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diff --git a/content/reviews/movies/johnny-mnemonic-1995.md b/content/reviews/movies/johnny-mnemonic-1995.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6cbfb26 --- /dev/null +++ b/content/reviews/movies/johnny-mnemonic-1995.md @@ -0,0 +1,75 @@ ++++ +title = "Johnny Mnemonic (1995)" +author = ["Michał Sapka"] +date = 2024-06-11T15:52:00+02:00 +categories = ["reviews"] +draft = false +weight = 2002 +reviewSection = ["Movies"] +image_dir = "reviews/screenshots" +image_max_width = 765 +abstract = "My mirco reviview of the cyberpunk classic" +rating = 4.0 +image = "reviews/covers/johny-mnemonic.jpg" +aliases = ["/brain-rot/american-scifi/johnny-mnemonic-1995/"] ++++ + +One plus of the linear-tv age of the past is that I've seen movies I would have no chance otherwise. +Polish stations tried to put as many new blockbusters as possible. +Other times they had to resort to movies of lesser fame, like the hero of the day - _Johnny Mnemonic_. + +Willian Gibson, the father of modern _Cyberpunk_ genre, doesn't have much luck when it comes to movies. +_Neuromancer_ is finally getting an adaptation, but unfortunately it will be a TV show[^fn:1]. +His _Aliens III_ script was rejected. +At this moment, his only legacy in this medium is _Johnny Mnemonic_. +Luckily, it's an awesome legacy! + +The story is what he does best - a classic story in a cybernetic world. +Johnny is a courier who smuggles information. +The trick is that he is not smuggling them on tapes, but in his own brain. +This time he overdid it and loaded too much data (320 gigs!) overflowing his capacity. +He needs to get it out, and to do it _fast_. +It won't be easy as the data is _hot_ and yakuza and gigantic corporation are trying to stop him. + +_Neuromancer_ is a heist story with a twist, _Johnny Mnemonic_ is a fugitive story with a twist. +For what it's worth, I found the story to be great. +There is nothing profound, nothing makes you scratch your head. +It's story about a smuggler and the whole world trying to kill him. + +The worst aspect of this movie is the acting. +It's Keanu Reeves at his most mediocre, single faced act. +Even Takashi Kitano seems to be bored on set. +I have no idea why, but **no** actor seems to be invested. + +But everything else works. +First, the movie looks great. +All special effects are selling distopian vision of near future - be it the scenes of high raise buildings, slums, or of cyberspace. +It all looks like one would expect (no sky _the color of TV turned to a dead channel_ though, which is a shame). + +Talking about cyberspace, when have we ruined the way we talked about computers? +_Johnny..._ has all the Gibson's words, like Ice-breakers. +It's magical and hypnotic. +We live in world of his novels (with corporations being more powerful than nations, internet everywhere, or the destruction of environment) but this is what we lost? +It's so dull and dry! +I don't want App, I want "visual interface". + +{{< image class="centered" source="https://madmuseum.org/events/johnny-mnemonic" alt="Keanu Reeves in metal VR goggles grimming his teeth. The helmet covers most of his face." file="johny-mnemonic-1.jpg" >}} +This looks like something I want! +Screw that plastic toy from Apple. +{{< /image >}} + +{{< image class="centered" source="https://madmuseum.org/events/johnny-mnemonic" alt="A futurstic CGI city resembling cyberspace" file="johny-mnemonic-2.jpg" >}} +This was the cyberspace we were promised. +{{< /image >}} + +I may be looking at this movie through rose-tainted cyber-visors, but I was expecting a terrible movie. +I saw as a teen and loved it. +But somehow, after all this years _Johnny Mnemonic_ holds up. +It's not a big nor overly smart movie. +It's a product of it's times but does it marvelously. +I loved it. + +[^fn:1]: It's a sign of the times. + Platforms want to get as much from every license, a _Neuromancer_ is as hot as SciFi goes. + This means that it will most likely be expanded into self-parody, with one unnecessary thread after another. + And _Neuromaner_ is already structured as a **movie**! |