History Main / JohnnyMnemonic

* 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 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.]]

The film is also notable for the presence of [[TakeshisCastle Takeshi]] [[HeyItsThatGuy Kitano]], whose role in the Japanese version of the film was greatly expanded.

* MagicCountdown: If Johnny can't get 360 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 to live. After Johnny flies from Beijing to Newark, the EverythingSensor at customs in Newark still gives Johnny a 24 hour deadline. 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.

** 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.

* MagicCountdown: If Johnny can't get 360 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 24 hours to live. After Johnny flies from Beijing to Newark, the EverythingSensor at customs in Newark still gives Johnny a 24 hour deadline. Nearly halfway through the movie, after Johnny survives three more separate 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.

* TravellingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: For Shinji and his {{Mooks}} to take an elevator from the lobby of the hotel in Beijing to the floor where Johnny and his present clients are, 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''). 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.

* MagicCountdown: Johnny is supposed to die in 24 hours if he doesn't get 360 gigs of data out of his head, but Johnny ''always'' seems to have 24 hours to live. Even after Johnny did as much as fly from Beijing to Newark, survive three separate attempts by the yakuza to capture him and/or cut off his head, and take 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 roughly halfway through the movie, it would be much more plausible if there are only 12 or 13 hours left (at best) before the data would be lost.

* MagicCountdown: Johnny is supposed to die in 24 hours if he doesn't get 360 gigs of data out of his head, but Johnny ''always'' seems to have 24 hours to live. Even after flying from Beijing to Newark, surviving three separate attempts by the yakuza to capture him and/or cut off his head, and taking a nap in a subway tunnel, Takahashi still gives the Street Preacher a 24 hour deadline to bring him Johnny's head when, at the time of this scene coming almost halfway through the movie, it would be much more conceivable to believe that there are only 12 or 13 hours left (at best) before the data would be lost.

* BookEnds: The scenes at the end in the [=LoTek=]'s headquarters assembled from "old world junk" parallels and contrasts the sleek, "new world" future look of the New Darwin Inn and Beijing Hotel at the film's beginning. Note the giant fishbowl in the hotel lobby which foreshadows [[spoiler: Jones's]] water tank. Contrast Johnny waking up with Jane in Heaven with Johnny waking up with his anonymous ladyfriend in the opening scene; and Johnny's and the [=LoTek=]'s VR rigs.

* 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.

* MagicCountdown: Johnny is supposed to die in 24 hours if he doesn't get 360 gigs of data out of his head, but Johnny ''always'' seems to have 24 hours to live. Even after flying from Beijing to Newark, surviving three separate attempts by the yakuza to capture him and/or cut off his head, and taking 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 just about halfway through the movie, it would be much more conceivable to think that there are only 12 or 13 hours left (at best) before the data would be lost.

* MagicalCountdown: Johnny is supposed to die in 24 hours if he doesn't get 360 gigs of data out of his head, but Johnny ''always'' seems to have 24 hours to live. Even after flying from Beijing to Newark, surviving three separate attempts by the yakuza to capture him and/or cut off his head, and taking 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 just about halfway through the movie, it would be much more conceivable to think that there are only 12 or 13 hours left (at best) before the data would be lost.

* AlwaysNight: The only time daylight is ever seen is in Johnny's childhood flashbacks.

* AlwaysNight

* TheReveal: The data in Johnny's head [[spoiler: is the cure for the global plague]], and, [[spoiler: the Electronic Ghost Woman is Johnny's mother.]]

->"You can't shoot me."\\
"Not [[WrongGenreSavvy in the head]]."

''Johnny Mnemonic'' is a 1995 {{cyberpunk}} film, [[InNameOnly loosely based on the short story]] of the same name by WilliamGibson, in which {{Keanu Reeves}} 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.

* ActionGirl:

* CarFu:

* 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.

* {{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.

* GadgetWatch: Johnny detonates a small bomb by pressing a button on his wristwatch.

* 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.

* PhlebotinumDependence:

* TechnologyMarchesOn:

* 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 [[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.

* 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 What Happened To The Mouse?]]: 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.

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* 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.

* OneSceneWonder: The Street Preacher. [[BlackFlag Henry Rollins]] also out-acts most of the ostensible stars.

* 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 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]].

* Artistic License-Economics: [[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 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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* BadassDecay: The Street Preacher is eventually defeated by [[spoiler: the dolphin]], of all things.

"Not '''[[WrongGenreSavvy in the head]].''"

"[[WrongGenreSavvy Not in the head]]."

* DeadpanSnarker: Several of Johnny's lines are certainly ''written'' with this in mind. Whether or not you believe [[DullSurprise Keanu's]] [[{{Narm}} performance]] succeeds at the deadpan delivery, however, is {{YMMV}}.

* JapanTakesOverTheWorld: The Yakuza Is The Most Powerful Orgcrime Group.