If loving Johnny Mnemonic is wrong, then I don’t want to be right. For three decades, the Keanu Reeves-led cyberpunk film that predated The Matrix has been generally classified as a misfire and an embarrassment to both the subgenre and the genius of author William Gibson. Reviews in 1995 were bad, and today, on Rotten Tomatoes, Johnny Mnemonic holds a sad 20 percent score from critics, and 31 percent from general audiences. I don’t think these scores could or should go much higher, but I also think that it’s possible that a huge portion of the population has miswatched and misunderstood this film.
Intentionally or not, Johnny Mnemonic is a camp masterpiece. And 30 years ago, when it hit theaters on May 26, 1995, it propelled a certain aesthetic of sci-fi into the mainstream, permanently. Somewhat famously, The Wachowskis offered Johnny Mnemonic as an example of what they were trying to do when trying to secure funding for The Matrix. In other words, Johnny Mnemonic fell out of bed half-inebriated so The Matrix could fly. But now that it’s been several decades since all of these movies have come out, Johnny Mnemonic’s own artistic merits can be found not in its profundity, but instead, in its sheer, unadulterated entertainment value.
