Fun with Johnny Mnemonic

[AndyC]

I watched Johnny Mnemonic the other night. No, I wasn't trying to punish myself. I've been reading some Gibson lately, and was trying to explain his cyberpunk world to my wife. Having already tried this with the worlds of Asimov's Foundation series and A Canticle for Leibowitz, I've gotten used to her just sort of glazing over as I try to condense a book's worth of description and exposition into a reasonably clear picture for someone who doesn't read those kind of books.

This time, I figured there was at least a movie with a Gibsonian future, even if it is a poorly-realized, dumbed-down version of one.

Now, I haven't seen this movie since my best friend and I saw it in 95 (I got him so messed up on the pronunciation of mnemonic while we were in line, he asked for a ticket to "Johnny"). Anyway, I was surprised to see that the head baddy was none other than Takeshi Kitano, whom I wouldn't have recognized ten years ago, even if he was a big star in Japan. He was definitely the best actor in this movie, and I know that hardly does him justice. Anyway, Lori also noticed him immediately, and asked where she'd seen him.

"It's Vic Romano!" For those who might not know, Takeshi was the host of Takeshi's Castle, the show that was turned into Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.

So, that started a new game for us. The other Yakuza guy, by default, became Kenny Blankenship, and I'd punctuate their discussions with "Right you are, Ken." Add in a few character introductions, such as "That's Tabbouleh Babaghanouj, he's discovered an exciting new use for flatulence," and the movie was actually fun. We got into imagining Johnny going through the defenses around the Pharmacom data, which consisted of his virtual self sliding down a hill in a big bowl, dressing up as a giant hand and throwing himself on numbers, and swinging over a pit of mud. The best joke, however, had to be when the Street Preacher went up in flames: "It's Kenny Blankenship's most painful elimination of the day!"

All in all, I'm glad I rented it.

Anybody else have such an unexpected good time riffing on a movie?



Post Edited (03-05-05 12:29)

[AndyC]

Oh, it was also worth renting just to listen to the kid at Blockbuster trying to pronounce the title, before giving up and ringing it through.

[Mr_Vindictive]

You know I've watched Johnny Mnemonic in the past (My wife bought it for me on DVD), and recognized him from Battle Royale, and from the Zatoichi remake.  I never realized that he was one of the hosts from Takeshi's Castle.  I'll have to watch a bit closer next time.

[Yaddo 42]

What makes JM worse is that the script was by Gibson himself. Director Robert Longo was a first time feature director, who had been a visual artist before and had done some odd but interesting promos for MTV. I've heard nothing but bad stuff about the film of "New Rose Hotel" and Gibson wrote that script also. Has anyone seen it? Worth a look?

I remember trying to explain to people that however cheap and fake the drug-addicted ex-military hacker dolphin was in the movie, it read pretty cool in the short story. I was disappointed Molly Millions got literally turned into Dina Meyer's plain Jane character. But now I understand why since Gibson was contractually forbidden to use the character while his book "Neuoromancer" was still under option to another company. I'd still like to see that one adapted, the effects have finally caught up with the book.

There was an Entertainment Weekly article at the time about the financing of JM. It was made with mostly Canadian and European money, which revolved around the casting choices made entirely to add to the appeal in overseas markets. That's why Dolph Lundgren was cast since he was still a big star there at the time. For some reason Keanu's casting was what brought the Canadian money on board, don't know if this started production before "Speed" came out or not. I do remember that it said the cut released in Japan expanded Takeshi Kitano's role since he was a big star there (at the time I'd never heard of him, shame on me). They said he was the Japanese equivalent of Clint Eastwood, okay......

[AlexB]

Tabbouleh Babaghanouj, now there's someone I'd like to meet

[Yaddo 42]

With a name like that he probably has great taste.

[AndyC]

Yaddo 42 wrote:
> For some reason Keanu's casting was what brought the
> Canadian money on board

He's a Canadian citizen.

Funny, I could tell the movie had Canadian connections, just because there are certain bit players who always show up in such movies - people you can spot in Canadian TV shows, commercials, etc. Takahashi's secretary was one such person. Not a great piece of casting. She seemed really out of place.

I agree that Neuromancer would make a great movie if it's done right. With the success of the Matrix trilogy and other sci-fi actioners, I'm surprised there isn't more interest, unless Johnny Mnemonic put Hollywood off Gibson's own stories.

Haven't read the original short story, but I kind of figured that the Jane character started out as Molly, just because I remembered a vague reference in Neuromancer. Makes you really appreciate how much this movie fell short of the world of Gibson's books. Also interesting to know that Johnny eventually does get killed by the Yakuza.



Post Edited (03-07-05 11:14)