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Johnny Mnemonic - Superbit
Columbia/Tri-Star // R // October 9, 2001
List Price: $27.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
Easily one of the worst sci-fi pictures of the last several years, I suppose "Johnny Mnemonic" can be looked at as sci-fi practice for Keanu Reeves before his success in the far better "The Matrix". "Johnny Mnemonic" takes place several years in the future, but the plot elements are strictly primitive. Keanu Reeves (in one of his worst performances) stars as the title character, one of many cyber-couriers that have started up in the future. Their role in society is simply to be messengers of data - they have information uploaded into their brain, which is downloaded when they arrive at their destination.
Some information has just been uploaded when the customers have been taken out by some criminals, who are after Johnny and what he's got in that mind of his. The only problem is that Johnny's mind has been over-loaded and if he doesn't download things quickly, his hard-drive is going to be corrupted and it's game over.
So, Johnny goes on the run with the help of a bodyguard (Dina Meyer) and the low-techs, a gang lead by Ice-T. Essentially, the movie is one long chase sequence. I haven't read the short story by William Gibson, but the screenplay by the writer is atrocious. Painfully cliched line after line are spewed by the actors, usually with a suprisingly straight face. There's a particularly hilarious sequence late in the film, where Johnny, tired from his adventures, bellows, among other things, "I want room service!"
Worst of all, the production design is terrible. An unbelivable "futuristic" look, the sets and effects look cheap, with the exception of a few sequences where Johnny virtually surfs the internet. The team of Oscar-winner Lilly Kilvert and Kara Lindstrom came up with a far, far more imaginative and impressive vision of the future in director Kathryn Bigelow's infinitely better "Strange Days", which came out shortly after this film.
Reeves isn't helped by any of the supporting actors, who act on the same level he does. Dina Meyer, Ice-T, Dolph Lundgren and Henry Rollins hardly bring anything to the table. Director Robert Longo, on the other hand, never directed another feature after his this, his first - and I don't wonder why.
The DVD
VIDEO: I suppose this is as good a place as any to discuss the studio's new "Superbit" line. The studio's experts in the DVD transfer department have come up with a line of "pure performance" DVDs. All of the supplemental material has been dropped in order to give the audio and video information the maximum amount of possible space on the DVD, allowing the video presentation especially to be presented at a higher bit-rate for what should be maximum picture quality. The original edition of "Johnny Mnemonic" was not what one would consider the best of the studio's efforts. In fact, in terms of video quality, I would have to say that it ranks among the weakest of the studio's early efforts. This new "Superbit" edition does improve upon the original release, but there are still some concerns, but I'm begining to think that many are more due to the film itself, whose low-budget origins contribute to some of the visual problems.
On the new "Superbit" edition of the film, sharpness seemed somewhat improved over the original release. Although many of the film's dark or dimly-lit sequences still appear a bit on the murky side, detail was noticably improved over the previous edition. The original release suffered from some mild grain and print flaws, as well as some other concerns. On this edition, the amount of print flaws that appeared in comparison to the original seemed to be less overall, but still enough to cause concern. Where there weren't quite as many marks and specks, there were still a fairly noticable amount of speckles that appeared every so often. This edition also appeared slightly less grainy. While this new "Superbit" edition didn't show edge enhancement, there were still a couple of trace amounts of pixelation visible.
Still, while some negative elements still appeared once again, there were some positive improvements over the original release aside from a somewhat improved amount of sharpness and detail. Colors looked richer and bolder on this release, as well. Although much of "Johnny Mnemonic" appears dark and appropriately almost colorless, some sequences looked more vibrant and lively.
Although this edition of "Johnny Mnemonic" is an improvement over the problematic original release, it's still not entirely satisfactory in terms of image quality. I'm begining to think though, that with the film's low-budget and dark visuals, that this is probably the best it's looked on home video.
The "Superbit" process doesn't seem to have kept the studio from putting on lots of subtitle options, though. The film is presented with English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Thai subtitles.
SOUND: "Johnny Mnemonic" is presented here in both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio, same as all of the other "Superbit" releases. The film's soundtrack on the original release was not one that I found entirely engaging and that doesn't change for the better here, either. The film's sound design is, as with the rest of the picture, rather uninspired. There's several opportunities for enjoyable surround use during the action sequences, but the majority of the sound effects stay rooted in the front speakers, with only a few exceptions. Brad Fiedel's heavy, electronic score does get re-inforced by the surrounds and does have a rather enjoyable presence, but that doesn't make up for the soundtrack's lack of envelopment. Audio quality is also fine, but not exceptional. Sound effects during the action sequences are rather flat and dialogue, unfortunately, remains clear and easily understood. Both the Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks sound similar, if not the same.
MENUS:: As with all of the Superbit titles, the menus look very basic and have no animation or other touches at all.
EXTRAS:: As with all "Superbit" editions, there are no extras, which have been dropped for optimal audio/video.
Final Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about the "Superbit" line and I think they'll vary from title-to-title. Although I'm certainly not entirely negative about the line, I can understand where many who seem to be are coming from. DVD buyers, over the past year or two, have been presented with "Ultimate", "Collector's" or the "Super Genius" edition (bonus points if you know what DVD that comes from). To be presented with another opportunity to re-purchase a title they've already bought likely makes many weary or even irritated. Yet, I believe that the idea of maximized presentations does certainly appeal (although the differences/improvements are going to vary by how much on a case-by-case basis, as seen on these first titles in the series). I think that maybe this can be re-thought somewhat for future titles - a 2nd disc with an additional non-"Superbit" widescreen edition and paired with commentary and other features, maybe?. Either way, part of me is excited and wants to see more - anything like this that pushes the format's ability to present extremely high-quality audio/video to its limits is a welcome concept.
The other "Superbit" titles have either involved the amount of improvement over the previous edition or whether or not the amount of improvement outweighed the loss of some features. As for "Johnny Mnemonic" though, while this is a "Superbit" presentation that improves upon the audio/video of the previous edition, it's not a "Supermovie" edition - "Johnny Mnemonic" is still a very weakly acted and written picture. The film's few fans will likely want to seek out this improved edition, but otherwise, it's not recommended - old version or new.
Easily one of the worst sci-fi pictures of the last several years, I suppose "Johnny Mnemonic" can be looked at as sci-fi practice for Keanu Reeves before his success in the far better "The Matrix". "Johnny Mnemonic" takes place several years in the future, but the plot elements are strictly primitive. Keanu Reeves (in one of his worst performances) stars as the title character, one of many cyber-couriers that have started up in the future. Their role in society is simply to be messengers of data - they have information uploaded into their brain, which is downloaded when they arrive at their destination.
Some information has just been uploaded when the customers have been taken out by some criminals, who are after Johnny and what he's got in that mind of his. The only problem is that Johnny's mind has been over-loaded and if he doesn't download things quickly, his hard-drive is going to be corrupted and it's game over.
So, Johnny goes on the run with the help of a bodyguard (Dina Meyer) and the low-techs, a gang lead by Ice-T. Essentially, the movie is one long chase sequence. I haven't read the short story by William Gibson, but the screenplay by the writer is atrocious. Painfully cliched line after line are spewed by the actors, usually with a suprisingly straight face. There's a particularly hilarious sequence late in the film, where Johnny, tired from his adventures, bellows, among other things, "I want room service!"
Worst of all, the production design is terrible. An unbelivable "futuristic" look, the sets and effects look cheap, with the exception of a few sequences where Johnny virtually surfs the internet. The team of Oscar-winner Lilly Kilvert and Kara Lindstrom came up with a far, far more imaginative and impressive vision of the future in director Kathryn Bigelow's infinitely better "Strange Days", which came out shortly after this film.
Reeves isn't helped by any of the supporting actors, who act on the same level he does. Dina Meyer, Ice-T, Dolph Lundgren and Henry Rollins hardly bring anything to the table. Director Robert Longo, on the other hand, never directed another feature after his this, his first - and I don't wonder why.
The DVD
VIDEO: I suppose this is as good a place as any to discuss the studio's new "Superbit" line. The studio's experts in the DVD transfer department have come up with a line of "pure performance" DVDs. All of the supplemental material has been dropped in order to give the audio and video information the maximum amount of possible space on the DVD, allowing the video presentation especially to be presented at a higher bit-rate for what should be maximum picture quality. The original edition of "Johnny Mnemonic" was not what one would consider the best of the studio's efforts. In fact, in terms of video quality, I would have to say that it ranks among the weakest of the studio's early efforts. This new "Superbit" edition does improve upon the original release, but there are still some concerns, but I'm begining to think that many are more due to the film itself, whose low-budget origins contribute to some of the visual problems.
On the new "Superbit" edition of the film, sharpness seemed somewhat improved over the original release. Although many of the film's dark or dimly-lit sequences still appear a bit on the murky side, detail was noticably improved over the previous edition. The original release suffered from some mild grain and print flaws, as well as some other concerns. On this edition, the amount of print flaws that appeared in comparison to the original seemed to be less overall, but still enough to cause concern. Where there weren't quite as many marks and specks, there were still a fairly noticable amount of speckles that appeared every so often. This edition also appeared slightly less grainy. While this new "Superbit" edition didn't show edge enhancement, there were still a couple of trace amounts of pixelation visible.
Still, while some negative elements still appeared once again, there were some positive improvements over the original release aside from a somewhat improved amount of sharpness and detail. Colors looked richer and bolder on this release, as well. Although much of "Johnny Mnemonic" appears dark and appropriately almost colorless, some sequences looked more vibrant and lively.
Although this edition of "Johnny Mnemonic" is an improvement over the problematic original release, it's still not entirely satisfactory in terms of image quality. I'm begining to think though, that with the film's low-budget and dark visuals, that this is probably the best it's looked on home video.
The "Superbit" process doesn't seem to have kept the studio from putting on lots of subtitle options, though. The film is presented with English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Thai subtitles.
SOUND: "Johnny Mnemonic" is presented here in both Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio, same as all of the other "Superbit" releases. The film's soundtrack on the original release was not one that I found entirely engaging and that doesn't change for the better here, either. The film's sound design is, as with the rest of the picture, rather uninspired. There's several opportunities for enjoyable surround use during the action sequences, but the majority of the sound effects stay rooted in the front speakers, with only a few exceptions. Brad Fiedel's heavy, electronic score does get re-inforced by the surrounds and does have a rather enjoyable presence, but that doesn't make up for the soundtrack's lack of envelopment. Audio quality is also fine, but not exceptional. Sound effects during the action sequences are rather flat and dialogue, unfortunately, remains clear and easily understood. Both the Dolby Digital and DTS soundtracks sound similar, if not the same.
MENUS:: As with all of the Superbit titles, the menus look very basic and have no animation or other touches at all.
EXTRAS:: As with all "Superbit" editions, there are no extras, which have been dropped for optimal audio/video.
Final Thoughts: I have mixed feelings about the "Superbit" line and I think they'll vary from title-to-title. Although I'm certainly not entirely negative about the line, I can understand where many who seem to be are coming from. DVD buyers, over the past year or two, have been presented with "Ultimate", "Collector's" or the "Super Genius" edition (bonus points if you know what DVD that comes from). To be presented with another opportunity to re-purchase a title they've already bought likely makes many weary or even irritated. Yet, I believe that the idea of maximized presentations does certainly appeal (although the differences/improvements are going to vary by how much on a case-by-case basis, as seen on these first titles in the series). I think that maybe this can be re-thought somewhat for future titles - a 2nd disc with an additional non-"Superbit" widescreen edition and paired with commentary and other features, maybe?. Either way, part of me is excited and wants to see more - anything like this that pushes the format's ability to present extremely high-quality audio/video to its limits is a welcome concept.
The other "Superbit" titles have either involved the amount of improvement over the previous edition or whether or not the amount of improvement outweighed the loss of some features. As for "Johnny Mnemonic" though, while this is a "Superbit" presentation that improves upon the audio/video of the previous edition, it's not a "Supermovie" edition - "Johnny Mnemonic" is still a very weakly acted and written picture. The film's few fans will likely want to seek out this improved edition, but otherwise, it's not recommended - old version or new.
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