Today we will talk about a science fiction movie starring Keanu Reeves. But don’t worry,
I’m not talking about The Matrix; I’m talking about Johnny Mnemonic. This movie
was released in 1995 and was directed by Robert Longo. But the interesting thing here is that
the movie takes place in 2021, and I’m making this video in 2021, so it’ll be interesting
to see if Robert could see into the future or not.
So be careful with the spoilers, and if you like these videos, please don’t forget to
like and subscribe. This is just my personal opinion, and you
should see the movie since this video isn’t a substitute for watching it. You can find
links to it in the description. This is the first sentence of the movie: “Second
decade of the 21st century. Corporations rule”. It seems like Robert was actually able to
see the future. The second sentence of the movie: “The world is threatened by a new
plague”. Ok... Robert is a time traveler, no doubt about it.
This new plague is called NAS: Nerve Attenuation Syndrome. The cure, as well as its cause,
is unknown. The citizens don’t like what the corporations are doing, so they create
a resistance movement, The LoTeks. The corporations must protect themselves,
right? So, they decide to hire the Yakuza. There’s also something called Mnemonic couriers,
who are elite agents who smuggle data through wet-wired brain implants. It seems Robert
has been talking too much with Elon Musk. We see Keanu for the first time, but, like
the title says, his name is Johnny. Johnny is lying in his bed, and it appears that he
is wasted. He then turns the TV on. This is a futuristic movie that takes place in 2021.
I’d have assumed that the TV would be the size of the wall, or a hologram, but no, the
TV is the size of my laptop. I guess Robert is not a time traveler after all.
Johnny makes a phone call through his TV and starts talking with Ralfi. It looks like Johnny
is a courier, as he is talking with Ralfi about going to Beijing to get a file. Johnny
arrives in Beijing, and while in the hotel elevator, he plugs something into the back
of his head. He is measuring how much space he has left. The capacity of his brain is
160GB. Really? His job is to smuggle data through his brain, and he can only carry 160GB?
I had more space in my iPod Shuffle... Johnny gets out of the elevator and enters
a room. Inside the room are five guys who’re freaking out because Johnny is late. Johnny
doesn’t care and starts giving orders to the other guys. While issuing orders, they
ask Johnny if he has enough space in his head, as the file he is about to take is 320 GB.
If he doesn’t have enough space and he uploads the file, he could die in a couple of days.
Ok, so you are going to an important business meeting, and you don’t have space to upload
the files of your contractors. He’s not worried about dying, so he uploads the file.
After uploading the file, he feels a little dizzy, so he goes to the bathroom and immediately
starts bleeding from the nose. Wouldn't it have been safer to just carry a USB stick?
Johnny is in the bathroom trying not to bleed out, while some bad guys, who appear to be
Yakuzas, enter the room and start killing everyone. One of the Yakuzas tries to enter
the bathroom and immediately gets a K.O by Johnny. He then leaves the bathroom and starts
fighting some bad guys. Maybe he isn’t the world’s best actor, but man, he knows how
to fight. After beating up some guys, Johnny leaves the room.
One of Johnny’s contractors is still alive, so he tries to burn the evidence about the
file Johnny is carrying in his head. One of the Yakuzas sees him and finds out Johnny
is taking the file to Newark, U.S. Johnny arrives at Newark, but first, he needs
to pass through customs. There’s a machine that scans Johnny’s body to see if there
is any problem with his passport and to check he’s not smuggling anything. This machine
is so advanced that it also tells Johnny that he needs to go to the doctor, or he is going
to have neural damage in about 24hrs. All of this in less than 2 minutes, that’s
amazing. Each time I travel, I spend more than 1 hour standing in line and answering
the same question. Well, Johnny got out in 2 minutes, and he also got a psychological
evaluation. I would love to live in that reality. Johnny is now in Newark, and he decides to
call Ralfi to find out why he is carrying something that appears to be so dangerous.
Ralfi tells him to calm down and to deliver the file to some guys in some random direction.
Right after hanging up with Johnny, Ralfi sees a girl arriving at his office. I must
say his office appears to be in a club, which is cool, the problem is that his office is
a chair and a table. The business of data smuggling is not top of the market, I guess?
This girl is called Jane, and she wants to be Ralfi’s bodyguard, but Ralfi thinks that’s
not a good idea due to her neurological disease. So, he rejects her offer.
We return to Johnny. He arrives at the location Ralfi gave him to deliver the file. He arrives
at something that looks like an abandoned house. It seems suspicious, but if Johnny
is not nervous about the location, why should we be?
Well, it looks like I was correct, and he was wrong. After he enters the house, he finds
out that Ralfi had set him up. Two guys try to kill him. But Johnny is a fighter, so he
beats up one of the guys and escapes from the other.
Then a new guy arrives, he is called J-bone. He helps Johnny kill the bad guys and then
disappears. Johnny is angry with Ralfi, so he decides
to pay a visit to his luxurious office. With the help of one of his bodyguards, Ralfi takes
Johnny hostage. Remember the Yakuza who killed Johnny's contractors in Beijing? His name
is Shinji, and he works for Ralfi. Shinji and Ralfi are trying to cut Johnny's
head, but Jane suddenly appears and saves him. Johnny and Jane escape, while Shinji
decides to kill Ralfi. Shinji was getting close to Johnny and Jane,
but they were able to escape because the LoTeks, led by J-bone, helped them.
Johnny begins to feel sick. Jane finds out that he is a smuggler and gets excited. Girls
love bad guys. Johnny then tells Jane that he needs to free up some storage to get the
job done, so he decides to erase his childhood memories. Damn, that’s pretty hardcore.
He knows he needs to remove the file from his head as soon as possible, or he could
die. He arrives at an abandoned building and starts to use a computer. It looks like it’s
something from 1995, but then he enters some kind of system that looks pretty cool.
Johnny makes calls to Beijing to find out how to remove the file from his head.
Do you remember Assassin’s Creed? Well, this looks something like that. I’d love
to have to do this each time I made a long-distance call.
After he finishes playing, a sign appears on the screen, saying he will receive a call
from Dr. Allcome. Shinji tracks Johnny's movements through the web, and notices something about
releasing a virus. Shinji was close to catching Johnny, but Takahashi,
his boss, was not impressed with his past performance, so he decides to hire someone
else to capture Johnny. He hires Karl The Preacher. Because nothing is more effective
than praying! Well, he isn’t that sort of preacher. He’s more like a bounty hunter
who looks like a Viking... Definitely the right person for the job!
Johnny uses Jane’s credit card to make a zoom call through a payphone. In my city,
payphones don’t work at all, never mind make zoom calls. I’m telling you guys; I
would love to live in Johnny’s Mnemonic universe.
Anyways, Johnny calls some guy that works at a pharmaceutical company. He tells him
that he has a file containing Pharmakom data. The guy replies that he will make the arrangements
to get Johnny’s file. Jane starts to convulse, and Johnny realizes
that Jane has NAS, so he decides to take her to Spider, a doctor who is friends with Jane.
Spider helps Jane, but gets a little suspicious about Johnny. I would also feel that way if
suddenly a stranger arrived at my house carrying my dying friend. After Johnny starts to argue
with Spider, he agrees to take Johnny with Dr. Allcome.
They then arrive at what seems to be an underground hospital. Spider tells Johnny that this is
called NAS underground, and he works here. When Johnny asks to meet Dr. Allcome, Spider
tells him that the doctor doesn’t exist; that’s just a code.
So, the doctor doesn’t exist? Wouldn’t it have been easier to just tell Johnny that,
instead of driving to the hospital? It seems like Spider just enjoys driving his truck,
which is pretty cool, by the way. After giving Johnny this bad news, Spider
tells Johnny that he can remove the files, but there are 3 possible outcomes. The surgery
could be a success, and Johnny would leave the room like nothing had happened, which
is highly improbable. He could die, or, if everything goes right, he would no longer
remember anything for more than 3 minutes at a time. Mm, I don’t know, but I think
that’s a little risky. Johnny refuses to have the surgery, and Spider
tells him not to be so selfish, as the file in his head is a NAS cure. Again, you didn’t
think it would have been a good idea to say that before? Spider is not the most straight-talking
guy, that’s for sure. Johnny and Jane are shocked at the news, when
Karl arrives and starts fighting with Spider. Johnny and Jane take advantage of the distraction
and start running from there. You have some good friends, Spider.
Johnny and Jane are free to escape, so Johnny calls the Pharmakon guy to arrange the meeting.
The scene ends, and now we see Takahashi leave the zoom meeting. You are in trouble, Johnny.
In the meantime, Johnny and Jane go to see Jones, a friend of Spider, that can help them
with all their problems. J-bone welcomes them and takes them to meet Jones. They arrive,
and there's a dolphin in the room. Yes, a ‘dolphin' is going to save humanity.
I cannot take it anymore guys, I’ve been watching this movie for ages just to find
out a dolphin is going to save the world. I think this is my fault for trusting Keanu
Reeves. Ok, so we are in the LoTeks headquarters and
waiting for the dolphin to do its magic and take the NAS cure from Johnny’s head. Suddenly
the Yakuzas arrive, and Takahashi arrives at Jones's office.
Takahashi is about to shoot Johnny when suddenly a woman's face appears on the computer and
tells Takahashi that Pharmakon has had the cure for NAS for 8 months, and that’s why
his daughter died. Takahashi doesn’t seem to like this news, so he cuts the computer
in two. Right after that, Shinji arrives and shoots
Takahashi to death. Johnny and Shinji start fighting, and Johnny manages to cut his head.
Johnny comes back to Jones's office. Halfway, he finds Takahashi, who is resurrected just
to give Johnny the rest of the NAS code, before dying again. Great timing to come back to
life, Takahashi. Takahashi and Shinji are dead, and Johnny
has the complete code, so now Jones should be able to remove the file from his head.
Everything is fine now. Well, not really. A little late, but Karl finally arrives. Johnny
is alone and unarmed, so Karl has the advantage, but instead of killing him, he decides to
talk to him, and gives Jane enough time to arrive and use Jones's telekinetic powers
to kill Karl. If the bad guys used their time to kill their
enemies instead of talking to them, this world would be completely different, but, fortunately,
they love to talk. Karl is dead. There are no enemies alive now;
at least that’s what I think. Johnny gives J-bone the missing code. He connects Johnny
to the machine and starts removing the file. Everything works just fine, and the NAS cure
is finally available to everyone. Everyone is happy, until Johnny turns around
and sees Karl start to get up. The camera zooms out, and we see that someone is lifting
the body so he can throw it into the ocean. What a relief!
I hope you enjoyed the video! If you did, please hit the like and subscribe button.
Also, please let me know which movie I should do next. Until the next time!