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113-414: The short story served as the basis for the 1995 film Johnny Mnemonic , whose plot uses the same basic premise but otherwise differs considerably. A novelization of Gibson's screenplay written by Terry Bisson was published in 1995. In 1996 a film tie-in edition of Gibson's original short story was published as a standalone book. Johnny is a data trafficker who has undergone cybernetic surgery to have

226-431: A troubled future is often called the antithesis of the generally utopian visions of the future popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Gibson defined cyberpunk's antipathy towards utopian science fiction in his 1981 short story " The Gernsback Continuum ", which pokes fun at and, to a certain extent, condemns utopian science fiction. In some cyberpunk writing, much of the action takes place online , in cyberspace , blurring

339-473: A $ 26 million budget. When Reeves' previous film, Speed , unexpectedly became a major hit, Sony attempted to retool Johnny Mnemonic as a blockbuster. Longo experienced extensive creative differences with the studio, who forced casting choices and script rewrites on him. The film was ultimately recut without Longo's involvement, resulting in a version that he felt did not reflect his artistic vision. Described by Longo and Gibson as originally full of irony, it

452-451: A constant upheaval of new technology and culture, generally with dystopian outcomes. Writers like Roger Zelazny , J. G. Ballard , Philip José Farmer , Samuel R. Delany , and Harlan Ellison often examined the impact of drug culture, technology, and the ongoing sexual revolution, drawing themes and influence from experimental literature of Beat Generation authors such as William S. Burroughs , and art movements like Dadaism . Ballard,

565-424: A contract on him , although the reasons are unclear. Johnny finds Ralfi at his usual table, accompanied by his bodyguard Lewis. Johnny threatens them with a sawed-off shotgun in his bag, but Lewis incapacitates him with a neural disruption device hidden under the table. Ralfi reveals that the data was stolen from the yakuza , who are very interested in ensuring it is not revealed, and that he had not been aware of

678-418: A data storage system implanted in his head. The system allows him to store digital data too sensitive to risk transmission on computer networks. To keep the cargo secure, the data is locked by a password known only to the intended recipient. Johnny enters a trance-like state while the data is being transferred or the password is being set, making him unaware of the contents and unable to retrieve them. He makes

791-485: A fight, is electrocuted to death by Johnny and Jane. The second attempt starts, and aided by the female AI, Johnny decrypts the data and simultaneously recovers his childhood memories. The AI is revealed to be a virtual version of Johnny's mother, who founded Pharmakom and was angered by the company's actions. As J-Bone transmits the NAS cure information across the internet via pirate broadcasts , Johnny and Jane watch from afar as

904-539: A hybrid genre combining neo-noir and science fiction or cyberpunk. The Japanese cyberpunk subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of Katsuhiro Otomo 's manga series Akira , with its 1988 anime film adaptation , which Otomo directed, later popularizing the subgenre. Akira inspired a wave of Japanese cyberpunk works, including manga and anime series such as Ghost in the Shell , Battle Angel Alita , and Cowboy Bebop . Other early Japanese cyberpunk works include

1017-427: A major influence on Hollywood films such as The Matrix , Chronicle , Looper , Midnight Special , and Inception , as well as cyberpunk-influenced video games such as Hideo Kojima 's Snatcher and Metal Gear Solid , Valve 's Half-Life series and Dontnod Entertainment 's Remember Me . Akira has also influenced the work of musicians such as Kanye West , who paid homage to Akira in

1130-557: A megacorporation. Johnny witnesses brief projections of a female artificial intelligence who attempts to aid him, but he dismisses her. In Newark, Johnny meets with his handler Ralfi, who betrays him. Johnny is rescued from the yakuza by Jane, a cybernetically-enhanced bodyguard; members of the Lo-Teks, an anti-establishment group; and the Lo-Teks' leader, J-Bone. Ralfi is sliced into pieces when he gets in Shinji's way. Jane takes Johnny to Spider,

1243-561: A modest living in the Sprawl by physically transporting sensitive information for corporations, underworld crime rings or wealthy individuals. As the story opens, Johnny has arranged to meet with his most recent customer, Ralfi Face, at the Drome bar. Ralfi is overdue to retrieve the hundreds of megabytes of data he has stored in Johnny's head. To add to his troubles, Johnny has learned that Ralfi has placed

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1356-475: A more generalized cultural formation. The origins of cyberpunk are rooted in the New Wave science fiction movement of the 1960s and 1970s, where New Worlds , under the editorship of Michael Moorcock , began inviting and encouraging stories that examined new writing styles, techniques, and archetypes . Reacting to conventional storytelling, New Wave authors attempted to present a world where society coped with

1469-428: A notable critic of literary archetypes in science fiction, instead employs metaphysical and psychological concepts, seeking greater relevance to readers of the day. Ballard's work is considered have had a profound influence on cyberpunk's development, As evidenced by the term "Ballardian" becoming used to ascribe literary excellence amongst science fiction social circles. Ballard, along with Zelazny and others continued

1582-555: A novel in 1995 called Headcrash , like Snow Crash a satirical attack on the genre's excesses. Fittingly, it won an honor named after cyberpunk's spiritual founder, the Philip K. Dick Award . It satirized the genre in this way: ...full of young guys with no social lives, no sex lives and no hope of ever moving out of their mothers' basements ... They're total wankers and losers who indulge in Messianic fantasies about someday getting even with

1695-619: A screenplay in 1989. Longo's first attempt to finance the film was through Warner Bros. in 1990. Bob Krasnow liked Longo's short film, Arena Brains , and offered to finance a feature film. Before pre-production could begin, Warner Bros. merged with Time Inc. , and the film was put on hold. Recognizing the film was unlikely to be produced, Krasnow let Longo out of his contract. Longo nearly gave up on getting Johnny Mnemonic made but continued to make contacts in Hollywood. Longo and Gibson sought to sell Johnny Mnemonic as an art film on

1808-434: A sense of rebellion, suggesting that one could describe it as a type of cultural revolution in science fiction. In the words of author and critic David Brin : ...a closer look [at cyberpunk authors] reveals that they nearly always portray future societies in which governments have become wimpy and pathetic ...Popular science fiction tales by Gibson, Williams, Cadigan and others do depict Orwellian accumulations of power in

1921-414: A small budget but failed to get financing from the studios. Gibson said they wanted to avoid flashy, MTV -inspired visuals and "plunge the audience into a very strange but consistent universe". Longo commented that the project "started out as an arty 1½-million-dollar movie, and it became a 30-million-dollar movie because we couldn't get a million and a half." Longo's lawyer suggested that their problem

2034-416: A stagnant formula. In 1986, he edited a volume of cyberpunk stories called Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology , an attempt to establish what cyberpunk was, from Sterling's perspective. In the subsequent decade, the motifs of Gibson's Neuromancer became formulaic, climaxing in the satirical extremes of Neal Stephenson 's Snow Crash in 1992. Bookending the cyberpunk era, Bethke himself published

2147-460: A surprise betrayal, shoots Takahashi. Johnny and Shinji fight, culminating with Johnny killing Shinji. Before he dies, Takahashi has a change of heart and turns over a portion of the encryption key to Johnny. This still is not enough to fully decrypt the data. J-Bone tells Johnny that he will need to hack his own mind with Jones' help. Johnny, Jane, J-Bone and the Lo-Teks defeat the remaining forces sent after them. The Street Preacher arrives, and, after

2260-402: A term that encompassed both punk attitudes and high technology. He described the idea thus: The kids who trashed my computer; their kids were going to be Holy Terrors, combining the ethical vacuity of teenagers with a technical fluency we adults could only guess at. Further, the parents and other adult authority figures of the early 21st Century were going to be terribly ill-equipped to deal with

2373-551: A term used for a New Wave pop music movement that had just occurred in Britain, but this term did not catch on. Bethke later paraphrased Michael Swanwick 's argument for the term: "the movement writers should properly be termed neuromantics, since so much of what they were doing was clearly imitating Neuromancer ". Sterling was another writer who played a central role, often consciously, in the cyberpunk genre, variously seen as either keeping it on track, or distorting its natural path into

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2486-413: Is a fictional disease that is not present in the short story. NAS, also called "the black shakes", is caused by an overexposure to electromagnetic radiation from omnipresent technological devices and is presented as a raging epidemic . In the film, one pharmaceutical corporation has found a cure but chooses to withhold it from the public in favor of a more lucrative treatment program. References to Jones

2599-563: Is a subgenre of science fiction in a dystopian futuristic setting said to focus on a combination of " low-life and high tech ". It features futuristic technological and scientific achievements, such as artificial intelligence and cyberware , juxtaposed with societal collapse , dystopia or decay. Much of cyberpunk is rooted in the New Wave science fiction movement of the 1960s and 1970s, when writers like Philip K. Dick , Michael Moorcock , Roger Zelazny , John Brunner , J. G. Ballard , Philip José Farmer and Harlan Ellison examined

2712-415: Is also featured prominently in anime and manga ( Japanese cyberpunk ), with Akira , Ghost in the Shell and Cowboy Bebop being among the most notable. Cyberpunk writers tend to use elements from crime fiction —particularly hardboiled detective fiction and film noir —and postmodernist prose to describe an often nihilistic underground side of an electronic society. The genre's vision of

2825-585: Is an example of a cyberpunk graphic novel. Other influential cyberpunk writers included Bruce Sterling and Rudy Rucker . The Japanese cyberpunk subgenre began in 1982 with the debut of Katsuhiro Otomo 's manga series Akira , with its 1988 anime film adaptation (also directed by Otomo) later popularizing the subgenre. Early films in the genre include Ridley Scott 's 1982 film Blade Runner , one of several of Philip K. Dick's works that have been adapted into films (in this case, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? ). The "first cyberpunk television series"

2938-789: Is based on his book, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? . Humans linked to machines are found in Pohl and Kornbluth's Wolfbane (1959) and Roger Zelazny 's Creatures of Light and Darkness (1968). In 1994, scholar Brian Stonehill suggested that Thomas Pynchon 's 1973 novel Gravity's Rainbow "not only curses but precurses what we now glibly dub cyberspace." Other important predecessors include Alfred Bester 's two most celebrated novels, The Demolished Man and The Stars My Destination , as well as Vernor Vinge 's novella True Names . Science-fiction writer David Brin describes cyberpunk as "the finest free promotion campaign ever waged on behalf of science fiction". It may not have attracted

3051-417: Is claimed that, for instance, cyberpunk depicts fantasies that ultimately empower masculinity using fragmentary and decentered aesthetic that culminate in a masculine genre populated by male outlaws. Critics also note the absence of any reference to Africa or black characters in the quintessential cyberpunk film Blade Runner , while other films reinforce stereotypes. Minnesota writer Bruce Bethke coined

3164-499: Is considered by many to be the first cyberpunk novel with many of the tropes commonly associated with the genre, some five years before the term was popularized by Dozois. William Gibson with his novel Neuromancer (1984) is arguably the most famous writer connected with the term cyberpunk. He emphasized style, a fascination with surfaces, and atmosphere over traditional science-fiction tropes. Regarded as ground-breaking and sometimes as "the archetypal cyberpunk work", Neuromancer

3277-406: Is driven by a virtual Internet, which has created a degenerative effect called "nerve attenuation syndrome" or NAS. Megacorporations control much of the world, intensifying the class hostility already created by NAS. Johnny is a "mnemonic courier" who discreetly transports sensitive data for corporations in a storage device implanted in his brain at the cost of his childhood memories. His current job

3390-452: Is for a group of scientists in Beijing . Johnny initially balks when he learns the data exceeds his memory capacity even with compression, but he agrees given the large fee will cover the cost of the operation to remove the device. Johnny keeps it secret that he is overloaded; he must have the data extracted within a few days or suffer fatal brain damage and corrupt the data. The scientists encrypt

3503-469: Is more of forging ahead, looking at the new global culture. It is a culture that does not exist right now, so the Japanese concept of a cyberpunk future, seems just as valid as a Western one, especially as Western cyberpunk often incorporates many Japanese elements." William Gibson is now a frequent visitor to Japan, and he came to see that many of his visions of Japan have become a reality: Modern Japan simply

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3616-446: Is now addicted to heroin, the result of the Navy's efforts to keep its dolphins loyal, Molly trades him a batch in exchange for finding the password. Johnny then has Molly read it out so he can enter his retrieval trance, with recorders capturing all the data. They upload a snippet to a yakuza communications satellite and threaten to release the rest unless Johnny is left alone. To deal with

3729-767: Is praised for its "realist" exploration of cybernetic and artificial intelligence ideas and ethics. Dick's protege and friend K. W. Jeter wrote a novel called Dr. Adder in 1972 that, Dick lamented, might have been more influential in the field had it been able to find a publisher at that time. It was not published until 1984, after which Jeter made it the first book in a trilogy, followed by The Glass Hammer (1985) and Death Arms (1987). Jeter wrote other standalone cyberpunk novels before going on to write three authorized sequels to Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , named Blade Runner 2: The Edge of Human (1995), Blade Runner 3: Replicant Night (1996), and Blade Runner 4: Eye and Talon . The term "cyberpunk" first appeared as

3842-417: Is still enjoyable to watch and makes for a compelling protagonist. McCarthy instead found Reeves' character to be unlikable and one-dimensional. James compared Reeves to a robot, and Gleiberman compared him to an action figure. Rainer posited that Reeves' character may seem so blank due to his memory loss. Savlov said that Reeves' wooden delivery gives the film unintentional humor, but Rainer found that

3955-465: Is the kind of sci-fi that is genuinely audacious". The Wachowskis used Johnny Mnemonic as template for describing The Matrix to investors, and the 2011 video game Deus Ex: Human Revolution was influenced by Johnny Mnemonic . The props from the film were transformed into sculptures by artist Dora Budor for her 2015 solo exhibition, Spring . Sony Pictures Home Entertainment released Johnny Mnemonic: In Black and White on Blu-ray in

4068-641: The San Francisco Chronicle described it as "inescapably a very cool movie", and Marc Savlov wrote in The Austin Chronicle that the film works well for both Gibson fans and those unfamiliar with his work. Writing in The New York Times , Caryn James called the film "a disaster in every way" and said that despite Gibson's involvement, the film comes off as "a shabby imitation of Blade Runner and Total Recall ". McCarthy said that

4181-641: The British rule of Hong Kong , it was an area neglected by both the British and Qing administrations, embodying elements of liberalism in a dystopian context. Portrayals of East Asia and Asians in Western cyberpunk have been criticized as Orientalist and promoting racist tropes playing on American and European fears of East Asian dominance; this has been referred to as "techno-Orientalism". Cyberpunk can be intended to disquiet readers and call them to action. It often expresses

4294-487: The title of a short story by Bruce Bethke , written in 1980 and published in Amazing Stories in 1983. The name was picked up by Gardner Dozois , editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine , and popularized in his editorials. Bethke says he made two lists of words, one for technology, one for troublemakers, and experimented with combining them variously into compound words, consciously attempting to coin

4407-637: The " Stronger " music video, and Lupe Fiasco , whose album Tetsuo & Youth is named after Tetsuo Shima. The popular bike from the film, Kaneda's Motorbike, appears in Steven Spielberg ' s film Ready Player One , and CD Projekt 's video game Cyberpunk 2077 . Ghost in the Shell (1995) influenced a number of prominent filmmakers, most notably the Wachowskis in The Matrix (1999) and its sequels. The Matrix series took several concepts from

4520-477: The "real punks", but it did ensnare many new readers, and it provided the sort of movement that postmodern literary critics found alluring. Cyberpunk made science fiction more attractive to academics, argues Brin; in addition, it made science fiction more profitable to Hollywood and to the visual arts generally. Although the "self-important rhetoric and whines of persecution" on the part of cyberpunk fans were irritating at worst and humorous at best, Brin declares that

4633-646: The "rebels did shake things up. We owe them a debt." Fredric Jameson considers cyberpunk the "supreme literary expression if not of postmodernism , then of late capitalism itself". Cyberpunk further inspired many later writers to incorporate cyberpunk ideas into their own works, such as George Alec Effinger 's When Gravity Fails . Wired magazine, created by Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe, mixes new technology, art, literature, and current topics in order to interest today's cyberpunk fans, which Paula Yoo claims "proves that hardcore hackers, multimedia junkies, cyberpunks and cellular freaks are poised to take over

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4746-543: The 1982 film Burst City , and the 1989 film Tetsuo: The Iron Man . According to Paul Gravett , when Akira began to be published, cyberpunk literature had not yet been translated into Japanese, Otomo has distinct inspirations such as Mitsuteru Yokoyama 's manga series Tetsujin 28-go (1956–1966) and Moebius . In contrast to Western cyberpunk which has roots in New Wave science fiction literature, Japanese cyberpunk has roots in underground music culture, specifically

4859-469: The Japanese punk subculture that arose from the Japanese punk music scene in the 1970s. The filmmaker Sogo Ishii introduced this subculture to Japanese cinema with the punk film Panic High School (1978) and the punk biker film Crazy Thunder Road (1980), both portraying the rebellion and anarchy associated with punk, and the latter featuring a punk biker gang aesthetic. Ishii's punk films paved

4972-534: The Lo-Teks' base. Suddenly, an assassin hired by Takahashi known as "The Street Preacher" attacks them, killing Spider as Johnny and Jane escape. The two reach the Lo-Tek base and learn from J-Bone that Jones is a dolphin once used by the Navy that can help decrypt Johnny's payload. As they start the procedure, Shinji and the yakuza attack the base. Takahashi appears and confronts Johnny, holding him at gunpoint, before Shinji, in

5085-712: The Pharmakom headquarters goes up in flames from the public outcry. In celebration, J-Bone disposes of the Street Preacher's burnt corpse by tossing it into the waters of Newark. In the 1980s, director Robert Longo was known primarily for his artwork, including "Men in the Cities", a series of images meant to be viewed sequentially. After having been influenced by film, he transitioned to directing music videos and, when he tired of that, became interested in adapting William Gibson's Johnny Mnemonic . Longo and Gibson first started work on

5198-482: The United States on August 16, 2022. A black-and-white version of the theatrical cut, the edition was developed by Robert Longo. While not a director's cut, it is nonetheless closer to Longo's intended vision for the film; he had desired to shoot in black-and-white but was denied the opportunity. Initially, for the film's 25th anniversary, Longo ripped a Blu-ray copy of the film and created a black-and-white version of

5311-407: The action sequences were meant to be ironic and reminiscent of scenes that Gibson and Longo enjoyed in B movies . Gibson and Longo had instructed Reeves not to play the character straight. For his part, Reeves said he played the character "very robotic and rigid", which he found exhausting. Reeves' suit and tie are a reference to "Men in the Cities". When Johnny cries out for room service, this

5424-539: The artificiality of a film when the internet is available. In his review for the Los Angeles Times , Peter Rainer wrote that the film, when stripped of the cyberpunk atmosphere, is recycled from noir fiction , and LaSalle viewed it more positively as "a hard-boiled action story using technology as its backdrop". Savlov called it "an updated D.O.A. ", and Ebert said the film's plot could have worked in any genre and been set in any time period. James criticized

5537-462: The band composed songs inspired by the original short story. Once Sony became involved, the soundtrack was replaced with Sony artists, such as Stabbing Westward . Simultaneous with Sony Pictures' release of the film, its soundtrack was released by Sony subsidiary Columbia Records , and the corporation's digital effects division Sony ImageWorks issued a CD-ROM videogame version for MS-DOS, Mac, and Windows 3.x. The Johnny Mnemonic videogame , which

5650-507: The best in the film. James called Ice-T's role stereotypical and said he deserved better. Reeves's performance in the film earned him a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Worst Actor (also for A Walk in the Clouds ), but he lost to Pauly Shore for Jury Duty . The film was filed under the Founders Award (What Were They Thinking and Why?) at the 1995 Stinkers Bad Movie Awards and

5763-471: The data with three random images from a television feed. As they transmit these images to the receiver in Newark, New Jersey , they are attacked and killed by yakuza led by Shinji, who wields a laser whip. Johnny battles the yakuza, grabs a fragment of the encryption key images, and escapes. Shinji reports his failure to his superior, Takahashi. Their conversation reveals the yakuza are working on behalf of Pharmakom,

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5876-490: The data; he hires a psychopathic assassin played by Dolph Lundgren to do so. Ice-T and Dina Meyer co-star as Johnny's allies, a freedom fighter and a bodyguard, respectively. It was shot in Canada; Toronto and Montreal filled in for Newark and Beijing . The project was difficult for Gibson and Longo. After they struggled for years to finance a low-budget adaptation of Gibson's story, Sony greenlit Johnny Mnemonic with

5989-445: The decaying cityscape department grow wearisome". Savlov still found the film "much better than expected". LaSalle felt the film "introduces a fantastic yet plausible vision of a computer-dominated age" and maintains a focus on humanity, in contrast to Rainer, who found the film's countercultural pose to be inauthentic and lacking humanity. James called the film murky and colorless; Rainer's review criticized similar issues, finding

6102-423: The device and frees Johnny, who immediately offers a higher bid to hire her as a bodyguard. Johnny and Molly take Ralfi as they exit the bar, but a yakuza assassin waiting outside cuts Ralfi to pieces with a monomolecular wire hidden in a prosthetic thumb. Johnny fires his shotgun at the assassin but misses due to the man's enhanced reflexes. Molly is delighted to be facing another professional. Johnny decides that

6215-493: The doctor who installed Jane's implants. At a clinic, Spider reveals his medical charity was intended to receive the Beijing scientists' data, which is a stolen cure for NAS. Spider claims Pharmakom refuses to release the cure because they are profiting off mitigation treatments. The portion of the encryption images Johnny took plus the piece Spider received are insufficient to decrypt Johnny's mind, so Spider suggests they see Jones at

6328-474: The dolphin's heroin addiction was one of many plot elements cut during editing. Shooting took place in Toronto , where Longo temporarily moved his family, and Montreal. The studio continued to challenge Gibson and Longo on the script through principal photography , making some of the shooting both tense and confusing. The script was meant to be a commentary on science fiction films and how they are made, and

6441-622: The edge of society in generally dystopic futures where daily life was impacted by rapid technological change, an ubiquitous datasphere of computerized information, and invasive modification of the human body. Cyberpunk plots often involve conflict between artificial intelligence , hackers , and megacorporations , and tend to be set in a near-future Earth , rather than in the far-future settings or galactic vistas found in novels such as Isaac Asimov 's Foundation or Frank Herbert 's Dune . The settings are usually post-industrial dystopias but tend to feature extraordinary cultural ferment and

6554-483: The film Blade Runner was adapted) is also seen by some as prefiguring the movement. Blade Runner can be seen as a quintessential example of the cyberpunk style and theme. Video games , board games , and tabletop role-playing games , such as Cyberpunk 2020 and Shadowrun , often feature storylines that are heavily influenced by cyberpunk writing and movies. Beginning in the early 1990s, some trends in fashion and music were also labeled as cyberpunk. Cyberpunk

6667-560: The film as having "all the makings of a cult classic", and its release to streaming sites in 2021 resulted in a passionate defense by Rowan Righelato in The Guardian , who said it was "a testament to Longo's genius" that the film remained as eccentric as it was despite the studio's recut. Inverse also recommended the film. In a retrospective review from 2021, Peter Bradshaw , film critic for The Guardian , rated it 4/5 stars and wrote, "Perhaps it's quaint, but it's also watchable, and it

6780-587: The film has a score of 36/100 based on 25 reviews, which the site terms "generally unfavorable reviews". Variety ' s Todd McCarthy called the film "high-tech trash" and likened it to a video game. Roger Ebert , the film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times , gave the film two stars out of four and called it "one of the great goofy gestures of recent cinema". Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly rated it C− and called it "a slack and derivative future-shock thriller". Conversely, Mick LaSalle of

6893-431: The film himself. After contacting Don Carmody and informing him of his intention to release the new version of the film on YouTube , Carmody requested to see it first. Impressed, Carmody convinced Longo to approach Sony Pictures for an official release. Sony Pictures agreed to provide the film's footage to Longo for a professional conversion, so that they could release the new version on Blu-ray. Longo proceeded to re-grade

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7006-497: The film was "taken away and re-cut by the American distributor" during post-production. He described the original film as "a very funny, very alternative piece of work", and said it was "very unsuccessfully chopped and cut into something more mainstream". Gibson compared this to editing Blue Velvet into a mainstream thriller lacking any irony. Their editor, Ronald Sanders , was replaced by someone that Longo said did not understand

7119-459: The film's color in black-and-white, with the help of the film's original colorist Cyrus Stowe. Longo has stated that he is "happy" with the new version of the film, as he takes inspiration from black-and-white films such as Alphaville and La Jetée . The new version was shown by the Tribeca and Rockaway Film Festivals at an outdoor screening, which sold out, in 2021. Cyberpunk Cyberpunk

7232-435: The film's focus on an upcoming disadvantaged underclass. The film significantly deviates from the short story, such as turning Johnny, not his bodyguard, into the primary action figure. Molly Millions is replaced with Jane, as the film rights to Molly had already been sold. Gibson did not want Molly in the film, though, and thought it would be best to reserve her for a different franchise. Nerve attenuation syndrome (NAS)

7345-413: The film's lack of lighting and its grim set design to give everything an "undifferentiated dullness". McCarthy found the special effects to be "slick and accomplished but unimaginative", though Ebert enjoyed the special effects. Gleiberman highlighted the laser whip as his favorite special effect, though James found it unimpressive. Although saying that Reeves is not a good actor, LaSalle said Reeves

7458-426: The film's lack of tension, and Rainer called the film's tone too grim and lacking excitement. McCarthy criticized what he saw as a "unrelieved grimness" and "desultory, darkly staged action scenes". McCarthy felt the film's visual depiction of the future was unoriginal, and Gleiberman described the film as " Blade Runner with tackier sets". Savlov wrote that Longo's "attempts to out- Blade Runner Ridley Scott in

7571-408: The film's premise is its "one bit of ingenuity", but the plot, which he called likely to disappoint Gibson's fans, is simply an excuse for "elaborate but undramatic and unexciting computer-graphics special effects". Ebert's review mirrored this view. Sending a courier to physically deliver important information while avoiding enemy agents struck him as "breathtakingly derivative" and illogical outside

7684-403: The film, but Longo had to hire a Canadian cinematographer instead. When Reeves' previous film, Speed , turned into a major hit in 1994, expectations were raised for Johnny Mnemonic , and Sony saw the film as a potential blockbuster hit. Gibson said Sony executives began pressing them about whether their film had busses or explosions, critical elements of Speed . Longo's experiences with

7797-605: The film, including the Matrix digital rain , which was inspired by the opening credits of Ghost in the Shell and a sushi magazine the wife of the senior designer of the animation, Simon Witheley, had in the kitchen at the time., and the way characters access the Matrix through holes in the back of their necks. Other parallels have been drawn to James Cameron 's Avatar , Steven Spielberg 's A.I. Artificial Intelligence , and Jonathan Mostow 's Surrogates . James Cameron cited Ghost in

7910-425: The film. Prior to its release, critic Amy Harmon identified the film as an epochal moment when cyberpunk counterculture would enter the mainstream. News of the script's compromises spurred pre-release concerns that the film would prove a disappointment to hardcore cyberpunks. Gibson said he and Longo were in denial at first and believed the film might still be true to their vision. Gibson did not blame anyone for

8023-415: The financiers were poor, believing that their demands compromised his artistic vision. Many of the casting decisions, such as Lundgren, were forced upon Longo to increase the film's appeal outside of the United States. Longo and Gibson, who had no idea what to do with Lundgren, created a new character for him. Lundgren had previously starred in several action films that emphasized his physique. He intended

8136-478: The first generation of teenagers who grew up truly "speaking computer". Afterward, Dozois began using this term in his own writing, most notably in a 1984 Washington Post article where he said "About the closest thing here to a self-willed esthetic 'school' would be the purveyors of bizarre hard-edged, high-tech stuff, who have on occasion been referred to as 'cyberpunks' — Sterling, Gibson, Shiner, Cadigan, Bear." Also in 1984, William Gibson's novel Neuromancer

8249-402: The first of the Sprawl trilogy, Molly relates the rest of Johnny's story to the protagonist, Case. Molly claims that after achieving success, Johnny was murdered by a vat-grown yakuza ninja. Johnny Mnemonic (film) Johnny Mnemonic is a 1995 cyberpunk action film directed by Robert Longo in his feature directorial debut. William Gibson , who wrote the 1981 short story , wrote

8362-534: The genre has grown steadily since Blade Runner . Several of Philip K. Dick's works have been adapted to the silver screen. The films Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and New Rose Hotel (1998), both based on short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically. Other cyberpunk films include RoboCop (1987), Total Recall (1990), Hardware (1990), The Lawnmower Man (1992), 12 Monkeys (1995), Hackers (1995), and Strange Days (1995). Some cyberpunk films have been described as tech-noir ,

8475-453: The impact of technology, drug culture , and the sexual revolution while avoiding the utopian tendencies of earlier science fiction. Comics exploring cyberpunk themes began appearing as early as Judge Dredd , first published in 1977. Released in 1984, William Gibson 's influential debut novel Neuromancer helped solidify cyberpunk as a genre, drawing influence from punk subculture and early hacker culture . Frank Miller 's Ronin

8588-399: The lack of humor throughout the film sapped all the acting performances of any enjoyment. Gleiberman said that Reeves' efforts to avoid Valleyspeak backfire, giving his character's lines "an intense, misplaced urgency", though he liked the unconventional casting of Lundgren as a psychopathic street preacher. Rainer highlighted Lundgren as the only mirthful actor and said his performance was

8701-632: The landscape of cyberpunk Los Angeles in Blade Runner to be "Hong Kong on a very bad day". The streetscapes of the Ghost in the Shell film were based on Hong Kong. Its director Mamoru Oshii felt that Hong Kong's strange and chaotic streets where "old and new exist in confusing relationships" fit the theme of the film well. Hong Kong's Kowloon Walled City is particularly notable for its disorganized hyper-urbanization and breakdown in traditional urban planning to be an inspiration to cyberpunk landscapes. During

8814-421: The line between actual and virtual reality . A typical trope in such work is a direct connection between the human brain and computer systems. Cyberpunk settings are dystopias with corruption, computers, and computer networks. The economic and technological state of Japan is a regular theme in the cyberpunk literature of the 1980s. Of Japan's influence on the genre, William Gibson said, "Modern Japan simply

8927-465: The most successful cyberpunk films. Newer cyberpunk media includes Blade Runner 2049 (2017), a sequel to the original 1982 film; Dredd (2012), which was not a sequel to the original movie; Ghost in the Shell (2017), a live-action adaptation of the original manga ; Alita: Battle Angel (2019), based on the 1990s Japanese manga Battle Angel Alita ; the 2018 Netflix TV series Altered Carbon , based on Richard K. Morgan 's 2002 novel of

9040-401: The movie omits the religious and mythical elements of Dick's original novel (e.g. empathy boxes and Wilbur Mercer), it falls more strictly within the cyberpunk genre than the novel does. William Gibson would later reveal that upon first viewing the film, he was surprised at how the look of this film matched his vision for Neuromancer , a book he was then working on. The film's tone has since been

9153-741: The next century, but nearly always clutched in the secretive hands of a wealthy or corporate elite . Cyberpunk stories have also been seen as fictional forecasts of the evolution of the Internet . The earliest descriptions of a global communications network came long before the World Wide Web entered popular awareness, though not before traditional science-fiction writers such as Arthur C. Clarke and some social commentators such as James Burke began predicting that such networks would eventually form. Some observers cite that cyberpunk tends to marginalize sectors of society such as women and people of colour. It

9266-462: The only way to save himself from the same fate as Ralfi is to get the data out of his head, which can be done only by using a SQUID to retrieve the password. Molly takes him to an amusement park to meet Jones, a cybernetically enhanced dolphin retired from Navy service. Jones' previous assignment was to locate and hack into enemy mines using the SQUID and other sensors implanted in his skull. Since he

9379-505: The popular development of "realism" within the genre Delany's 1968 novel Nova , considered a forerunner of cyberpunk literature, includes neural implants, a now popular cyberpunk trope for human computer interfaces. It also influenced one of the genres most well known cyberpunk novels, William Gibson 's Neuromancer . Philip K. Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , first published in 1968, shares common dystopian themes with later works by Gibson and Sterling, and

9492-467: The recut, though, reasoning that the film had been financed with their money. Despite claims made on the internet, the Japanese cut of the film is no closer to a director's cut , and Longo has said that no director's cut exists. The score was composed by Brad Fiedel . Before Sony's involvement, Black Rain composed a soundtrack. Black Rain had previously provided music for a Gibson audiobook and worked with Longo. Because no shooting had occurred yet,

9605-416: The role of the street preacher to be a showcase for further range as an actor, but his character's monologue was cut during editing. Gibson said that the monologue, a sermon about transhumanism that Lundgren delivered naked, was cut due to fears of offending religious groups. Kitano was cast to appeal to the Japanese market. Rollins, who is uninterested in science fiction, joined the cast because he liked

9718-415: The same name ; and the video game Cyberpunk 2077 (2020) and original net animation (ONA) miniseries Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022), both based on R. Talsorian Games 's 1988 tabletop role-playing game Cyberpunk . Lawrence Person has attempted to define the content and ethos of the cyberpunk literary movement stating: Classic cyberpunk characters were marginalized, alienated loners who lived on

9831-410: The screenplay. The film, set in 2021, portrays a dystopian future racked by a tech-induced plague, awash with conspiracies, and dominated by megacorporations and organized crime. Keanu Reeves plays Johnny, a data courier with an overloaded brain implant designed to securely store confidential information. Takeshi Kitano portrays a yakuza affiliated with a megacorporation attempting to suppress

9944-542: The sound system, and tricks him into slicing off his own hand with his thumb wire. Overwhelmed by the noise and the strange environment, he jumps through a hole in the floor and falls to his death. The story closes nearly a year later, with Johnny now living among the Lo Teks. He and Molly have gone into business for themselves, using Jones' SQUID to retrieve traces of all the data he has ever carried and blackmailing former clients with it. In Gibson's 1984 novel Neuromancer ,

10057-496: The staple of many cyberpunk movies, such as The Matrix trilogy (1999–2003), which uses a wide variety of cyberpunk elements. A sequel to Blade Runner was released in 2017. The TV series Max Headroom (1987) is an iconic cyberpunk work, taking place in a futuristic dystopia ruled by an oligarchy of television networks. Computer hacking played a central role in many of the story lines. Max Headroom has been called "the first cyberpunk television series". The number of films in

10170-478: The term in 1983 for his short story " Cyberpunk ", which was published in an issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories . The term was quickly appropriated as a label to be applied to the works of William Gibson , Bruce Sterling , Pat Cadigan and others. Of these, Sterling became the movement's chief ideologue, thanks to his fanzine Cheap Truth . John Shirley wrote articles on Sterling and Rucker's significance. John Brunner 's 1975 novel The Shockwave Rider

10283-404: The theft when he hired Johnny. Johnny is rescued by Molly , a "razorgirl" who has undergone extensive body modifications, most notably razor-sharp blades under her fingernails. She joins the three men at their table, looking for a job. When Lewis tries to attack her, she cuts his wrist tendons and takes the incapacitating control device from him. Ralfi offers to pay her off, but she deactivates

10396-474: The time of writing the novel Gibson did not know the location of Chiba and had no idea how perfectly it fit his vision in some ways. The exposure to cyberpunk ideas and fiction in the 1980s has allowed it to seep into the Japanese culture. Cyberpunk anime and manga draw upon a futuristic vision which has elements in common with Western science fiction and therefore have received wide international acceptance outside Japan. "The conceptualization involved in cyberpunk

10509-417: The use of technology in ways never anticipated by its original inventors ("the street finds its own uses for things"). Much of the genre's atmosphere echoes film noir , and written works in the genre often use techniques from detective fiction . There are sources who view that cyberpunk has shifted from a literary movement to a mode of science fiction due to the limited number of writers and its transition to

10622-501: The viability of internet marketing rather than an interactive event for their customers. The film grossed ¥ 73.6 million ($ 897,600) in its first 3 days in Japan from 14 screens in the nine key Japanese cities. It was released in the United States and Canada on May 26 in 2,030 theaters, grossing $ 6 million in the opening weekend. It grossed $ 19.1 million in total in the United States and Canada against its $ 26 million budget. Gibson

10735-477: The way for Otomo's seminal cyberpunk work Akira . Cyberpunk themes are widely visible in anime and manga. In Japan , where cosplay is popular and not only teenagers display such fashion styles, cyberpunk has been accepted and its influence is widespread. William Gibson's Neuromancer, whose influence dominated the early cyberpunk movement, was also set in Chiba , one of Japan's largest industrial areas, although at

10848-478: The world through almost-magical computer skills, but whose actual use of the Net amounts to dialing up the scatophilia forum and downloading a few disgusting pictures. You know, cyberpunks. Primary figures in the cyberpunk movement include William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Bruce Sterling, Bruce Bethke, Pat Cadigan , Rudy Rucker , and John Shirley . Philip K. Dick (author of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? , from which

10961-407: The world". The film Blade Runner (1982) is set in 2019 in a dystopian future in which manufactured beings called replicants are slaves used on space colonies and are legal prey on Earth to various bounty hunters who "retire" (kill) them. Although Blade Runner was largely unsuccessful in its first theatrical release, it found a viewership in the home video market and became a cult film . Since

11074-450: The yakuza assassin who is still following them, Molly leads Johnny to the Lo Teks, a group of anti-technology outcasts who live in a suspended hideout near the top of the geodesic domes covering the Sprawl. At Molly's request, the Lo Teks allow the assassin to climb up so she can face him on the "Killing Floor," a sprung-floor arena wired to synthesizers and amplifiers. Molly dances around the assassin, causing discordant noise to blare from

11187-544: Was a primary motivation for Sony Pictures's decision to fund the project in the tens of millions. Val Kilmer was originally cast in the title role, and Reeves replaced him when Kilmer dropped out. Gibson approved of this casting and said Reeves understood the character well. Reeves' Canadian nationality opened up further financial options, such as Canadian tax incentives. In Canada, Longo discovered he had to maintain Canadian crew quotas. Michael Chapman had agreed to shoot

11300-412: Was a reflection of Longo's frustration, and has also been identified as a reference to "Men in the Cities". The ending, where the Street Preacher appears to revive, was forced on Longo, but he refused to shoot the scene straight, as requested. The studio approved of his version nonetheless. Eight minutes of extra footage starring Kitano was shot for the Japanese release of the film. Gibson said that

11413-484: Was also a dishonourable mention for Worst Picture. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale. In a career retrospective of Reeves' films for Entertainment Weekly , Chris Nashawaty ranked the film as Reeves' second worst, calling the film's fans "nuts" for liking it. While acknowledging the film's issues, critic Ty Burr attributed its poor reviews to critics' unfamiliarity with Gibson's work. The Quietus described

11526-564: Was awarded the Hugo , Nebula , and Philip K. Dick Awards. Count Zero (1986) and Mona Lisa Overdrive (1988) followed after Gibson's popular debut novel. According to the Jargon File , "Gibson's near-total ignorance of computers and the present-day hacker culture enabled him to speculate about the role of computers and hackers in the future in ways hackers have since found both irritatingly naïve and tremendously stimulating." Early on, cyberpunk

11639-563: Was cyberpunk. The Japanese themselves knew it and delighted in it. I remember my first glimpse of Shibuya , when one of the young Tokyo journalists who had taken me there, his face drenched with the light of a thousand media-suns—all that towering, animated crawl of commercial information—said, "You see? You see? It is Blade Runner town." And it was. It so evidently was. Akira (1982 manga) and its 1988 anime film adaptation have influenced numerous works in animation, comics, film, music, television and video games. Akira has been cited as

11752-400: Was cyberpunk." Cyberpunk is often set in urbanized, artificial landscapes, and "city lights, receding" was used by Gibson as one of the genre's first metaphors for cyberspace and virtual reality. The cityscapes of Hong Kong has had major influences in the urban backgrounds, ambiance and settings in many cyberpunk works such as Blade Runner and Shadowrun . Ridley Scott envisioned

11865-514: Was deployed to field questions about the videogame from fans online. Despite having created cyberspace , one of the core metaphors for the internet age, Gibson had never been on the Internet previously. The habitually reclusive novelist likened the experience to "taking a shower with a raincoat on" and "trying to do philosophy in Morse code". Gibson commented that the exercise seemed more like Sony testing

11978-444: Was developed by Evolutionary Publishing, Inc. and directed by Douglas Gayeton , offered 90 minutes of full motion video storytelling and puzzles. A pinball machine , also titled Johnny Mnemonic , was released. Sony realized early on the potential for reaching their target demographic through Internet marketing, and its new-technology division promoted the film with an online scavenger hunt offering $ 20,000 in prizes. One executive

12091-483: Was edited into a mainstream action film and received negative reviews from critics. A longer version (103 mins) of the film premiered in Japan on April 15, 1995, featuring a score by Mychael Danna and more scenes involving Kitano. The film was released in the United States on May 26, 1995. In 2022, a black-and-white edition of the film, titled Johnny Mnemonic: In Black and White was released, which Gibson characterized as closer to his original vision. In 2021, society

12204-1108: Was hailed as a radical departure from science-fiction standards and a new manifestation of vitality. Shortly thereafter, however, some critics arose to challenge its status as a revolutionary movement. These critics said that the science fiction New Wave of the 1960s was much more innovative as far as narrative techniques and styles were concerned. Furthermore, while Neuromancer ' s narrator may have had an unusual "voice" for science fiction, much older examples can be found: Gibson's narrative voice, for example, resembles that of an updated Raymond Chandler , as in his novel The Big Sleep (1939). Others noted that almost all traits claimed to be uniquely cyberpunk could in fact be found in older writers' works—often citing J. G. Ballard , Philip K. Dick , Harlan Ellison , Stanisław Lem , Samuel R. Delany , and even William S. Burroughs . For example, Philip K. Dick's works contain recurring themes of social decay, artificial intelligence, paranoia, and blurred lines between objective and subjective realities. The influential cyberpunk movie Blade Runner (1982)

12317-416: Was published, delivering a glimpse of a future encompassed by what became an archetype of cyberpunk "virtual reality", with the human mind being fed light-based worldscapes through a computer interface. Some, perhaps ironically including Bethke himself, argued at the time that the writers whose style Gibson's books epitomized should be called "Neuromantics", a pun on the name of the novel plus " New Romantics ",

12430-472: Was quoted as remarking "We see the Internet as turbo-charged word-of-mouth. Instead of one person telling another person something good is happening, it's one person telling millions!". The film's website, the first official site launched by Columbia TriStar Interactive , facilitated further cross-promotion by selling Sony Signatures-issued Johnny Mnemonic merchandise such as a "hack your own brain" T-shirt and Pharmakom coffee cups. Screenwriter William Gibson

12543-405: Was that they were not asking for enough money and that studios would not be interested in such a small project. Studios were also concerned that Longo's artistic background would impact his ability to make a commercially viable film. The unbounded spread of the Internet in the early 1990s and the consequent rapid growth of high technology culture had made cyberpunk increasingly relevant, and this

12656-477: Was the TV series Max Headroom from 1987, playing in a futuristic dystopia ruled by an oligarchy of television networks, and where computer hacking played a central role in many story lines. The films Johnny Mnemonic (1995) and New Rose Hotel (1998), both based upon short stories by William Gibson, flopped commercially and critically, while The Matrix trilogy (1999–2003) and Judge Dredd (1995) were some of

12769-487: Was told that the film performed well in Asia and was one of the few profitable films for Sony in 1995. Rotten Tomatoes , a review aggregator , reports that 20% of 40 surveyed critics gave the film a positive review; the average rating is 4.3/10. The website's consensus reads, "As narratively misguided as it is woefully miscast, Johnny Mnemonic brings the '90s cyberpunk thriller to inane new whoas – er, lows." On Metacritic ,

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