we're back in blade runner territory with this one , conceptual artist robert longo's vision of a william gibson-inspired future where information is the commodity to kill for . front and center is johnny ( keanu reeves ) , a " cyber-courier " who smuggles data via a " wet-wired " implant . he's ready to quit the biz and get a portion of his long-term memory restored , but , first , he has to finish one last , dangerous job . . the pressing problem in johnny mnemonic is that keanu reeves seems to have forgotten how to play an action hero since his stint on speed . he's walking wood in a forest of stiffs that includes henry rollins , ice-t , and dina meyer . ( dolph lundgren's street preacher is in an acting category all its own . : - ) without a believable performance between them , all we can do is sit back and watch the atmosphere , which is pretty good in places . the vr sequences are way cool , but the physical fx--such as miniatures and mattes--leave a lot to be desired . watch out for those bad blue-screens ! we wouldn't mind a minute of johnny mnemonic if the action played better . too bad the debut director isn't very strong in this de- partment . his big finale is a sloppy , silly mess that runs twenty minutes too long , which is way past the time that most of our " wet- wired " processors have already shut down . bottom line : yatf ( yet another tortured future ) . skip it .
