Johnny Mnemonic

From controversial artist Robert Longo comes his film debut based on William Gibson's short story (Gibson also wrote the screenplay) about the perils of cyberspace in the 21st century. Fans of Gibson's grim cyberpunk writings will flock to the film, but Johnny Mnemonic also works fairly well for those of us trapped in the Stuckey's alongside the gridlocked information superhighway. Take away all of Gibson's technophobic grime and Longo's crazed, cluttered set pieces, and you've basically got an updated D.O.A., with Reeves filling in for Edmond O'Brien. For his first shot at feature filmmaking, Longo does an admirable job of keeping the story line rocketing along, though his seeming attempts to out-Blade Runner Ridley Scott in the decaying cityscape department grow wearisome and the occasional wooden drivel that Reeves spouts adds a bit of unintentional humor to the proceedings. All in all, it's much better than expected, and almost certainly a notch or two above the upcoming The Net.