Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

 "Ghost in the machine..."

Let's admit it: this isn't exactly the greatest film ever made. But it's a fascinating one. 

This is the most cyberpunk film I've ever seen, from a time when cyberpunk was, at a stretch, still pretty much a thing in its original form, and it's helmed by a director best known for making the music videos for R.E.M, which in itself is pleasingly '90s. Even better, it's an adaptation of a William Gibson short story (I've read it, but we're talking thirty odd years...) with a screenplay by Gibson himself.

It's not exactly great, despite all that- it lacks a certain sparkle in dialogue, direction and performance (although Henry Rollins is great) and, given the cast, I suspect that last flaw is down to the director. Yet this isn't by any means a bad film either, simply promising but flawed. And it shows, perhaps, that the script is by a novelist who isn't used to writing for the screen.

Yet it's fascinating to see this imagined cyberpunk future of 2021 (there's a pandemic!), with corporate rule enforced by Yakuza, intelligent savant dolphins (shades of Halo Jones there), and, er, VCRs! The internet is shown with trippy visuals and imagined in such a quaint, 90s, virtual reality way. It's all so... cyberpunk.

Yet the ideas are often great. Uploading extra memory capacity to one's brain. An electronic virus. A cyborg preacher. This is a flawed film, but I'm glad it exists: a film that is the cinematic epitome of cyberpunk itself.

Masters of the Universe: Revelations- The Most Dangerous Man in Eternia

"I don't know why I thought the lady named Evil-Lyn would be nice..."

Another rushed evening, so blogging this.

I've never read any Joseph Campbell, and probably never will: I tend to take a dim view of overly reductive classification of mythical narratives into quests, hero's journey or any of that. Taken too far it shrinks the world of story to be smaller than it should be. This episode, however, is blatantly part of an overall quest narrative and also features a reconciliation, of sorts, between father and daughter.

Kevin Smith, of course, is far too clever not to be meta about this. Theres rather a lot going on, and not just the witty dialogue ("He-Man had the sense of humour of a teenager who didn't get out much"). There's Man-at-Arms being the typical old ex-hero who refuses to get back in the saddle, nicely subverted by Roboto. There's the splendid Evil-Lyn's gloriously cynical advice to Andra and Teela as she regrets wasting her life with Skeletor and, more broadly, a realigning of allegiances across the board. The conveniently easy definitions of good and evil are gone.

This is good stuff- well-written and acted. I'm enjoying the He-Man vs Skeletor flashbacks at the start of each episode, too.

Masters of the Universe: Revelations- The Poisoned Chalice

 "Cry havoc and let slip these cogs of war!"

I was going to blog The Boys tonight, as I like to alternate. Alas, I'm pushed for time, so the shorter alternative it is.

This is another brilliant episode, shattering the staus quo of an old early '80s filmastion cartoon by removing the reset button and introducing an arc, an ever-changing status quo and a milieu in which any character can die- as Tri-Klops (Henry Rollins!) says, we are no longer in an era of Skeletor's repeated absurd and moribund plans. We're all fortysomethings now, after all.

At firt, it seems as though we have a story of the week to introduce a new staus quo as Teela and her new friend, some time having passed, work as mercenaries. We get a whiff of Stinkor, played by Jay of "and Silent Bob" fame.

We also get a fascinating elaboration of the backstory. Magic is dying, as in Visionaries. Tri-Klops is leading a cult of cyborg technology, complete with body horror transformations. Eternia was the first planet, and both it will rot without magic. A newly cynical Teela, and Andra, must quest for the two halves of the sword of power, in Heaven and Hell. With Evil Lyn. 

The plot thickens, deepens and becomes more interesting. This is such a fresh take. I love it.