THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505260055
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
THE BEST of science-fiction, on screen as well as in print, should transport you to a world of ``What if?''
``Johnny Mnemonic,'' the first film version of a work by pioneer cyberpunk writer William Gibson, tries fitfully to be wacko. It's the kind of movie that will greatly succeed with a cult audience but will be simply pooh-poohed by others.
The year is 2021, when the world is ruled by super conglomerates. Billed as ``the dark side of the information superhighway,'' it is a world in which information reigns.
Keanu Reeves has the title role, as a special messenger who is carrying info to cure a world disease. With everyone sneaking into everyone else's computer, the only safe place, apparently, is in the brains of these messengers. There are a number of computer-generated effects that suggest what's going on in his head - which isn't much.
Reeves must take the info from Asia to the Free City of Newark. The city is an urban mess where our poor messenger encounters all kind of foes.
This time it's appropriate that Reeves looks blank. After all, his brain is so overloaded that it will explode if he isn't ``downloaded'' soon. Since he doesn't know the code access and since all the super-important data embedded in his brain has wiped out his memory, the boy is in a fix.
Takeshi, reportedly a big star in Japan, where the film opened three weeks ago, is a member of the organized crime outfits that, literally, want Keanu's head. Dolph Lundgren, showing no sign of becoming more animated since his days as Rocky's punching partner, is an evil bounty hunter who doubles as a crooked preacher. His part is no more than a cameo.
The cast is a delightful bunch of weirdos - suggesting that we are meant to have some fun.
On the side of the good guy, there is J-Bone, leader of the LoTeks, urban guerrillas who fight back. He's played by rapper Ice-T. There is also Spider, a renegade doctor who realizes the true importance of the data Johnny is carrying. He's played by punk rocker Henry Rollins.
Reeves' bodyguard is Jane (Dina Meyer). She's tough and she's technologically enhanced.
Johnny is a kind of low-grade 007 with all kinds of high-tech gadgets, and a rock score in the back-ground.
The chance to break the code - get this - lies in a mechanical dolphin fueled by heroin. All this stuff was dreamed up by a Virginia guy who used to live in Wytheville before he ran off to Canada. Writer Gibson has his cult followers and this movie, while not pleasing some of the hardliners, should attract new converts.
It's all directed by first-timer Robert Longo who is an avant-garde artist.
With a cast and a set-up this wild, there is some fun to be had.
The best moment comes when Reeves, otherwise deadpan, goes berserk, looks directly into the camera and yells, ``Room service!''
Wacko! MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``Johnny Mnemonic''
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Dolph Lundgren, Takeshi, Ice-T, Dina Meyer, Henry
Rollins
Director: Robert Longo
Screenplay: William Gibson, based on his short story
Music: Brad Fiedel
MPAA rating: R (violence, language)
Mal's rating: two stars
Locations: Chesapeake Square, Greenbrier in Chesapeake; Janaf, Main
Gate in Norfolk; Lynnhaven Mall, Pembroke, Surf-N-Sand in Virginia
Beach by CNB