When Hollywood transitioned from the '80s to the '90s, technology was a huge participant when the rules were changed. Suddenly, horror wasn’t as important as “looking good” in science fiction, and plots tended to be put aside for the sake of a better “look and feel.”
Regardless, they’re far from being bad films. They’re survivors of an era where special effects could be the main character and these didn’t have the greatest budgets. As some of these show, sometimes it’s not about the budget size, but how you actually use that size.
Johnny Mnemonic put viewers in an odd position. On one hand, I went in wanting to love it, and didn’t quite. It was a near-miss in a really compelling new genre. I rewatched it after CP77 came out (I didn’t remember the monowire stuff) and probably liked it more in 2020 than when it debuted.
It probably did lay the foundation for The Matrix in more ways than one.
I thought that movie was so cool! Especially with Henry Rollins in it. The ending was wild too. Sounds like I should watch it again.