ejonconrad First, let me make this clear: I'm giving this good marks as a fun, B movie, NOT as quality cinema.You have to remember that William Gibson wrote novels about technology while admittedly knowing absolutely nothing about technology himself, so yes, the movie starts with an absurd premise and runs with it, but parts are at least a fun ride. First and foremost, it's fun nostalgic to catalog the ubiquitous post-apocalyptic sci-fi tropes from the era: Rich people wear suits and live in high rises, while poor people dress in rags and wear face paint. People in between hang out in nightclubs and wear lots of makeup.Trash can fires! Lots and lots of trash can fires.There's no daytime. Everything happens at night - in every time zone.Asians run everything.Interaction with computers and the internet is done through virtual reality. Ice-T, Henry Rollins, and Dolph Lundgren give great, campy performances, while Keanu Reaves delivers a Keanu Reaves-like performance a role which was almost certainly written with Keanu Reaves in mind. There's an interesting mix of weaponry, including high-power automatic weapons, and this weird light-saber laser whip thingy that for some reason only one person gets to have. One the other hand, these are no match for cross-bows, throwing stars, and knives - and of course, there's the magic (spoiler redacted). So crack a beer, sit back, and enjoy what people once thought now would look like.

Helio Dolf Lundgren gives the best performance in this movie in his role as Street Preacher. The others just seemed to walk on set and say their lines at given times. The portrayals lacked credibility. Dina Meyer is no Milla Jovovich; she was not convincing as a bodyguard. I wouldn't have trusted the guy playing the doctor to remove a splinter much less do brain surgery. It seemed strange to see Detective Tutuola (Ice T) show up once in a while with a weird hair-do.The sets were minimal but the special effects (at times) were entrancing. If the blurbs had not given it away I may not have recognized the Montreal shot scenes. Can't say I had much appreciation for the plot and execution. Glad it was over.

gavin6942 A data courier (Keanu Reeves), literally carrying a data package inside his head, must deliver it before he dies from the burden or is killed by the Yakuza.Author William Gibson said, "Basically what happened was it was taken away and re-cut by the American distributor in the last month of its pre-release life, and it went from being a very funny, very alternative piece of work to being something that had been very unsuccessfully chopped and cut into something more mainstream." That is a fairly understanding position from the author.Truthfully, this is not that bad of a movie. While maybe not as great as it could be, it works well as a 1990s futuristic thriller. The ideas are interesting, and it is even more interesting considering that Reeves went on to star in "The Matrix", which has a similar feel in many ways.Interesting note: This was Dolph Lundgren's last theatrically released film until 2010's "The Expendables". What an unfortunate 15 years that was for all the cinema fans.

FlashCallahan AKA the film that nearly killed Keanu's career....The year is 2021, and half of the Earth's population is suffering from the disease known as Nerve Attenuation Syndrome (NAS). Johnny, a mnemonic data courier, is hired to carry 320 gigabytes of crucial information to safety from the Pharmacom corporation. Pursued by Yakuza agents and a crazed cyborg, Johnny must deliver the data or die in twenty-four hours......Everyone in the world knows that Reeves isn't the best actor in the world, but the man has more screen presence than half of Hollywood. He's a bonafide movie star, and although there are times when you cannot help but laugh at his delivery of lines, you couldn't imagine anyone else as Neo, John Wick, and we all secretly know Speed 2 would have been a huge hit if he was in it.This though, isn't terrible because of Reeves, it's terrible because despite co I g from a decent source, it's narrative is clunky, there are far too many characters giving Basil Exposition, and in the end, it becomes very incoherent.But Reeves, he is really bad in this, and considering this isn't long after Speed, it's surmising he didn't go for something more mainstream.Seriously, the best thing about this film is Dolph Lundgren, and he's barely in it, as this really bizarre Jesus loving, robotic assassin.So we spend the entirety of the film with Johnny being told the plot,of the film by Udo Kier, Dina Meyer, Ice T, and Henry Rollins.Every now and again we get a VR sequence where Johnny turns into the slender man, and it all leads up to a dramatic showdown with Takeshi Kitano, a man with an electric whip, and a cyber-dolphin.But the film has to be seen for Reeves alone. His one liners fall flat, and as much as I like his films, this falls flat whenever he opens his mouth.