JOHNNY 2.0

JOHNNY 2.0

I'm glad to say I picked this movie up, it is on DVD, and I'm also sorry to say I hadn't seen it sooner. It is another low-budget Canadian film full of the usual Stargate and X-Files cast members, but stars Jeff Fahey and Michael Ironside, which means you're up for a good story. That's right, this isn't the MATRIX, but seriously, if you keep waiting for the next blockbuster sci-fi movie starring the latest teen heart-throbs, you're an idiot, and you're missing out on some really good stuff. I don't know what it is about Canadian sci-fi, or rather sci-fi made in Canada, or maybe it's really just where you can get your good stories made, but if you liked the X-Files, Outer Limits, Captain Power, or any of the numerous science fiction films made with Canadian actors like Bruce Greenwood in Nowhere Man, or The Companion, these things usually always turn out to be pretty good. If you like stories, which are fairly well produced, though they have less than stellar production values, then like me, you're never surprised that in the end these turn out to be rather interesting. The focus of these types of movies is always on the story, and the focus of the directors always seems to be, like in the X-Files, always on what you can do with what you've got, and story ends up being where you put it all, and damn, it works every time--if you have a good story.

I liked this movie more than I'd have thought, and that just about seems to be the case EVERY time I watch one of these Canadian sci-fi movies, probably why the New Outer Limits keeps coming back into my mind. You'll see a cheesy effect here and there, but you blow past it, because the story is more interesting, and you're into it more than you'd be if you were watching the latest Michael Bay movie. If I was a billionaire media mogul, I'd enjoy starting up a new cable network, where I'd play all these types of shows, and maybe invest in some new ones, there's just so many good ones. Because these movies don't become famous or household words doesn't mean they're shit, and this movie is by no means--shit. If you're one of those people who buys DVD box-sets of TV shows, sits down and watches the whole series in two days, consider grabbing a bunch of these Cybertronic Canadian movies, you won't be disappointed.

Jeff Fahey is a genetic scientist who works for bio-engineering lab which is raided by environmentalists. Michael Ironside is the evil corporate baddie, Fahey gets his head bashed in during the attack and he 'wakes up' 20 years later in the future. The future is totally 'William Gibson,' and Fahey is told he's a clone of the former scientist with a scan of the previous Fahey's memories implanted in his brain. Ironside needs his memories to find software which will help him create the perfect process for immortality, the complete transfer of the 'soul' to its younger healthier clone body. Though this may sound cheesy, it works well in the movie, and Fahey goes off to find the original Fahey. The world of the future is explored a bit, and though the production values aren't excellent, you totally get what they're saying, and folks, this is exactly the world we're headed for, the same one we've seen in so many of these films. It isn't a rip-off, it isn't 'unoriginal,' its just the fact that when so many people try to look at the next 20 years, this is what they see, and in this case, we see a little more, and it gets a little more defined. I love these kinds of movies, you've seen it in THE RUNNING MAN, BLADE RUNNER, REPO MEN, you know the world. Something like a disaster or war has taken place, the economy has crashed, and corporations have taken over the government completely, turning it into a fascist state with clean corporate bubble-worlds protected by the highest technology, and the 'Outlands' or in this case the Outback, or the Zone, in WILD PALMS, it was the called Wilderzone, it has many names, and ultimately it means where the poor live, where those with no insurance live, where those who do not want to live in a fascist state live, where you and I will live if we choose not to be locked into a surveillance state. Where criminals and rebels and impoverished masses roam free, freedom in hell, where in the technologically protected 'heaven' the mindless and soulless live.

Plenty of action, which flows with the plot I might add, not for the sake of itself, and some good twists and turns. The acting is good enough for the X-Files, and that's good enough for a sci-fi movie like this. I fully recommend this neat little futuristic story with rebels and corporate security SWAT guys, and a few clever futuristic techno gimmicks which add more flavor to this story. I like Michael Ironside, always have, he shows up in a lot of these decent little sci-fi movies and series, and Jeff Fahey, well, he's definitely in the top 10 Cybertronic Movies Leading Actors, (if there was such a thing) he's in a lot of these which is great. From Lawnmower Man to Virtual Seduction, perhaps maybe one of the most familiar faces in Cybertronic movies, next to C.Thomas Howell. It is fully available on DVD, possibly even Netflix, and I encourage those of you who like Max Headroom and similar worlds, to get this movie, which has clones, holographic people, hackers and implants, its got futuristic rebels and fascist swat guys, its got everything you can expect from a nice Cybertronic movie, and it isn't like you're watching some really bad rip-off of something...unless of course you're a Transformers fan...then you're standards for storytelling are low, and your standards for production values are high, you know you like sugar coated plastic so get off this blog and eat it!

Some people would call this movie 'Cyberpunk' but I really hate that word, and many people who consider themselves 'cyberpunk aficionados' probably hate this movie because it isn't THE MATRIX or BLADE RUNNER in its production values and they'll probably say they've seen it all before, among other things, but screw them, 'cyberpunk fans' seem to often be stuck up rich kids who demand too much from their sci-fi movies, and really want to be spoon fed over-stylistic garbage. Though this may be considered 'cyberpunk,' regardless, it is a most welcome title to the wider genre of 'Cybertronic.' Johnny 2.0 is better than Johnny Mnemonic in some ways, though a lower budget, with lower paid actors, but there's no cyborg-dolphin or little cute kids, which is always a plus. (The truth is Eddie Angstrom still likes Johnny Mnemonic, and knows its flaws, but if you watch it today, you'll see how much better it is than most of the crap they churn out in Hollywood by the truckload). The film mostly deals with the issues of cloning and genetic engineering but is the true bridge to the category which seems at first not to fit in with this website, but once you see this movie, you'll see why I've included it. Cloning and genetic engineering may not directly involve cybernetic engineering, but computers are quite involved in the process, and as you see from films like this or THE 6TH DAY, most of these movies fuse cybernetic, or computer-biologically interactive technology, as will the use and purpose of clones and genetic engineering in the future (unless we can stop it). Usually in worlds which use a lot of this technology, and imagine that, holograms too... So this film fits in quite well in several categories, which is why all of them are being dubbed "CYBERTRONIC" and my sub-categories really don't matter much. Any good futuristic story about evil corporations in the future is going to involve hackers and genetic engineering, it just happens to be where the future is headed so don't complain about unoriginality...the truth is...Zed in Zardoz...is a hacker, so is Arthur Frayn...you just have to keep watching it again, and you'll see it's all there, you just think its a really bad movie from the insane mind of some crazy person, nope it isn't. Cybertronic Fans, Johnny 2.0 is definitely one to put on your wish list, and trust me, there will be more than you'd imagine so keep logging on!