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* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp is intent to suppress the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from, the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, their treatments are said to cost $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people in the world suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time. Many potential customers wouldn't be able to take the treatment in the first place. One would expect that the comparatively cheaper cures would ultimately yield a higher profit due to the massive amount of business they would do]].
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* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp is intent intends to suppress the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from, the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, their treatments are said to cost $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people in the world suffering from the disease could likely ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time. Many potential customers wouldn't be able to take the treatment in the first place. One would In this circumstance, one could expect that the comparatively cheaper cures an outright cure would ultimately yield a higher greater profit due to the massive amount of business they because it would do]].be cheaper (especially if consumers only need to pay for a one-time dose or prescription) and would have a greater public demand (especially if such a desired product is depicted in the movie as something people would start ''riots'' over).]]
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* TheNeedsOfTheMany: The data Johnny is carrying inside his head can save millions of lives. However, Johnny spends a significant portion of the movie putting his own life ahead of everybody else, as well as initially rejecting every proposal to retrieve the data because there is a chance that doing so could kill him or leave him with significant brain damage (even though he would die if he doesn't get the data out of his head, anyway). In the end, Johnny is convinced to go through with an attempt at removing the data from his head NOT because he'd be helping millions of other lives but because the option still gives him a ''chance'' he'd survive, whereas his other possible fate leaves him no such chance.
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* TheNeedsOfTheMany: The data Johnny is carrying inside his head can save millions of lives. However, Johnny spends a significant portion of the movie putting his own life ahead of everybody else, as well as initially rejecting every proposal to retrieve the data because there is a chance that doing so could kill him or leave him with significant brain damage (even though he would die if he doesn't get the data out of his head, anyway). In the end, Johnny is convinced to go through with an attempt at removing the data from his head NOT because he'd be helping millions of other lives but because it's pointed out to him that that there being a chance that retrieving the option still gives data would kill him would also mean there is a ''chance'' chance he'd survive, whereas his Johnny's other possible fate leaves him no such chance.
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* TheNeedsOfTheMany: The data Johnny is carrying inside his head can save millions of lives. However, Johnny spends a significant portion of the movie putting his own life ahead of everybody else, as well as initially rejecting every proposal to retrieve the data because there is a chance that doing so could kill him or leave him with significant brain damage (even though he would die if he doesn't get the data out of his head, anyway). In the end, Johnny is convinced to go through with an attempt at removing the data from his head NOT because he'd be helping millions of other lives but because the option still gives him a ''chance'' he'd survive, whereas his other possible fate leaves him no such chance.
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* RaceAgainstTheClock: Although the trope is intended to be present. It is never properly used to build tension or any real sense of urgency. Johnny is supposed to have 24 hours to remove all the computer data from his head, or his head will explode or... something. However, nothing is ever done to tell the viewer how much time Johnny actually has left. Whenever anybody (or anything) mentions this deadline, the maximum 24 hours is always given no matter how much time may have actually passed. (See Also: MagicCountdown)
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* RaceAgainstTheClock: Although the trope is intended to be present. It present, it is never properly used to build tension or any real sense of urgency. Johnny is supposed to have 24 hours to remove all the computer data from his head, or his head will explode or... something. However, nothing is ever done to tell the viewer how much time Johnny actually has left.left to complete his task. Whenever anybody (or anything) mentions this deadline, the maximum 24 hours is always given no matter how much time may have actually passed. (See Also: MagicCountdown)
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Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:
* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp's intent to withhold the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from; the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, their treatments are said to be $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people in the world suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time. Many potential customers wouldn't be able to take the treatment in the first place. One would expect that the comparitively cheaper cures would ultimately yield a higher profit due to the massive amount of business they would do]].
to:
* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp's Corp is intent to withhold suppress the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from; from, the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, their treatments are said to be cost $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people in the world suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time. Many potential customers wouldn't be able to take the treatment in the first place. One would expect that the comparitively comparatively cheaper cures would ultimately yield a higher profit due to the massive amount of business they would do]].
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The YMMV page had a better written example for this point.
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: [[spoiler:The whole film is about an evil corporation wanting to prevent people from finding out that they've cured a national pandemic because they want to continue subjecting the population to endless, temporary treatments. They could just skip the whole villainy thing and make money hand over fist with the cures, along the way enjoying all the fame and notoriety that would bring as well]].
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: [[spoiler:The whole film is about an evil corporation wanting [[spoiler:[=PharmaKom=] wants to prevent people from finding out that they've cured a national pandemic suppress the cure for NAS because they want to continue subjecting "treating the disease is more profitable than curing it," despite the fact that the cure would still be immensely profitable in a world where half of the global population to endless, temporary treatments. They could just skip suffers from the whole villainy thing disease. It would certainly net larger profits if it's more affordable for everyone to pay for a one-time dose than if all the poor and downtrodden have to shell out $2,000 for lesser treatments on a continual, never-ending basis. Not to mention that if the MegaCorp went through all the trouble to research and develop a cure in the first place, they may as well should try to sell it to somebody and make money hand over fist with the cures, along the way enjoying all the fame and notoriety that would bring as well]].from it, anyway, instead of hiding it from everybody (including themselves).]]
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It is not faster to physically move digital data from China to New Jersey than it is to send it electronically.
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*** That said, even today, sending reasonably large files is still faster done physically than online; see Sneakernet. If you want to send 4Gb to your mate up the road, it's far faster to burn it onto a DVD and carry it round to him than try and send it through [=BitTorrent=]. Several experiments have been done involving strapping SD cards to carrier pigeons, which have managed to move large data sets quicker than even the fastest internet connections can hope to.
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*** That said, even today, sending reasonably large files is still faster done physically than online; see Sneakernet. If you want to send 4Gb to your mate up the road, it's far faster to burn it onto a DVD and carry it round to him than try and send it through [=BitTorrent=]. Several experiments have been done involving strapping SD cards to carrier pigeons, which have managed to move large data sets quicker than even the fastest internet connections can hope to.
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** Inverted for Shinji and his {{Mooks}} taking an elevator from the lobby of the hotel in Beijing to the floor where Johnny and his present clients are; what would realistically be a seemingly brief moment is slowed to a crawl while concurring plot points (which are important) play out in the hotel room in their own time. It takes them the entire length of time for Johnny to prepare for uploading the data (starting with when Johnny opens his briefcase containing his equipment), receive the data, and make a printout of the download code (roughly two minutes and forty-two seconds, and that's just the elapsed time ''on-screen'') just for the bad guys to finally arrive on the same floor. It then takes them another minute and a half of of the movie's time length (enough time for Johnny's clients to destroy the original copy of the data they gave him and for Johnny himself to regain his composure in the bathroom) to walk from the elevator to their hotel room door.
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** Inverted for Shinji and his {{Mooks}} taking an elevator from the lobby of the hotel in Beijing to the floor where Johnny and his present clients are; what would realistically be a seemingly brief moment is slowed to a crawl while concurring plot points (which are important) play out in the hotel room in their own time. It takes them the entire length of time for Johnny to prepare for uploading the data (starting with when Johnny opens his briefcase containing his equipment), receive the data, and make a printout of the download code (roughly two minutes and forty-two seconds, and that's just the elapsed time ''on-screen'') just for the elevator the bad guys are in to finally arrive on the same floor. It then takes them the bad guys another minute and a half of of the movie's time length (enough time for Johnny's clients to destroy the original copy of the data they gave him and for Johnny himself to regain his composure in the bathroom) to walk from the elevator to their hotel room door.
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Wow, still some of these left around?
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** There’s also a female Yakuza soldier who goes [[IncrediblyLamePun ballistic with a rocket launcher]] during the assault on Heaven.
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** There’s also a female Yakuza soldier who goes [[IncrediblyLamePun ballistic with a rocket launcher]] launcher during the assault on Heaven.
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Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:
* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp's intent to withhold the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from; the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, their treatments are said to be $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people in the world suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time, prohibiting them from taking the treatment in the first place. One would expect that the comparitively cheaper cures would ultimately yeild a higher profit due to the massive amount of business they would do]].
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* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp's intent to withhold the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from; the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, their treatments are said to be $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people in the world suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time, prohibiting them from taking time. Many potential customers wouldn't be able to take the treatment in the first place. One would expect that the comparitively cheaper cures would ultimately yeild yield a higher profit due to the massive amount of business they would do]].
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Changed line(s) 22 (click to see context) from:
* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp's intent to withhold the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from; the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, this belief (or, at least, what the corporation actually does in light of holding this belief) suffers from numerous problems. For instance, given that half the world's population is a very sizeable group, the Mega Corp could yield a tremendous profit from distributing a cure at an extremely low markup (if 500,000,000 people suffered from the disease, a cure would net $5 billion in the corporation's pocket if they only sold it for a $10 profit per person, after adding in the base costs for its basic production), and since it would only cure people who have the disease, it wouldn't prevent new people from getting it themselves, meaning there would always be a market with high demand for the product. Instead, however, they distribute lesser treatments that would need to be taken on a continual, never-ending basis for the exorbitantly high price of $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time, and ultimately would net noticeably lower returns.]]
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* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp's intent to withhold the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from; the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, this belief (or, at least, what the corporation actually does in light of holding this belief) suffers from numerous problems. For instance, given that half the world's population is a very sizeable group, the Mega Corp could yield a tremendous profit from distributing a cure at an extremely low markup (if 500,000,000 people suffered from the disease, a cure would net $5 billion in the corporation's pocket if they only sold it for a $10 profit per person, after adding in the base costs for its basic production), and since it would only cure people who have the disease, it wouldn't prevent new people from getting it themselves, meaning there would always be a market with high demand for the product. Instead, however, they distribute lesser their treatments that would need are said to be taken on a continual, never-ending basis for the exorbitantly high price of $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people in the world suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time, and prohibiting them from taking the treatment in the first place. One would expect that the comparitively cheaper cures would ultimately yeild a higher profit due to the massive amount of business they would net noticeably lower returns.]]do]].
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* CutLexLuthorACheck: [[spoiler:The whole film is about an evil corporation wanting to prevent people from finding out that they've cured a national pandemic because they want to continue subjecting the population to endless, temporary treatments. They could just skip the whole villainy thing and make money hand over fist with the cures, along the way enjoying all the fame and notoriety that would bring as well]].
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Changed line(s) 46 (click to see context) from:
* DeusExMachina: During the climax, Johnny is saved from being killed by Takahashi, thanks to the last-second intervention of the electronic ghost woman, who (as an AI program stored in [=PharmaKom=]'s computer network) somehow manages to appear on monitors in the [=LoTeks=]' base and reveal a lot of exposition which even we as an audience didn't know about before this scene. Importantly, while we would have known that Takahashi has a deceased daughter, it is only at this point that we definitively learn the cause of her death and discover that she had NAS. This moment is unusual in that for all the times the AI has reached out to Takahashi already, it is only at this precise time at the story, right when Takahashi is threatening the hero's life, that the AI tells him what he needed to hear to change his opinions.
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* DeusExMachina: During the climax, Johnny is saved from being killed by Takahashi, thanks to the last-second intervention of the electronic ghost woman, who (as an AI program stored in [=PharmaKom=]'s computer network) somehow manages to appear on monitors in the [=LoTeks=]' base and reveal a lot of exposition which even we as an audience didn't know about before this scene. Importantly, while we would have known that Takahashi has a deceased daughter, it is only at this point moment late in the film that we definitively learn the cause of we're suggested her death and discover that she may have actually had something to do with NAS. This moment is unusual in that for all the times the AI has reached out to Takahashi already, it is only at this precise time at the story, right when Takahashi is threatening the hero's life, that the AI tells him what he needed to hear to change his opinions.
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These examples are about the movie.
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*** In contrast the short story implies that it's a common street drug, and Molly gives him a hypodermic as payment.
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*** In contrast the short story implies that it's a common street drug, and Molly gives him a hypodermic as payment.
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* DeusExMachina: Johnny is saved from being killed by Takahashi, thanks to the last-second intervention of the electronic ghost woman, who (as an AI program stored in [=PharmaKom=]'s computer network) somehow manages to appear on monitors in the [=LoTeks=]' base and reveal a lot of exposition which even we as an audience didn't know about before this scene. Importantly, while we would have known that Takahashi has a deceased daughter, it is only at this point that we definitively learn the cause of her death and discover that she had NAS. This moment is unusual in that for all the times the AI has reached out to Takahashi already, it is only at this precise time at the story, right when Takahashi is threatening the hero's life, that the AI tells him what he needed to hear to change his opinions.
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* DeusExMachina: During the climax, Johnny is saved from being killed by Takahashi, thanks to the last-second intervention of the electronic ghost woman, who (as an AI program stored in [=PharmaKom=]'s computer network) somehow manages to appear on monitors in the [=LoTeks=]' base and reveal a lot of exposition which even we as an audience didn't know about before this scene. Importantly, while we would have known that Takahashi has a deceased daughter, it is only at this point that we definitively learn the cause of her death and discover that she had NAS. This moment is unusual in that for all the times the AI has reached out to Takahashi already, it is only at this precise time at the story, right when Takahashi is threatening the hero's life, that the AI tells him what he needed to hear to change his opinions.
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* DeusExMachina: Johnny is saved from being killed by Takahashi, thanks to the last-second intervention of the electronic ghost woman, who (as an AI program stored in [=PharmaKom=]'s computer network) somehow manages to appear on monitors in the [=LoTeks=]' base and reveal a lot of exposition which even we as an audience didn't know about before this scene. Importantly, while we would have known that Takahashi has a deceased daughter, it is only at this point that we definitively learn the cause of her death and discover that she had NAS. This moment is unusual in that for all the times the AI has reached out to Takahashi already, it is only at this precise time at the story, right when Takahashi is threatening the hero's life, that the AI tells him what he needed to hear to change his opinions.
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Changed line(s) 27 (click to see context) from:
** After Johnny regains consciousness from a TapOnTheHead and finds himself strapped to a table in the back of Ralfi's club, Shinji explains the orders he has been given to cut off Johnny's head and freeze it, which he could have reasonably done at any time a mere moments prior, while Johnny was still unconscious--instead of waiting for Johnny to wake up and explaining the situation he is in. Consequently, this gives Jane time to intervene before Shinji can carry out his orders.
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** After Johnny regains consciousness from a TapOnTheHead and finds himself [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable strapped to a table table]] in the back of Ralfi's club, Shinji explains the orders he has been given to cut off Johnny's head and freeze it, which he could have reasonably done at any time a mere moments prior, while Johnny was still unconscious--instead of waiting for Johnny to wake up and explaining the situation he is in. Consequently, this gives Jane time to intervene before Shinji can carry out his orders.
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* StrappedToAnOperatingTable: Johnny is strapped to a table in the back of Ralfi's nightclub so Shinji could cut off his head.
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* RaceAgainstTheClock: Although the trope is intended to be present. It is never properly used to build tension or any real sense of urgency. Johnny is supposed to have 24 hours to remove all the computer data from his head, or his head will explode or... something. However, nothing is ever done to tell the viewer how much time Johnny actually has left. Whenever anybody (or anything) mentions this deadline, the maximum 24 hours is always given no matter how much time may have actually passed. (See Also: MagicCountdown)
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* BodyguardBabes: Jane, hired bodyguard for Johnny. Ralfi has two "babes" for protection, as well.
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The Street Preacher\'s \"resurrection\" (which does not feature any finger twitching) is better covered on the page by Not Quite Dead.
Deleted line(s) 52 (click to see context) :
* FingerTwitchingRevival: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted.]]
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* DeathByIrony: [[spoiler: Shinji]] was supposed to cut of Johnny's head, only for Johnny to cut off [[spoiler: Shinji's]] head (and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard with his own signature weapon]], too)
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* WhatTheHellHero: Jane calls out Johnny on divulging the location of the [=LoTek=] rebellion to their enemies, pointing out the obvious that J-Bone wouldn't be too pleased about this. This detail is then dropped by the narrative and never adequately dealt with.
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[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HelloUltimateHardDrive_3589.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Hello, Ultimate Hard Drive.]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Hello, Ultimate Hard Drive.]]
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''Johnny Mnemonic'' is a 1995 {{cyberpunk}} film, [[InNameOnly loosely based on the short story]] of the same name by WilliamGibson, in which KeanuReeves plays the title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. The original short story is set in the "Sprawl" universe, where his best known novel ''{{Neuromancer}}'' also takes place.
Johnny (Reeves) is a data trafficker who has an implant that allows him to securely store data too sensitive for regular computer networks. His brain can carry nearly 80 gigabytes worth of data, or 160 gigabytes if he uses a doubler. Johnny uses this implant to act as a courier between contracting parties. On one delivery run, he accepts a package that not only exceeds the implant's safety limits (and will thus kill him if the data isn't removed in time), but also proves to contain information far more important and valuable than he had ever imagined. Johnny must deliver the data before it kills him, but the company sends assassins out after him to protect said data.
Johnny (Reeves) is a data trafficker who has an implant that allows him to securely store data too sensitive for regular computer networks. His brain can carry nearly 80 gigabytes worth of data, or 160 gigabytes if he uses a doubler. Johnny uses this implant to act as a courier between contracting parties. On one delivery run, he accepts a package that not only exceeds the implant's safety limits (and will thus kill him if the data isn't removed in time), but also proves to contain information far more important and valuable than he had ever imagined. Johnny must deliver the data before it kills him, but the company sends assassins out after him to protect said data.
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''Johnny Mnemonic'' is a 1995 {{cyberpunk}} film, [[InNameOnly loosely based on the short story]] of the same name by WilliamGibson, in which KeanuReeves plays the title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant in his brain designed to store information. The original short story is set in the "Sprawl" universe, where his best known novel ''{{Neuromancer}}'' also takes place.
and transport digital data.
Johnny (Reeves) is adata trafficker "mnemonic courier" (data trafficker) who has an implant that allows him to securely store data too sensitive for regular computer networks. His brain can carry nearly 80 gigabytes worth of digital data, or 160 gigabytes if he uses a doubler. Johnny uses this implant to act as a courier deliver such data between contracting parties. On one delivery run, he accepts a package that not only exceeds the implant's safety limits (and will thus kill him if the data isn't removed in time), but also proves to contain information far more important and valuable than he had ever imagined. Johnny must deliver the data before it kills him, but the company sends assassins out after him to protect said data.
Johnny (Reeves) is a
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* BondVillainStupidity: After Johnny regains consciousness from a TapOnTheHead and finds himself strapped to a table in the back of Ralfi's club, Shinji explains the orders he has been given to cut off Johnny's head and freeze it, which he could have reasonably done at any time a mere moments prior, while Johnny was still unconscious--instead of waiting for Johnny to wake up and explaining the situation he is in. Jane decides to intervene before Shinji can carry out his orders.
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* BondVillainStupidity: After BondVillainStupidity:
**After Johnny regains consciousness from a TapOnTheHead and finds himself strapped to a table in the back of Ralfi's club, Shinji explains the orders he has been given to cut off Johnny's head and freeze it, which he could have reasonably done at any time a mere moments prior, while Johnny was still unconscious--instead of waiting for Johnny to wake up and explaining the situation he is in. Consequently, this gives Janedecides time to intervene before Shinji can carry out his orders.orders.
** Baldy spends significant time taunting J-Bone, giving Johnny time to sneak up on Baldy and attack him from behind.
**After Johnny regains consciousness from a TapOnTheHead and finds himself strapped to a table in the back of Ralfi's club, Shinji explains the orders he has been given to cut off Johnny's head and freeze it, which he could have reasonably done at any time a mere moments prior, while Johnny was still unconscious--instead of waiting for Johnny to wake up and explaining the situation he is in. Consequently, this gives Jane
** Baldy spends significant time taunting J-Bone, giving Johnny time to sneak up on Baldy and attack him from behind.
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* WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture: The Evil Drug Company is called [=PharmaKom=]. It's an abbreviation of "Pharma" (Latin for "drug") and "Kominat" (Russian for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combine_%28enterprise%29 "combine"]]).
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* WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture: The Evil Drug Company is called [=PharmaKom=]. It's an abbreviation of "Pharma" (Latin for "drug") and "Kominat" (Russian for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combine_%28enterprise%29 "combine"]])."combine"). On the flip side, the underground resistance fighting the corporation is the [=LoTeks=], presumably shortened from the English words "Low" and "Technology".
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Changed line(s) 110 (click to see context) from:
* {{Transhuman}}: The cyborg street preacher. Details about this are explored more in the film's Japanese release (the "director's cut"), which includes an additional scene where this character preaches about God's plan for people to reject their organic bodies and embrace bio-mechanics and cybernetics, especially to save oneself from the NAS plague. In the American release, the most that's hinted about these views comes in a passing reference to the name of the church the which the preacher is aligned with--The Church of the Retransfiguration.
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* {{Transhuman}}: The cyborg street preacher. Details about this are explored more in the film's Japanese release (the "director's cut"), which includes an additional scene where this character preaches about God's plan for people to reject their organic bodies and embrace bio-mechanics and cybernetics, especially to save oneself from the NAS plague. He refers to himself as a "post-human". In the American release, the most that's hinted about these views comes in a passing reference to the name of the church the which the preacher is aligned with--The Church of the Retransfiguration.
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Changed line(s) 108 (click to see context) from:
** Encrypted E-mail was already a thing people knew about and knew would be better developed over time back in 1995 when this movie was seen in theaters. [[http://siskelandebert.org/video/9252RGW9BBYO/Casper--Braveheart--Johnny-Mnemonic-1995 Siskel & Ebert]] even commented at the time that they [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief couldn't willingly pretend to believe]] that by the time the movie takes place there wouldn't be an easier way to quickly deliver encrypted digital information than what the movie depicts. Now in 2012, the movie's premise of a "mnemonic courier" whose job it is to deliver digital data through [[RealLife meatspace]] and not a computer network becomes ever increasingly more and more unrealistic.
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** Encrypted E-mail was already a thing people knew about and knew would be better developed over time back in 1995 when this movie was seen in theaters. [[http://siskelandebert.org/video/9252RGW9BBYO/Casper--Braveheart--Johnny-Mnemonic-1995 Siskel & Ebert]] even commented at the time that they [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief couldn't willingly pretend to believe]] that by the time the movie takes place there wouldn't be an easier way to quickly deliver encrypted digital information than what the movie depicts. Now in 2012, the movie's premise of a "mnemonic courier" whose job it is to deliver move digital data through from one location to another ''physically''--through [[RealLife meatspace]] and not through a computer network becomes ever network--grows increasingly more and more unrealistic.
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** Encrypted E-mail was already a thing people knew about and knew would be better developed over time back in 1995 when this movie was seen in theaters. [[http://siskelandebert.org/video/9252RGW9BBYO/Casper--Braveheart--Johnny-Mnemonic-1995 Siskel & Ebert]] even commented at the time that they [[WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief couldn't willingly pretend to believe]] that by the time the movie takes place there wouldn't be an easier way to quickly deliver encrypted digital information than what the movie depicts. Now in 2012, the movie's premise of a "mnemonic courier" whose job it is to deliver digital data through [[RealLife meatspace]] and not a computer network becomes ever increasingly more and more unrealistic.
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Examples in the short story are irrelevant to a page and tropes for a movie.
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* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Notable for its absence; In the story, Molly prominently displays her retractable finger-razors, which make her a "razorgirl" and earn her the nickname "Steppin Razor."
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* SchizoTech: Descriptive of the [=LoTeks=]' relationship with technology, and emphasized in their creed in the short story.
-->'''J-Bone:''' If they expect high tech, go low. If they expect low, go high.
-->'''J-Bone:''' If they expect high tech, go low. If they expect low, go high.
to:
* SchizoTech: Descriptive of the [=LoTeks=]' relationship with technology, and emphasized in their creed in the short story.
-->'''J-Bone:''' If they expect high tech, go low. If they expect low, go high.technology.
-->'''J-Bone:''' If they expect high tech, go low. If they expect low, go high.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Added DiffLines:
->''"I can carry nearly eighty gigs of data in my head."''
''Johnny Mnemonic'' is a 1995 {{cyberpunk}} film, [[InNameOnly loosely based on the short story]] of the same name by WilliamGibson, in which KeanuReeves plays the title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. The original short story is set in the "Sprawl" universe, where his best known novel ''{{Neuromancer}}'' also takes place.
Johnny (Reeves) is a data trafficker who has an implant that allows him to securely store data too sensitive for regular computer networks. His brain can carry nearly 80 gigabytes worth of data, or 160 gigabytes if he uses a doubler. Johnny uses this implant to act as a courier between contracting parties. On one delivery run, he accepts a package that not only exceeds the implant's safety limits (and will thus kill him if the data isn't removed in time), but also proves to contain information far more important and valuable than he had ever imagined. Johnny must deliver the data before it kills him, but the company sends assassins out after him to protect said data.
The film is also notable for the presence of [[TakeshisCastle Takeshi]] [[HeyItsThatGuy Kitano]], whose role in the Japanese version of the film was expanded.
Also has a little-known FullMotionVideo game for the [[ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]] with different actors.
----
!! This Movie Contains Examples Of:
* ActionGirl:
** Jane, though her counterpart Molly Millions in the short story is far more BadAss. Molly is a cybernetically enhanced razorgirl, while Jane suffers from a neurodegenerative disease. Johnny is also much tougher in the film than in the original story, requiring less protection from Jane.
** There’s also a female Yakuza soldier who goes [[IncrediblyLamePun ballistic with a rocket launcher]] during the assault on Heaven.
** The lone female in the group of [=PharmaKom=] defectors that gets the data to Johnny is the only one (apart from Johnny) to put up ''any'' kind of a fight when Shinji and his mooks arrive to gun them all down.
* AdaptationExpansion: The film expands on the short story and even borrows from Gibson's other stories set in The Sprawl.
* AirVentPassageway: Jane uses one after Ralfi and his bodyguards carry an unconscious Johnny to a backroom at a nightclub. The vent is so wide and spacious that Jane only needs to crouch down to fit through and can still walk on two feet when moving through it.
* AlwaysNight: The only time daylight is ever seen is in Johnny's brief childhood flashbacks.
* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp's intent to withhold the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from; the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, this belief (or, at least, what the corporation actually does in light of holding this belief) suffers from numerous problems. For instance, given that half the world's population is a very sizeable group, the Mega Corp could yield a tremendous profit from distributing a cure at an extremely low markup (if 500,000,000 people suffered from the disease, a cure would net $5 billion in the corporation's pocket if they only sold it for a $10 profit per person, after adding in the base costs for its basic production), and since it would only cure people who have the disease, it wouldn't prevent new people from getting it themselves, meaning there would always be a market with high demand for the product. Instead, however, they distribute lesser treatments that would need to be taken on a continual, never-ending basis for the exorbitantly high price of $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time, and ultimately would net noticeably lower returns.]]
* BadassPreacher: A cyborg assassin who dresses like a Benedictine monk for some reason. This character is taken all-too-literally from a brief mention in ''Neuromancer'', when Molly describes the assassin who finally caught up with Johnny as being "like a monk," referring to his zen confidence.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Notable for its absence; In the story, Molly prominently displays her retractable finger-razors, which make her a "razorgirl" and earn her the nickname "Steppin Razor."
* BondOneLiner: After Johnny, hiding behind a bathroom door, gets the jump on one Yakuza thug, he quips, "Next time knock, ''Baldy!''"
* BondVillainStupidity: After Johnny regains consciousness from a TapOnTheHead and finds himself strapped to a table in the back of Ralfi's club, Shinji explains the orders he has been given to cut off Johnny's head and freeze it, which he could have reasonably done at any time a mere moments prior, while Johnny was still unconscious--instead of waiting for Johnny to wake up and explaining the situation he is in. Jane decides to intervene before Shinji can carry out his orders.
* BookEnds: The scenes at the end in the [=LoTek=]'s headquarters assembled from "old world junk" parallel and contrast the sleek, "new world" future look of the New Darwin Inn and Beijing Hotel at the film's beginning. Compare & Contrast the giant fishbowl in the hotel lobby and [[spoiler: Jones's]] water tank; Johnny waking up with Jane in Heaven with Johnny waking up with his anonymous ladyfriend in the opening scene; Johnny's and the [=LoTek=]'s VR rigs.
* CarFu:
** The Lo Teks like to set Volkwagens on fire and drop them on attackers.
** The Street Preacher is intentionally run over by Spider's van at one point, but he shrugs this off.
* {{Chickification}}: Happened to Molly/Jane in between the short story and the movie.
* ChurchMilitant: The Street Preacher.
* CleanCut: Performed by the molecuwire whip.
* CodeEmergency: Dr. Allcome.
* CyberPunk
* CyberPunkIsTechno: Featured in the film. The short story prominently features a fight set on an arena that produces techno beats based on the movements of the combatants.
* DeadpanSnarker: Several of Johnny's lines are certainly ''written'' with this in mind.
--> '''Jane:''' Man owes me fifty thou and he’s scamming my phone card!
--> '''Johnny:''' It's still our first date.
** Johnny's response to a roomful of men in a hotel room pointing guns at him is to hold his briefcase up on its side at shoulder level and ask the room, "Double cheese, anchovies?"
** "What did they upload, Ralfi? The goddamned ''Library of Congress?''"
** "If I wanted the silicon ''dug'' out of my back brain, I would have gone to ''Mexico City!''"
* DividedStatesOfAmerica: Johnny arrives from Beijing at "The Free City of Newark."
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: The [=LoTeks=] override television signals from around the world and send out their own transmissions.
* DuelingHackers
* DullSurprise: Well, it ''is'' a KeanuReeves movie.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Baldy.
* EverythingSensor: An x-ray scanner seemingly intended just to check for signs of contraband and illegal bio-mechanical upgrades and implants at a customs/border security station also does a thorough CAT-scan of a person's body and espouses medical advice when it notices any health risks (such as "synaptic seepage" from a brain implant).
* {{Expy}}: Jane was created to replace the female lead from the original story, Molly Millions, because another film studio owned the rights to use that character in a movie.
* FingerTwitchingRevival: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted.]]
* FutureMusic: The nightclub features an opera singer singing over a techno/metal rhythm.
* GadgetWatch: Johnny detonates a small bomb by pressing a button on his wristwatch.
* GogglesDoNothing: J-Bone has a pair of goggles covering his forehead at all times.
* HeroicDolphin: Jones is a dolphin with cybernetic implants who helps Johnny retrieve the data from his head.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Spider]] risks his life (and loses it) in a scuffle with the Street Preacher to allow Johnny and Jane time to escape, likely to set an example for Johnny the JerkAss about what it means to be willing to sacrifice oneself for a greater good (it doesn't really help).
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Shinji]] has his head cut off [[spoiler: by his own RazorFloss whip]]. And then a shipping crate on fire falls on top of his headless corpse, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill just in case there are any doubts as to whether or not he's actually dead]].
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Johnny's entire focus throughout the entire movie is to see that his [[NeuralImplanting neural implant]] is removed and his childhood memories are recovered. He also just wants [[{{Narm}} a club sandwich and a hooker]], but that's another story. Regardless, he's never all too happy about having the fate of the entire world on his shoulders, and, frankly, doesn't care all that much.
* IKEAWeaponry: Johnny strips down his captured carbine to a more convenient pistol size.
* {{Impaled Palm}}s: Part of the Street Preacher's crucifixion motif, as seen when [[spoiler: killing Spider and attempting to kill Jane.]]
* InformationWantsToBeFree: The information Johnny is hired to deliver turns out to be [[spoiler:the cure for a global disease]], while a MegaCorp seeks to steal his head so it won't be given to the public. On the flip side, the underground resistance wants to share the information for free.
* InformedAbility: Jane is supposedly wired to the gills with cybernetic enhancements, but we never see her do anything superhuman, let alone extraordinary. Most {{egregious}} of all, when the two bumbling Lo-Teks [[CarFu drop a car]] on top of Johnny and Jane, Jane--who is supposed to have [[SuperReflexes faster reflexes]]--never even seemed to notice this and had to rely on ''Johnny'' to quickly realize what was happening with enough time to allow him to push her out of the way of the falling car.
* InsideAComputerSystem
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Performed by the Street Preacher on the bartender from the CyberPunk club to get some information. [[TortureAlwaysWorks It works.]]
* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: The Yakuza is "the most powerful of all crime syndicates."
* JerkAss: Johnny ''always'' thinks only of himself and his own interests. In the events that follow Jane [[spoiler: rescuing him from Ralfi and Shinji at the nightclub]], Johnny returns the favor by scamming her "phone card" and even leaving her for dead in a pile of trash when she gets a seizure from her NAS condition. Johnny only takes her back after she insists that someone she knows can help him. He initially refuses every proposal to retrieve the data from his head, because there is always a risk that he may suffer permanent brain damage, despite the fact that he (and the rest of the world) would meet a worse fate if he leaves the data in his head, anyway. Even after discovering [[spoiler: the data is a supercure that can help half of the world's population]], he goes on an infamous rant whining about how he'd rather have a $10,000 hooker than save the lives of millions.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: The Street Preacher]], who tended to [[spoiler: put all his victims in a crucifixion pose]], dies in this pose.
* LaResistance: [=LoTeks=], "A resistance movement risen from the streets: Hackers, data-pirates, guerrilla-fighters in the info-wars."
* LargeHam: 'I want '''ROOM SERVICE!!!''''
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: When Johnny had his brain implant installed, only the memories of his childhood were removed.
* LivingMacGuffin: Dr. Allcome and, after that one served its full purpose, Jones.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* MacGuffin: The data in Johnny's head.
** The data is merely '''a''' MacGuffin. The principal MacGuffin in the film would actually be the download code ''for'' the data.
* MadeOfIron: The Street Preacher. A scan of his body indicates that much of his body has been replaced with bio mechanical parts and upgrades. J-Bone claims that the Preacher "doesn't have one natural bone left in his body." With his upgrades, the Street Preacher can get up and walk away from being hit by a van at high speed.
* MagicCountdown: If Johnny can't get [[MacGuffin the 320 gigs of data]] out of his head in 24 hours, he will die and the data will be lost forever. However, Johnny ''always'' seems to have the maximum 24 hours available to him to complete his quest. After Johnny flies from Beijing to Newark, the EverythingSensor at customs in Newark still estimates that Johnny has a full 24 hours. When nearly halfway through the movie, after Johnny has survived three more attempts by the yakuza to capture him and/or cut off his head and takes a nap in a subway tunnel, Takahashi still gives the Street Preacher a 24 hour deadline to bring him Johnny's head when, at this point in the movie, it would be much more plausible if there are only 12 or 13 hours left (at best) before the data is lost.
* MegaCorp: [=PharmaKom=]
* MrExposition: J-Bone fills this role when observing Johnny "hack his own brain" from a private monitor and throws out nuggets of exposition to the audience so they can keep track with what's going on ("He's doubling himself", et. al.).
* MrSmith: Johnny's obvious pseudo-surname when at the Beijing Hotel and on his passport on his flight to Newark. Johnny even throws his passport in the trash once he arrives in Newark [[ViewersAreMorons so as to make it absolutely clear]] that MrSmith is not his real name.
* MySkullRunnethOver: Johnny has put too much information into his head chip.
* NeuralImplanting
* NeuroVault
* NoodleIncident: Multiple instances. "The war" that Jane tells us Jones fought in, whatever the reason Strike owes Johnny a favor for, [[{{Yubitsume}} the past mistake that Shinji had to atone for]] before he got his molecuwire whip, and so forth...
* NotQuiteDead: Subverted. [[spoiler: For a moment, it appears that the cybernetic street preacher is picking himself up after seemingly being burned to death (accompanied with a note on the music score spelling absolute dread), only for a wider shot to reveal that a group of [=LoTeks=] are lifting the carcass off the ground with a pulley and disposing of it.]]
* OffWithHisHead: An assassin is told to return with Johnny's head, as it contains a neural implant with important information on it.
* OneLastJob: Johnny wants to leave his line of work and restore his lost childhood memories. He agrees to do "one more run" for Ralfi in order to get enough money to afford an expensive "procedure" to restore those memories. However, [[AbortedArc the need for that money for that procedure is never brought up in the movie again,]] [[PlotHole and he inexplicably ends up requiring neither money nor the procedure to get what he seeks]].
* OpeningScroll: A pretty incomprehensible one at that, too.
* PhlebotinumDependence:
** Paralon-B, one of the few [[spoiler:[[WithholdingTheCure publicly available]]]] treatments for NAS, is only available from [=PharmaKom=] at "Two grand per clinical unit."
** The extended Japanese cut of the movie reveals Jones, the dolphin, to be addicted to an unnamed drug. J-Bone explains that the Navy got him hooked on the stuff so he could work for them, and he continues to give Jones this drug so that he thinks he's still swimming.
* PinPullingTeeth: Jane pulls the pin from her pink hand grenade with her teeth. In a minor subversion, she doesn't pull the pin itself, but rather the softer keychain attached to it.
* PostFinalBoss: After the movie's most threatening antagonists (Shinji and the Street Preacher) are dealt with, Johnny still has to "hack his own brain" where he has to contend with a computer virus, which isn't anywhere near as dangerous (or as interesting) as the other enemies Johnny had to deal with.
* PosthumousCharacter: Takahashi's daughter.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Johhny's "I... want... roomservice!" rant.
* RazorFloss: The yakuza assassin's [[SharpenedToASingleAtom molecuwire whip]].
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Alas, poor [[spoiler: Takahashi]].
* TheReveal: The data in Johnny's head [[spoiler: is the cure for the global plague]], "Jones" [[spoiler: is a cyborg dolphin]], and the Electronic Ghost Woman [[spoiler: is Johnny's mother.]]
* SapientCetaceans: Jones is revealed to be a genetically modified super-smart dolphin, originally created by the military for submarine warfare.
* SchizoTech: Descriptive of the [=LoTeks=]' relationship with technology, and emphasized in their creed in the short story.
-->'''J-Bone:''' If they expect high tech, go low. If they expect low, go high.
* SocietyMarchesOn: J-Bone explains the Lo-Teks' tactics as hijacking television signals from "their 500-channel universe," and generally suggests that television is the dominant brain-rotting, tool of oppression used by TheMan. Apparently, WilliamGibson never accounted for [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife the brain-rotting potential of the Internet]].
* SoWasX:
-->'''Johnny:''' They'll negotiate; they're corporate.
-->'''Jane:''' So is the Yakuza.
* StealthHiBye: J-Bone vanishes [[LookBehindYou while Johnny has his back turned, observing Heaven]], along with the dead body of a Lo-Tek {{Redshirt}}, which J-Bone (presumably?) must have carried with him.
* SuperReflexes: Jane, [[InformedAbility so we're told.]]
* SwitchToEnglish: Takahashi and Shinji begin a conversation in Japanese, before Takahashi chastises Shinji for speaking "terrible" Japanese and demands Shinji talk to him in English. Towards the end of their conversation, Takahashi switches to English, as well.
* TapOnTheHead: Johnny gets cold-cocked, which causes concern about potential damage to his neural implant.
* TechnologyMarchesOn:
** In 1995, 320Gb was massive. By 2010... hard drives of 1 terabyte are under $100.
** J-Bone urges everyone to "get their VCR's ready" when the Lo-Teks are about to broadcast [[spoiler:the cure to NAS.]]
** The lack of plasma and HDTV monitors anywhere really becomes apparent when television is supposed to be viewed as a prevalent characteristic in this world.
** Faxing is already pretty outdated by today's standards, and the lone fax machine seen in the movie takes something like three minutes to warm up before finally beginning to send a fax. Even 1995 fax machines didn't move that slowly. Given how easy it is for Johnny to track where the fax was going, he might as well have sent three .jpg files via E-mail.
* ToplessnessFromTheBack: Jane, played by Dina Meyer, who never seems to shy from nudity.
* {{Transhuman}}: The cyborg street preacher. Details about this are explored more in the film's Japanese release (the "director's cut"), which includes an additional scene where this character preaches about God's plan for people to reject their organic bodies and embrace bio-mechanics and cybernetics, especially to save oneself from the NAS plague. In the American release, the most that's hinted about these views comes in a passing reference to the name of the church the which the preacher is aligned with--The Church of the Retransfiguration.
* TravellingAtTheSpeedOfPlot:
** Johnny's flight from Beijing to Newark (which would take about a minimum 13-and-a-half hours today) is nearly instantaneous. When Johnny arrives at customs in Newark, expository dialogue still gives Johnny the maximum 24-hour deadline to get the data out of his head, which he uploaded in Beijing before even getting to an airport.
** Inverted for Shinji and his {{Mooks}} taking an elevator from the lobby of the hotel in Beijing to the floor where Johnny and his present clients are; what would realistically be a seemingly brief moment is slowed to a crawl while concurring plot points (which are important) play out in the hotel room in their own time. It takes them the entire length of time for Johnny to prepare for uploading the data (starting with when Johnny opens his briefcase containing his equipment), receive the data, and make a printout of the download code (roughly two minutes and forty-two seconds, and that's just the elapsed time ''on-screen'') just for the bad guys to finally arrive on the same floor. It then takes them another minute and a half of of the movie's time length (enough time for Johnny's clients to destroy the original copy of the data they gave him and for Johnny himself to regain his composure in the bathroom) to walk from the elevator to their hotel room door.
* UnusualUserInterface: Dedicated web surfing, for more than just phone calls, uses VR goggles and gloves that project a three-dimensional representation of the internet, manipulated by the users hands. They even grow claws when "attacking". Taken up a notch with the Lo-Tek's scavenged VR rig, which allows for a full mental projection of the user.
* VideoPhone: The story opens with the main character making a call on a video phone that also doubles as a television and an alarm clock, all of which can be operated by remote control. Another such phone shows up in the back of a future taxi cab, and the Street Preacher has one hidden in his [[Literature/TheBible Bible]] (or whatever Holy Book equivalent he has). Video phone screens are also branded with [[ProductPlacement AT&T's company logo]], AT&T having tried to develop such technology since the 1960's.
* VirtualGhost: Anna Kalmann, the founder of [=PharmaKom=]. Takahashi explicitly calls her "A GhostInTheMachine."
* WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture: The Evil Drug Company is called [=PharmaKom=]. It's an abbreviation of "Pharma" (Latin for "drug") and "Kominat" (Russian for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combine_%28enterprise%29 "combine"]]).
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: One of Ralfi's bodyguards accompanies Shinji in chasing Johnny and Jane after they escape from Ralfi's club only to disappear from the story entirely after the chase ends.
* [[spoiler: WithholdingTheCure]]: [[spoiler: It is revealed that [=PharmaKom=] is suppressing the cure for Nerve Attenuation Syndrome.]]
* WorkingForABodyUpgrade: The street preacher accepts contract killing offers in exchange for money so he can afford to replace his organic body parts with cybernetic ones.
* {{Yakuza}}
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: The techno-metal opera singer at the night club has blue hair.
* YourMom:
-->'''Street Preacher:''' Who is "Jones"?
-->'''Spider:''' He's that guy... ''who fucks your mother!''
* {{Yubitsume}}: When we first see Takahashi, he tells Shinji, "I see you turned your shame into an asset," implying that at some point Shinji had to cut off the tip of his thumb to atone for [[NoodleIncident a past mistake]] before replacing it with his [[RazorFloss molecuwire whip]].
----
''Johnny Mnemonic'' is a 1995 {{cyberpunk}} film, [[InNameOnly loosely based on the short story]] of the same name by WilliamGibson, in which KeanuReeves plays the title character, a man with a cybernetic brain implant designed to store information. The original short story is set in the "Sprawl" universe, where his best known novel ''{{Neuromancer}}'' also takes place.
Johnny (Reeves) is a data trafficker who has an implant that allows him to securely store data too sensitive for regular computer networks. His brain can carry nearly 80 gigabytes worth of data, or 160 gigabytes if he uses a doubler. Johnny uses this implant to act as a courier between contracting parties. On one delivery run, he accepts a package that not only exceeds the implant's safety limits (and will thus kill him if the data isn't removed in time), but also proves to contain information far more important and valuable than he had ever imagined. Johnny must deliver the data before it kills him, but the company sends assassins out after him to protect said data.
The film is also notable for the presence of [[TakeshisCastle Takeshi]] [[HeyItsThatGuy Kitano]], whose role in the Japanese version of the film was expanded.
Also has a little-known FullMotionVideo game for the [[ThreeDOInteractiveMultiplayer 3DO]] with different actors.
----
!! This Movie Contains Examples Of:
* ActionGirl:
** Jane, though her counterpart Molly Millions in the short story is far more BadAss. Molly is a cybernetically enhanced razorgirl, while Jane suffers from a neurodegenerative disease. Johnny is also much tougher in the film than in the original story, requiring less protection from Jane.
** There’s also a female Yakuza soldier who goes [[IncrediblyLamePun ballistic with a rocket launcher]] during the assault on Heaven.
** The lone female in the group of [=PharmaKom=] defectors that gets the data to Johnny is the only one (apart from Johnny) to put up ''any'' kind of a fight when Shinji and his mooks arrive to gun them all down.
* AdaptationExpansion: The film expands on the short story and even borrows from Gibson's other stories set in The Sprawl.
* AirVentPassageway: Jane uses one after Ralfi and his bodyguards carry an unconscious Johnny to a backroom at a nightclub. The vent is so wide and spacious that Jane only needs to crouch down to fit through and can still walk on two feet when moving through it.
* AlwaysNight: The only time daylight is ever seen is in Johnny's brief childhood flashbacks.
* ArtisticLicenseEconomics: [[spoiler: The evil Mega Corp's intent to withhold the cure for a deadly disease which half the world's population suffers from; the logic being that "treating the disease would be more profitable than curing it." However, this belief (or, at least, what the corporation actually does in light of holding this belief) suffers from numerous problems. For instance, given that half the world's population is a very sizeable group, the Mega Corp could yield a tremendous profit from distributing a cure at an extremely low markup (if 500,000,000 people suffered from the disease, a cure would net $5 billion in the corporation's pocket if they only sold it for a $10 profit per person, after adding in the base costs for its basic production), and since it would only cure people who have the disease, it wouldn't prevent new people from getting it themselves, meaning there would always be a market with high demand for the product. Instead, however, they distribute lesser treatments that would need to be taken on a continual, never-ending basis for the exorbitantly high price of $2,000 per clinical unit, which would be far more than most people suffering from the disease could ever hope to afford, especially over any lengthy period of time, and ultimately would net noticeably lower returns.]]
* BadassPreacher: A cyborg assassin who dresses like a Benedictine monk for some reason. This character is taken all-too-literally from a brief mention in ''Neuromancer'', when Molly describes the assassin who finally caught up with Johnny as being "like a monk," referring to his zen confidence.
* BladeBelowTheShoulder: Notable for its absence; In the story, Molly prominently displays her retractable finger-razors, which make her a "razorgirl" and earn her the nickname "Steppin Razor."
* BondOneLiner: After Johnny, hiding behind a bathroom door, gets the jump on one Yakuza thug, he quips, "Next time knock, ''Baldy!''"
* BondVillainStupidity: After Johnny regains consciousness from a TapOnTheHead and finds himself strapped to a table in the back of Ralfi's club, Shinji explains the orders he has been given to cut off Johnny's head and freeze it, which he could have reasonably done at any time a mere moments prior, while Johnny was still unconscious--instead of waiting for Johnny to wake up and explaining the situation he is in. Jane decides to intervene before Shinji can carry out his orders.
* BookEnds: The scenes at the end in the [=LoTek=]'s headquarters assembled from "old world junk" parallel and contrast the sleek, "new world" future look of the New Darwin Inn and Beijing Hotel at the film's beginning. Compare & Contrast the giant fishbowl in the hotel lobby and [[spoiler: Jones's]] water tank; Johnny waking up with Jane in Heaven with Johnny waking up with his anonymous ladyfriend in the opening scene; Johnny's and the [=LoTek=]'s VR rigs.
* CarFu:
** The Lo Teks like to set Volkwagens on fire and drop them on attackers.
** The Street Preacher is intentionally run over by Spider's van at one point, but he shrugs this off.
* {{Chickification}}: Happened to Molly/Jane in between the short story and the movie.
* ChurchMilitant: The Street Preacher.
* CleanCut: Performed by the molecuwire whip.
* CodeEmergency: Dr. Allcome.
* CyberPunk
* CyberPunkIsTechno: Featured in the film. The short story prominently features a fight set on an arena that produces techno beats based on the movements of the combatants.
* DeadpanSnarker: Several of Johnny's lines are certainly ''written'' with this in mind.
--> '''Jane:''' Man owes me fifty thou and he’s scamming my phone card!
--> '''Johnny:''' It's still our first date.
** Johnny's response to a roomful of men in a hotel room pointing guns at him is to hold his briefcase up on its side at shoulder level and ask the room, "Double cheese, anchovies?"
** "What did they upload, Ralfi? The goddamned ''Library of Congress?''"
** "If I wanted the silicon ''dug'' out of my back brain, I would have gone to ''Mexico City!''"
* DividedStatesOfAmerica: Johnny arrives from Beijing at "The Free City of Newark."
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: The [=LoTeks=] override television signals from around the world and send out their own transmissions.
* DuelingHackers
* DullSurprise: Well, it ''is'' a KeanuReeves movie.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Baldy.
* EverythingSensor: An x-ray scanner seemingly intended just to check for signs of contraband and illegal bio-mechanical upgrades and implants at a customs/border security station also does a thorough CAT-scan of a person's body and espouses medical advice when it notices any health risks (such as "synaptic seepage" from a brain implant).
* {{Expy}}: Jane was created to replace the female lead from the original story, Molly Millions, because another film studio owned the rights to use that character in a movie.
* FingerTwitchingRevival: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted.]]
* FutureMusic: The nightclub features an opera singer singing over a techno/metal rhythm.
* GadgetWatch: Johnny detonates a small bomb by pressing a button on his wristwatch.
* GogglesDoNothing: J-Bone has a pair of goggles covering his forehead at all times.
* HeroicDolphin: Jones is a dolphin with cybernetic implants who helps Johnny retrieve the data from his head.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Spider]] risks his life (and loses it) in a scuffle with the Street Preacher to allow Johnny and Jane time to escape, likely to set an example for Johnny the JerkAss about what it means to be willing to sacrifice oneself for a greater good (it doesn't really help).
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Shinji]] has his head cut off [[spoiler: by his own RazorFloss whip]]. And then a shipping crate on fire falls on top of his headless corpse, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill just in case there are any doubts as to whether or not he's actually dead]].
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Johnny's entire focus throughout the entire movie is to see that his [[NeuralImplanting neural implant]] is removed and his childhood memories are recovered. He also just wants [[{{Narm}} a club sandwich and a hooker]], but that's another story. Regardless, he's never all too happy about having the fate of the entire world on his shoulders, and, frankly, doesn't care all that much.
* IKEAWeaponry: Johnny strips down his captured carbine to a more convenient pistol size.
* {{Impaled Palm}}s: Part of the Street Preacher's crucifixion motif, as seen when [[spoiler: killing Spider and attempting to kill Jane.]]
* InformationWantsToBeFree: The information Johnny is hired to deliver turns out to be [[spoiler:the cure for a global disease]], while a MegaCorp seeks to steal his head so it won't be given to the public. On the flip side, the underground resistance wants to share the information for free.
* InformedAbility: Jane is supposedly wired to the gills with cybernetic enhancements, but we never see her do anything superhuman, let alone extraordinary. Most {{egregious}} of all, when the two bumbling Lo-Teks [[CarFu drop a car]] on top of Johnny and Jane, Jane--who is supposed to have [[SuperReflexes faster reflexes]]--never even seemed to notice this and had to rely on ''Johnny'' to quickly realize what was happening with enough time to allow him to push her out of the way of the falling car.
* InsideAComputerSystem
* JackBauerInterrogationTechnique: Performed by the Street Preacher on the bartender from the CyberPunk club to get some information. [[TortureAlwaysWorks It works.]]
* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: The Yakuza is "the most powerful of all crime syndicates."
* JerkAss: Johnny ''always'' thinks only of himself and his own interests. In the events that follow Jane [[spoiler: rescuing him from Ralfi and Shinji at the nightclub]], Johnny returns the favor by scamming her "phone card" and even leaving her for dead in a pile of trash when she gets a seizure from her NAS condition. Johnny only takes her back after she insists that someone she knows can help him. He initially refuses every proposal to retrieve the data from his head, because there is always a risk that he may suffer permanent brain damage, despite the fact that he (and the rest of the world) would meet a worse fate if he leaves the data in his head, anyway. Even after discovering [[spoiler: the data is a supercure that can help half of the world's population]], he goes on an infamous rant whining about how he'd rather have a $10,000 hooker than save the lives of millions.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: The Street Preacher]], who tended to [[spoiler: put all his victims in a crucifixion pose]], dies in this pose.
* LaResistance: [=LoTeks=], "A resistance movement risen from the streets: Hackers, data-pirates, guerrilla-fighters in the info-wars."
* LargeHam: 'I want '''ROOM SERVICE!!!''''
* LaserGuidedAmnesia: When Johnny had his brain implant installed, only the memories of his childhood were removed.
* LivingMacGuffin: Dr. Allcome and, after that one served its full purpose, Jones.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* MacGuffin: The data in Johnny's head.
** The data is merely '''a''' MacGuffin. The principal MacGuffin in the film would actually be the download code ''for'' the data.
* MadeOfIron: The Street Preacher. A scan of his body indicates that much of his body has been replaced with bio mechanical parts and upgrades. J-Bone claims that the Preacher "doesn't have one natural bone left in his body." With his upgrades, the Street Preacher can get up and walk away from being hit by a van at high speed.
* MagicCountdown: If Johnny can't get [[MacGuffin the 320 gigs of data]] out of his head in 24 hours, he will die and the data will be lost forever. However, Johnny ''always'' seems to have the maximum 24 hours available to him to complete his quest. After Johnny flies from Beijing to Newark, the EverythingSensor at customs in Newark still estimates that Johnny has a full 24 hours. When nearly halfway through the movie, after Johnny has survived three more attempts by the yakuza to capture him and/or cut off his head and takes a nap in a subway tunnel, Takahashi still gives the Street Preacher a 24 hour deadline to bring him Johnny's head when, at this point in the movie, it would be much more plausible if there are only 12 or 13 hours left (at best) before the data is lost.
* MegaCorp: [=PharmaKom=]
* MrExposition: J-Bone fills this role when observing Johnny "hack his own brain" from a private monitor and throws out nuggets of exposition to the audience so they can keep track with what's going on ("He's doubling himself", et. al.).
* MrSmith: Johnny's obvious pseudo-surname when at the Beijing Hotel and on his passport on his flight to Newark. Johnny even throws his passport in the trash once he arrives in Newark [[ViewersAreMorons so as to make it absolutely clear]] that MrSmith is not his real name.
* MySkullRunnethOver: Johnny has put too much information into his head chip.
* NeuralImplanting
* NeuroVault
* NoodleIncident: Multiple instances. "The war" that Jane tells us Jones fought in, whatever the reason Strike owes Johnny a favor for, [[{{Yubitsume}} the past mistake that Shinji had to atone for]] before he got his molecuwire whip, and so forth...
* NotQuiteDead: Subverted. [[spoiler: For a moment, it appears that the cybernetic street preacher is picking himself up after seemingly being burned to death (accompanied with a note on the music score spelling absolute dread), only for a wider shot to reveal that a group of [=LoTeks=] are lifting the carcass off the ground with a pulley and disposing of it.]]
* OffWithHisHead: An assassin is told to return with Johnny's head, as it contains a neural implant with important information on it.
* OneLastJob: Johnny wants to leave his line of work and restore his lost childhood memories. He agrees to do "one more run" for Ralfi in order to get enough money to afford an expensive "procedure" to restore those memories. However, [[AbortedArc the need for that money for that procedure is never brought up in the movie again,]] [[PlotHole and he inexplicably ends up requiring neither money nor the procedure to get what he seeks]].
* OpeningScroll: A pretty incomprehensible one at that, too.
* PhlebotinumDependence:
** Paralon-B, one of the few [[spoiler:[[WithholdingTheCure publicly available]]]] treatments for NAS, is only available from [=PharmaKom=] at "Two grand per clinical unit."
** The extended Japanese cut of the movie reveals Jones, the dolphin, to be addicted to an unnamed drug. J-Bone explains that the Navy got him hooked on the stuff so he could work for them, and he continues to give Jones this drug so that he thinks he's still swimming.
* PinPullingTeeth: Jane pulls the pin from her pink hand grenade with her teeth. In a minor subversion, she doesn't pull the pin itself, but rather the softer keychain attached to it.
* PostFinalBoss: After the movie's most threatening antagonists (Shinji and the Street Preacher) are dealt with, Johnny still has to "hack his own brain" where he has to contend with a computer virus, which isn't anywhere near as dangerous (or as interesting) as the other enemies Johnny had to deal with.
* PosthumousCharacter: Takahashi's daughter.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: Johhny's "I... want... roomservice!" rant.
* RazorFloss: The yakuza assassin's [[SharpenedToASingleAtom molecuwire whip]].
* RedemptionEqualsDeath: Alas, poor [[spoiler: Takahashi]].
* TheReveal: The data in Johnny's head [[spoiler: is the cure for the global plague]], "Jones" [[spoiler: is a cyborg dolphin]], and the Electronic Ghost Woman [[spoiler: is Johnny's mother.]]
* SapientCetaceans: Jones is revealed to be a genetically modified super-smart dolphin, originally created by the military for submarine warfare.
* SchizoTech: Descriptive of the [=LoTeks=]' relationship with technology, and emphasized in their creed in the short story.
-->'''J-Bone:''' If they expect high tech, go low. If they expect low, go high.
* SocietyMarchesOn: J-Bone explains the Lo-Teks' tactics as hijacking television signals from "their 500-channel universe," and generally suggests that television is the dominant brain-rotting, tool of oppression used by TheMan. Apparently, WilliamGibson never accounted for [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife the brain-rotting potential of the Internet]].
* SoWasX:
-->'''Johnny:''' They'll negotiate; they're corporate.
-->'''Jane:''' So is the Yakuza.
* StealthHiBye: J-Bone vanishes [[LookBehindYou while Johnny has his back turned, observing Heaven]], along with the dead body of a Lo-Tek {{Redshirt}}, which J-Bone (presumably?) must have carried with him.
* SuperReflexes: Jane, [[InformedAbility so we're told.]]
* SwitchToEnglish: Takahashi and Shinji begin a conversation in Japanese, before Takahashi chastises Shinji for speaking "terrible" Japanese and demands Shinji talk to him in English. Towards the end of their conversation, Takahashi switches to English, as well.
* TapOnTheHead: Johnny gets cold-cocked, which causes concern about potential damage to his neural implant.
* TechnologyMarchesOn:
** In 1995, 320Gb was massive. By 2010... hard drives of 1 terabyte are under $100.
** J-Bone urges everyone to "get their VCR's ready" when the Lo-Teks are about to broadcast [[spoiler:the cure to NAS.]]
** The lack of plasma and HDTV monitors anywhere really becomes apparent when television is supposed to be viewed as a prevalent characteristic in this world.
** Faxing is already pretty outdated by today's standards, and the lone fax machine seen in the movie takes something like three minutes to warm up before finally beginning to send a fax. Even 1995 fax machines didn't move that slowly. Given how easy it is for Johnny to track where the fax was going, he might as well have sent three .jpg files via E-mail.
* ToplessnessFromTheBack: Jane, played by Dina Meyer, who never seems to shy from nudity.
* {{Transhuman}}: The cyborg street preacher. Details about this are explored more in the film's Japanese release (the "director's cut"), which includes an additional scene where this character preaches about God's plan for people to reject their organic bodies and embrace bio-mechanics and cybernetics, especially to save oneself from the NAS plague. In the American release, the most that's hinted about these views comes in a passing reference to the name of the church the which the preacher is aligned with--The Church of the Retransfiguration.
* TravellingAtTheSpeedOfPlot:
** Johnny's flight from Beijing to Newark (which would take about a minimum 13-and-a-half hours today) is nearly instantaneous. When Johnny arrives at customs in Newark, expository dialogue still gives Johnny the maximum 24-hour deadline to get the data out of his head, which he uploaded in Beijing before even getting to an airport.
** Inverted for Shinji and his {{Mooks}} taking an elevator from the lobby of the hotel in Beijing to the floor where Johnny and his present clients are; what would realistically be a seemingly brief moment is slowed to a crawl while concurring plot points (which are important) play out in the hotel room in their own time. It takes them the entire length of time for Johnny to prepare for uploading the data (starting with when Johnny opens his briefcase containing his equipment), receive the data, and make a printout of the download code (roughly two minutes and forty-two seconds, and that's just the elapsed time ''on-screen'') just for the bad guys to finally arrive on the same floor. It then takes them another minute and a half of of the movie's time length (enough time for Johnny's clients to destroy the original copy of the data they gave him and for Johnny himself to regain his composure in the bathroom) to walk from the elevator to their hotel room door.
* UnusualUserInterface: Dedicated web surfing, for more than just phone calls, uses VR goggles and gloves that project a three-dimensional representation of the internet, manipulated by the users hands. They even grow claws when "attacking". Taken up a notch with the Lo-Tek's scavenged VR rig, which allows for a full mental projection of the user.
* VideoPhone: The story opens with the main character making a call on a video phone that also doubles as a television and an alarm clock, all of which can be operated by remote control. Another such phone shows up in the back of a future taxi cab, and the Street Preacher has one hidden in his [[Literature/TheBible Bible]] (or whatever Holy Book equivalent he has). Video phone screens are also branded with [[ProductPlacement AT&T's company logo]], AT&T having tried to develop such technology since the 1960's.
* VirtualGhost: Anna Kalmann, the founder of [=PharmaKom=]. Takahashi explicitly calls her "A GhostInTheMachine."
* WeWillUseWikiWordsInTheFuture: The Evil Drug Company is called [=PharmaKom=]. It's an abbreviation of "Pharma" (Latin for "drug") and "Kominat" (Russian for [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combine_%28enterprise%29 "combine"]]).
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: One of Ralfi's bodyguards accompanies Shinji in chasing Johnny and Jane after they escape from Ralfi's club only to disappear from the story entirely after the chase ends.
* [[spoiler: WithholdingTheCure]]: [[spoiler: It is revealed that [=PharmaKom=] is suppressing the cure for Nerve Attenuation Syndrome.]]
* WorkingForABodyUpgrade: The street preacher accepts contract killing offers in exchange for money so he can afford to replace his organic body parts with cybernetic ones.
* {{Yakuza}}
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: The techno-metal opera singer at the night club has blue hair.
* YourMom:
-->'''Street Preacher:''' Who is "Jones"?
-->'''Spider:''' He's that guy... ''who fucks your mother!''
* {{Yubitsume}}: When we first see Takahashi, he tells Shinji, "I see you turned your shame into an asset," implying that at some point Shinji had to cut off the tip of his thumb to atone for [[NoodleIncident a past mistake]] before replacing it with his [[RazorFloss molecuwire whip]].
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