years until The Matrix but these films are a lifetime apart.
You just blew my mind.
So true.
Wow, just WOW ! That's some quantum leap.
Yeah. Jhonny Mnemonic is the better Cyberpunk Movie.
So were the budgets
I sympathize with Gibson and the director. Nevertheless, this is still one of my favorite "so bad it's good" films. It's so cheesy and just the type of film you play at parties and riff on with your friends while eating popcorn and drinking beer. Dolph Lundgren steals the show and Keanu's performance is a hilarious mixture of Nicolas Cage and Tommy Wiseau (Disclaimer: Keanu is awesome and I'm very glad he's made a comeback with the John Wick movies). The "room service" bit is pure gold. Great review, Oliver! Keep up the good work. Also, since Superman celebrates his 80th anniversary this year, can you please review Superman Returns?
I wish my storage capacity was 160 gigabytes!
why, what are you storing?
To store An 8K copy of “In search of the Last Action Hero”... obviously. 🙄
that's like 113777 floppy disks. holy smokes!
I know right? I keep misplacing my 256Gb micro SD. Storing data in my rewired brain is a much better solution 🙄.
Heavy
Brilliant as always, Oliver. It's crazy that this film has many concepts and ideas still relevant today.
The trouble is William Gibson is a fantastic writer, his original screenplay was probably fascinating, but Hollywood screwed it up.
Exactly.
Thanks to a sci-fi journaIist friend of mine, I was at a pre-release screening of "Johnny Moronic" here in Vancouver. William Gibson, who I had met several years prior at a convention, was also present at that showing. There was supposed to be a Q&A session, but as soon as the end credits began to roll, Mr. Gibson immediately left the theatre, ducking out of said session. We met him outside the venue and a little piece further down Granville St., shortly afterwards. By his laconic reaction which wasn't complimentary in the least, we figured the worst. I'll never forget what he said... "It's best I left and it's best, I say nothing. The producers are inside." The best disavowal of a movie, I've ever heard.
The worst part about this is, in my humble opinion, the fact that if they had tried keeping the movie as close as possible to the actual short story, I think the movie would have been amazing. I don't get that need to scramble movie adaptations so much. And I don't buy the argument they (studios and movie producers) often make about the absolute need to change and morph a book so that they can make a movie out of it. That's bullshit.
D It's to appeal to the biggest audience possible. Even if an original story is the greatest one ever written, something in this genre is still written for a niche audience. If that's translated 1:1 to the big screen then it's only going to appeal to that same niche audience. That's not what big movie studios want. So they start meddling, resulting in a mess of a movie that nobody wants to watch.
I see your point but I disagree. Johnny Mnemonic is a perfect example of that. There's intrigue, there's action, there's humour, there's suspense etc. A little something for everybody. The fact is, you can't ever make a movie that will please everyone, every slice of society. That's impossible, so if indeed, studios are bent on pleasing everyone every time they release a movie, then, I consider that a commercial pipe dream. Not to mention that they obviously failed with their Johnny Mnemonic enterprise!
Never understood the hate for this movie. Its one of my favorites.
Hear, hear
Terrible casting, terrible acting, terrible action, terrible special effects, and terribly cliched. Its terrible on every level.
It's basically a dumbed down version of the novel Neuromancer in a way which was written by W. Gibson as well. So essentially he made Neuromancer into a Hollywood movie but it wasn't as good lol
Yup!
Love keanu....but by god...that guy can’t act...but I don’t care....he’s great, and a lovely person!
As a cyberpunk, I loved this movie in spite of its numerous faults. My dad and I use to argue over it. He hated it. I didn't. It really hasn't aged well, but it still holds some charm for me, due to how cheesy and 90s it is. Really wish they released the German BD/Japanese Cut over here. While it doesn't fix the movie's larger issues; it really does provide some much needed backstory & development for Kitano and Dolph's characters. I found it much more coherent and enjoyable over all as a result.
I have 2 versions of this movie and I agree it have its faults and it would be hard for new people to see the good in it, but I love it and still see it from time to time and its one of the only cyberpunk movies out there at the time
@@Glaaki13 I remember there being a few cyberpunk films around at the time, however most of them were not being made in the West. 1995 onward would be a whole different story.
It could have been a little better if it had that Blade Runner atmosphere. Yet this film, or rather its novel, predicted virtual reality.
Add in the background of a dystopia where the masses are controlled by a virus, and you have a very prescient film, doncha think?
@@Y2Kr4SHM4N ...............adoo sir, adoo!
As a what?
A retrospective of strange days ?
Yes!
1,000 yes please!!!
Solid copy on this.
Absolutely. Strange Days for sure.
good shout!!
Great review. Interesting about the alternate longer cut. The main things I remember about this film were the cyber Dolphin and the laser whip thing. I totally forgot about Dolph Lungren being in this!
NOT a laser whip! Not your fault, you're just repeating what was said. It's a mono-molecular wire that he pulls out from his thumb. So thin that it cuts thru anything. I read the story and watched the flick.
@@stevemurray5606 it's a laser whip
i didnt think it was a bad movie.
Critics called it Johnny Moronic , lmao :p
He doesn't seem to like anything from the 90s lol
postersandstuff well, fuck those critics in particular then..i know i kinda liked it
When I first saw it I thought it was good but when I watched it again a few days ago it was pretty bad. Almost as bad as the Max Headroom movie
I just watched it a couple of days ago - all I knew of it was that it got bashed back in the 90s when it came out as being a terrible movie. Anyways a bad movie can be good - and this was sort of that, except I wouldn't say it's bad, it's just stupid - but really entertaining. It's always enjoyable seeing really bad takes on the future, so that's another big plus.
The vhs tape was orange in a plastic slip case with Reeve's face and clear spot on his forehead so the tape made it look like he had disk in his head.
i can forgive the "set your VCRs" line remember they were the "Low-Techs" a group of poor and homeless people using old modified technology ...
just wanted to say I've been giving some cinema courses and your channel is SO helpful. So well- researched, well-written and well-presented. Lots of information we don't see anywhere else. Thank you and keep up the good work.
I love this movie, especially Henry Rollins speech about all the electronic shit that causes the black shakes..and how he says "we can't live without it" really strikes home nowadays about how connected we are with social media and smartphones.
The fact you find that deep is embarrassing.
Rod, the fact you don't just confirmed his statement.
I have a huge soft spot for this movie
I've got a strange affection to cyberpunk movies of the 90's. Yes, this one has its mistakes but who cares? It's an entertaining movie
It's a lovely movie, pure cheese. "It's JESUS TIME!"
SaveTheWorldRadio go get a job
It's one of my absolute favorite ones.
@SaveTheWorldRadio who got a $20 allowance in the 1990s? You sound like a spoiled douchebag. Also movies in 1995 cost like $3 during the day and maybe $5 at night.
I rented this and my little sister and I liked it a lot. My twin sister, however, seemed to have the overwhelmingly popular opinion that it's not that good. Haters gonna hate, I guess. IMO, this helped Keanu Reeves' performance in the 1st Matrix movie. For the time, the sfx were pretty good
Henry Rollins. Ice T. Dolph Lungdren. And Keanu Reeves all in one movie? Yes please
"I want to get online! I NEED. A COMPUTER!"
This takes place next year. Damn!
Loved this movie as a kid because of speed Keanu Reeves was a superhero to me and saw The 1st Matrix in the theater 7 times. Crazy how big of a star he is now
"We don't get much of that out here in Newark, Just Johnny". I love the dialog between Johnny and Spider. With this and Hackers, it was a good year for techno-geeks and even if the films are heavily flawed I think they influenced a lot of people into getting computers.
For me this is the hardest movie to defend in my favorite movies roster. Sure is a mess, is dull in some parts, but I think this is the most Cyberpunkiest movie of all time, the dullness make it a blast to watch, I dind´t knew about the 25th annyversary cut now I can´t wait.
I need to watch this movie once a year, and always next to or after watching Hackers.
The laser whip is the only thing I remeber about that movie
come on oliver, this film is not that bad. It's no masterclass nor is it a film that brings a fresh / original take to the action - sci-fi genre , but if you want a funny, shut your mind off and enjoy the adventure type of film, this is a movie that does just that. Yes , it is corny , but regardless, it is a enjoyable film.
@@KevinJDildonik Dolph's character is a machine enhanced , preaching bounty hunter. Everything he does is mismatched and crazy to the plot. That's what makes his role hilarious. There's nothing to change about his or anyone's elese role .
80GBs... if only we had that brain technology now to be able to store such huge amounts of data... oh wait, i have a 2TB usb stick in my pocket
But can it be smuggle in a man head?
This has the premise to be a good anime.
The year is 2021. It is the far future.
Kyle Reese enlisted in the resistance in 2021
originally only to use 80 GB they made him use 320 GB. I would just buy him a 4 terabyte portable hard drive from best buy haha! only $149.99
4 terabytes is 12.5 times more than his maxed out brain!
Defenders of Earth took place in 2015 :p
It is 2021!
Ice t has built up an impressive filmography of crappy sci fi movies...
Kommissar I loved that movie he did with the original highlander. I think it was later remade as a film called the hunger games
He must be drawn to them.
The guy was a kangeroo in Tank girl 😂
Thank you for reminding me ✌️
@@Maniac536 no, no, no, hunger games is a remake of the japanese movie BATTLE ROYALE.
Path Evermore oh? Look up the movie Mean Guns (1997)
I would rather watch this than Knock Knock.
I'd watch this over Knock Knock just for Dina Meyer.
ua-cam.com/video/y6_NaBw-4Cg/v-deo.html
I'm going to assume that you aren't talking about this one.
I watched this gem quite recently for the first time and I love its take on the future and cyberpunk themes, very cool and I agree that the effects look good even today.
The version I watched was scored by Brad Fiedel and I liked that. I had no idea it had 3 different versions and it's quite shit how they cut a lot of Dolph Lundgren's scenes, he plays a bonkers character and it would have been nice to have more background for his character. Great film and wicked retro review Ollie. Can't wait for your Halloween videos so much.
This movie was so unaware of being aware of itself. 🤣🤣😂😂😂
I actually enjoy this movie, guilty pleasure I guess :)
I hope we get a recut version.
We didn’t.
There was also that Barry Levinson movie 'Disclosure' a year earlier that used VR as some sort of virtual vault for secret documents.
Martin Kronström and it was based on The Michael Crichton book of the same name.
book was much better
Very much so. Soooo much cut... as is always the case with movie adaptations.
If I remember in the movie, it was some sort of blueprints for a hard drive that had a failure by design and it was kept in a virtual vault + office drama. Was it the case for the book?
The size of footprint this left on Cyberpunk 2077 is immeasurable. The visuals .. the characters .. the atmosphere .. well, there's not that many cyberpunk movies.
I love this movie. Now if you excuse me I’ll get room service.
Update: okay you had to bring up the “get your VCRs ready” line as a negative. It is clearly intentional and probably could be interpreted as future hipster slang.
28:20 i loved Johnny M, and was also an avid SHADOWRUN player in 98 when the first MATRIX trailer dropped. i went into this movie suspecting that the reason the trailers had so many stunts was because it was literally, THE MATRIX, the evolved internet from SHADOWRUN, which also resembles the internet in JOHNNY M.
I remember seeing this is the cinema back then. It's weird that the ideas of this movie hold up to today.
It's a William Gibson book, his ideas were far beyond their time
completely agree
before anything is created in reality, it first must be conceived in the imagination. Science fiction precedes science fact. It's not so weird that sci-fi holds up, rather it would be much weirder if technological progress had no conceptual precedent.
i just watched a few months ago for the first time and was surprised they wasted takeshi kitano here as much as they did in ghost in the shell
Insanely cheesy movie, that was obsolete decades before 2021, but it has the distinctive 1990s look to it (like The Matrix, Blade, The 5th Element, The Crow, Hackers, Run Lola Run, Strange Days, Tank Girl, Trainspotting, Fight Club etc)
Could that be because they were made in the 90s?
everyone i met hated this movie when it came out so i watched it to see how bad it really was, i ended up liking it, it wasnt mind blowing, but i liked the atmosphere, i cared about johnny and dina meyer and i loved the music, i found it very haunting
I had the biggest crush on Dina Meyer in the 90's
Hmmm yes. Starship Troopers shower scene...
Met her at a Con in Sacramento last year and she was an absolute sweetheart.
Treating the disease is far more profitable than curing it. That is what stuck with me the most from this movie. Nuf said.
The acting in this movie is epic, but you have to watch it while high of course:)
I want rooom serviiice!
Not ashamed to admit I like this film.
He man, do Strange Day, with Ralph Fiennes. Totally underrated SciFi masterpiece from 1995.
Amazing movie. Fantastic performances.
Would absolutely love a retrospective video for STRANGE DAYS.
thank you so much for uploading !!!!!! :)
I love this movie. My favorite movie. Have seen it so many times in so many states, can relate to just johnny so much. I know it's kinda trash, but cyberpunk can be trashy. So many odd lines, such a great soundtrack if you get the right version. Very cyberpunk movie, up there with Repo Man. On the surface. *You got parents and stuff?!*
Wow! This in an interactive CD-Rom!
long time fan, love your work broand great documentary
Your storage capacity is 160gb.
Electronic arts: those are rookie numbers
Great choice for a review. I was bang into all things cyber punk back in the day. I remember seeing photos from this film way before it came out, I thought it was going to be the next big thing, so modelled my style of dress on what I saw, that meant wearing sharp suits this was right in the middle of Brit pop. Oh how wrong I was!
Love how these were gimmicky but as time has gone by even in the last few years - they've become extremely relevant
I actually remember watching this movie as a teenager because i liked Speed and while i remember not loving it but honestly dont remember anything about the movie's storyline making me think it must have been unremarkable overall.
Great content sir,keep it up!
They're showing you of what's about to take place in real LIFE
No thanks.
The Philips CD-i game Burn:Cycle had a very similar plot, and it came out the same year
Cyberpunk is hard to get right. You should really do a retrospective on the Italian film Nirvana.
Paul Julian that one with Christopher Lambert?
Yup. I think it's great, for a low budget film. The original, not the truncated American Dub.
It's not that they didn't know how to get it right, the problem is the studio started interfering with the creative process. That almost always results in a mediocre film.
I don’t know if you have already, but can you please do a retrospective review on the 90’s flick, “Dark City?”
It's been done.
And 'the thirteenth floor'. It has a similar feel.
It's sad we don't really get any cool, creative films anymore.
I was always put off by the marketing when the movie was initially released in theaters and VHS. (Guess it was mostly the German title, that was a generic bad pun that made the movie sound like a boring John Grisham adaptation knock off) It was a few years ago when I saw the movie namedropped in some cyberpunk forums when I decided to buy the dvd, and I really liked a lot of stuff. After seeing your review, I will most certainly buy the German Blu-ray. I'm very interested in the commentary and extended scenes now.
I always felt Dolph was the most entertaining part of the movie...shame they cut so much of his stuff
Never seen this one! Thanks for the review going to pick it up!
One of my favorite soundtracks of all Time!!!!¡¡¡!!🎹🎸🎧🎥💫💀😵👌
LOL CRT monitors of the future
Hey Ollie!! how about a Retrospective / Review on David Cronenberg's eXistenZ?
This movie is Based on William Gibson's Omni short Story. I read this story in a Doctors office.
Oliver, PLEASE equalize the volume throughout! Some parts are SUPER loud and others quiet. I play your videos on a loop throughout my work day and at night as I sleep and it would be AWESOME if the sound was consistent. Pretty please?
Yup. It's frustrating cuz some parts are really relaxing, then it just blares.
"Takahashi lost his daughter to NES". Should have bought her a ZX Spectrum.
I remember when the film came out, and I believe Barry Norman called it Johnny Moronic.
There were also jokes made at the time that Keanu's brain could hold a maximum of 2 Megabytes.
They should have cast Ian Dury as Ralfi. It wasn't a 90's cyberpunk film, unless you had Ian Dury as a dodgy side character who supplies things.
Udo Kier had a similar role to here in the Cyberpunk flavored Barb Wire, released a year after JM.
I’m wondering, when are you gonna do a retrospective on The Hunt for Red October and Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
I love how movies the 90s hated like hackers and johnny mnemonic now are classics. Marks of an era never to return.
Would be absolutely worthy of a remake. Also, that laser whip thing is a usable weapon in Cyberpunk 2077 - you can see it in one of the trailers.
The ideas were ahead of its time. It could work now as a contemporary thriller.
I would really love to see this movie the way it was originally intended. Too bad the studios really messed with the creative vision of the director and writers
Watching in 2020 and eerie how pretty accurate they are
Neuromancer is my favorite book, so for all these years Johnny Mnemonic is unfortunately the closest I ever had for a movie set in that universe. I even bought the screenplay. It's really the second director's cut I would want to see the most, apart from John McTiernan's cut of the 13th Warrior. I had high hopes upon learning that Vincenzo Natali was attached to Neuromancer, but unfortunately it fell apart. Hopefully Tim Miller will do the book justice.
one of my favorite movies. y'all have a badass day
This film and Hackers (From the same year no less) both had hilarious interpretations of the internet.
This movie is so bad but I love it so much. Also I'm probably biased because William Gibson is one of my favorite writers.
God I love 90's Sci-fi CyberCheese.
I thought evrybody forgot about this film. Been loving it since 1999
The irony of your review is, yes the special effects were original/cool for the time. BUT I think the ending is very cool. But ALSO The doctor explaining what important info Johnny is actually holding in his head and With Ice-T/J-Bone announcing that its the cure and the company didnt want you to have it. Sounds like today, 20 years later. Cures for the major diseases held back because then NO money for minor treatments and major research.
oooh yeah :D i've been waiting for this review, Awesome B movie with a great cast! i love it! Thanks Oliver
20:35 he probably meant the iPhone by Cisco, which was probably registered as a trademark around that time
Great review! Always a pleasure watching your content!
Review Red Dawn
I've always loved this movie. Especially his speech on the garbage pile.
Johnny Mnemonic (1995) reminds me of a FMV game, it has that look. Never played the FMV game version but many others like it on my PC.
The grunginess and imperfections of 90s cyberpunk movies only contribute to their aestethic appeal and authenticity, wilst modern attempts and remakes are often more polished, self aware; restrained by their dedication to form. At least it appears that way in retrospect.
Honestly I prefer this movie over The Matrix wholeheartedly. I mean its still not a very good film but I adore Keanu Reeves in this and I'm a sucker for this style of Cyberpunk. I do wish I could see a version like the original director intended. Sign me up for artsy cyberpunk film.
Hell yeah. Johnny is much better.
Cesar Rodriguez The Matrix may be a better film in terms of pacing and filmmaking technicality but I could give a shit less about the whole plot about machines rising, and humans living as power cells in a AI simulation, with them living underground or whatever. I prefer Johnny's Cyberpunk world they live in, like I said Johnny Mnemonic isn't a very "good" film technically, but I still think its better in terms of its world and I wish I could of seen more from the franchise.
I like The Matrix but I'd definitely prefer a good movie set in a world like Mnemonic
In the story, it's not a 'laser whip', it's a monomolecular whip. Used in many other sci-fi stories, it's a molecule stretched out and supposed to be able to cut through nearly anything.
The whole movie is a 26 Million $ unlicensed Shadowrun Fanpic and it's awesome as that.
such a cult classic guilty pleasure movie. I just watched it again very recently because of the easter egg ad from Cyberpunk 2077 LOL
Where are you Johnny, it's 2021 and where's the cure to this varus!
Saw this in the cinema and to this day is still the closest film to actually nail the cyberpunk aesthetic. Also I love it’s kookiness.
it makes sens Ice T would say set your VCRs because remember .. they are the LOW- TECH gang.. so it would make sense that they would be using older tech and not the most current stuff