“Everybody and his mother wants to kill me!”
The new Digital HD release is out this May, as the sci-fi classic starring Keanu Reeves reaches its quarter-century.
This synopsis doesn’t actually sound too far out, only they missed COVID:
In the 21st century the information superhighway has developed so far that cyberspace is the norm for all business and personal dealings. Information has become so important that to shield the most delicate files from cyberspace hackers, the data is transported in the heads of Mnemonic couriers. Johnny (Keanu Reeves) is the best of the bunch, but this time the raw data he carries is so sensitive that he is being pursued by many interested parties, and his failure to deliver the information will hand him the ultimate lateness penalty.
Hollywood action superstar Keanu Reeves stars in this ahead-of-its time sci-fi thriller set in 2021(!) that predicted the use of the internet, and paved the way for mind-bending blockbusters such as The Matrix and Inception. Reeves plays a futuristic data carrier with 80GB storage capacity in his brain.
Johnny Mnemonic opened in 1996 to less than stellar reviews (it currently holds a 12% critics’ score and 31% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes) but there were loads of things I didn’t like in 1996 but do now (naps and soup to name but two) so maybe it’s time for a new look at it?
The all-star cast includes Dolph Lundgren (The Expendables), Udo Kier (Blade), Henry Rollins (Lost Highway), Takeshi Kitano (Violent Cop) and Ice-T (New Jack City). JOHNNY MNEMONIC was also the first film adaptation of the work of legendary cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson.
It’s out on 10 May 2021 in the UK, courtesy of Vertigo Releasing.
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