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.
Review of Johnny Mnemonic
