HONG KONG has more than its share of Keanu Reeves fans who will flock to Johnny Mnemonic no matter what reviewers say, but the Robert Longo-directed film should carry a government health warning.
Not only does it feature some of the worst ensemble acting seen in recent years, Johnny Mnemonic is also unnecessarily violent and ultimately pointless. These are harsh words indeed, especially given that this is Longo's first film - but the Tri-Star production deserves a harsh rap.
You could write it off as mindless entertainment - ironic really, given that Johnny Mnemonic is about a 21st century courier who carries megabytes of information in his brain - but the high level of violence and blasphemy makes it a little more dangerous than that. Based on a story by William Gibson, Johnny Mnemonic had the potential to be a 90s Bladerunner, but it fails to deliver.
It would be easy to blame Reeves, in the lead of Johnny, whose brain is overloaded with vital data in Beijing. Johnny is double-crossed by his agent, and finds himself caught between the yakuza (led by Takeshi Kitano), their assassins (Dolph Lundgren as the ludicrously overblown mechanically-enhanced Street Preacher), and the guerilla-like Loteks (headed by rapper Ice-T, who gives the best performance of the film). The data is leaking into his brain and the key to Johnny's future seems to lie with the world's third largest corporation, Pharmkom.
Johnny links up with a samurai bodyguard (Dina Myer) as he races against time to download the information before it kills him. Reeves is no Shakespearean actor and too much of the film rests on his wooden shoulders - but he's not helped by some ludicrous monologues and laughable scenarios. The film lacks pacing, and Longo's vision of the future never seems real.
Cyber fans should be compensated in some way, however, by extended graphics sequences which are visually intriguing and almost bring Johnny Mnemonic to life.
CASPER, you may recall, is a friendly ghost: the star of a 1960s cartoon series, he had trouble making pals.