He might be regarded as one of cinema’s all-time greatest action heroes having headlined classics including Point Break, Speed and the continuing adventures of sharp-suited assassin John Wick, but Keanu Reeves has starred in a whole lot more science fiction movies than he has straightforward actioners.
As well as donning the leather trenchcoat and sunglasses of Neo in four blockbusters set in the world of The Matrix and playing Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan three times across 31 years in the Bill & Ted trilogy, the internet’s favorite actor has also shown up in Chain Reaction, Replicas, a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still and A Scanner Darkly.
However, one of his more forgotten sci-fi films is now getting a second chance on Amazon Prime, and the movie in question is Johnny Mnemonic. Based on a story by William Gibson, Reeves plays a data courier with sensitive information implanted in his brain, which “is too large to hold for long and he must race against time to deliver it.”
The $26 million dystopian thriller was hardly a bomb after earning over $52 million at the box office, but it was heavily panned by critics and currently holds a paltry 12% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with most people in agreement that the leading man delivers one of the weakest performances of his entire career in the pic.
The incredibly random supporting cast of Johnny Mnemonic includes Beverly Hills, 90210‘s Dina Myer, Ice-T, Dolph Lundgren, Henry Rollins and Japanese legend Takeshi Kitano, and the dismal cyberpunk actioner is now looking to find a new audience on Amazon Prime, which it most likely will thanks to the continued popularity of Keanu Reeves and the curiosity factor roused by watching a futuristic sci-fi that’s set in the distant and highly advanced civilization of 2021.
Published: Feb 7, 2021 10:52 am