In a dystopian world where half the people of the world suffered from an incurable disease, a highly trained agent must deliver one last package of information stored inside his brain before it gets into the wrong hands.It's a movie which displays a futuristic story of an agent who could store vast amount of data into his brain, data that must be delivered safely to the recipient before complete neuronal damage and of course, irreversible data loss. It has an interesting idea, one that maintains a good level of interest and suspense, but unfortunately doesn't stand up as much as it could due to its implementation. It might have been due to technological limitations, taking into consideration the production year, but you cannot miss the final product which simply doesn't provide a credible and truly dramatic atmosphere. The dialog also doesn't do much service to this movie, as its lack of complexity and average sound prove to be quite a letdown. In terms of plot, it is pretty coherent, but also simplistic and predictable, leaving almost no room for any interpretation. Thus, it is linear and doesn't do much to lift the quality of the movie. The actors did a decent job but also nothing out of the ordinary, while the characters portrayed are on par with the rest of the movie, being basically described and unsympathetic, their fate leaving little to care for from the viewer. Overall, it's a movie set in a futuristic world, one which could have provided a lot more, but failed to do so from every point of view. It leaves the impression that it was rushed, that it wasn't given enough time to fully accomplish what it had proposed to do, thus the result leaves much to desire.

When I first heard of this film, I thought, "Oh, yeah. That'll tank." Just based on its title, people won't know whether it's a misprint or not. And, if they know that it's correct, then they probably won't be able to pronounce it in order to buy a ticket for it. Me? I just thought it was a bad choice for a title. Fastforward twenty years and I have finally gotten around to watching this film and . . . actually . . . it's NOT that bad. Of course, it's completely wrong about what the future world will look like. (It's set in 2021.) Yet, its view of the future is lushly told. Someone clearly went to a lot of trouble to make this dystopic world look real. Unfortunately, the storytelling is the problem. There's clearly so much more that could have been told in addition to the requisite running around, fighting, and shooting at people. While you can tell there's a "story" here, Robert Longo, the director, just doesn't tell it. This is too bad, because this movie actually tantalizes with details of relationships and other encounters that could have made it a classic sci-fi film in the vein of "Blade Runner." Oh, well. Possibilities. Would I watch it again? Probably not. Still, it wasn't a waste of time.

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'.

Like - WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE??!! This Sci-Fi/Action/Thriller sure could have been about 10 zillion times better.Johnny Mnemonic certainly had oodles, and oodles of potential. I think that it could've easily been considered a kick-ass contender for a prime position right up there alongside The Matrix. But, unfortunately, this flick went nowhere. And it went there, fast.Set in the year 2021 where filth and ugliness prevails - Johnny is a 'Mnemonic Data Carrier' carrying 320 gigabytes of ultimately crucial information contained on a memory chip that has been surgically implanted directly into his brain. At this point, Johnny's information storage capacity is dangerously overloaded.Pursued by ruthless agents and deadly cyborgs, Johnny must deliver this all-important data to Newark within 24 hours, or else he must die.Johnny Mnemonic, most certainly, had a truly fascinating premise that if handled properly could've ranked it right up there with some of the best Sci-Fi films of all time. But, instead, all we are offered was a film that ranked right down there with some of the worst from that genre, ever. I'm not joking.Johnny Mnemonic is an utterly forgettable flick filled to overflowing with totally uninteresting characters mouthing laughable dialogue set against the back-drop of a hideous landscape of urban hell.