Deal Me In Challenge: Johnny Mnemonic by William Gibson

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Before the Matrix, Keanu Reeves starred in this lesser-known SF cyberpunk thriller.

The opening sentence of "Johnny Mnemonic" by William Gibson is totally badass and indicative of the story's smooth hip-lingo and ultra-cool style often found in the SF cyberpunk genre: 

"I put the shotgun in an Adidas bag and padded it out with four pairs of tennis socks, not my style at all, but that was what I was aiming for: If they think you're crude, go technical; if they think you're technical, go crude."

I love this. Beginning in medias res, Gibson jumps right into the action without any explanation or context, which is disorienting and constantly challenges the reader with a fast-paced plot, jam-packed with a high density of information that can only be described as "sensory overload." What a ride. This is a familiar trope in cyberpunk that emerged in the mid 1980's  to early 1990's that was highly influenced by the aesthetic and cultural aims of the 'New Wave' from a few decades earlier but aimed to push the boundaries of science-fiction even further. Stylistically ambitious, greater attention was placed upon an experimental, avant-garde and unconventional approach to story-telling that can certainly be considered postmodernist. Moreover, many cyberpunk writers saw a return to and reworking of "Hard Science Fiction" that was also a political response to the hyper-capitalism of the Thatcher/Reagan era. 

Another salient feature of cyberpunk is pastiche or the merging of different genres and what we get here is a film-noir/hard boiled detective story (think Raymond Chandler) meets the gonzo science-fiction of Philip K. Dick but on steroids. Gibson's depiction of a near-future earth is dark, gritty and a dystopian nightmare of technology run amok. The narrator, Johnny-San, makes a living as a data-runner for the criminal underworld but not in the traditional sense: he has been augmented with hardware that allows him to store encrypted data in his brain. He gets mixed up the Yakuza and is hunted down by a cyborg assassin who has been sent to retrieve the stolen data. He meets some unusual characters along the way and perhaps that might be an understatement. For example, there is Jones the cyborg dolphin addicted to heroin who is a skilled hacker and the super-cool Molly Millions: a femme-fatale and cybernetically enhanced female assassin with blades for nails. They both team up with Johnny to help him break the code in his brain before the deadly assassin hunts them down. Their journey into 'Nighttown,' a technological wasteland inhabited by 'Lo-Tek' freaks (people living on the margins of society and unable to afford the most expensive technological upgrades on their bodies) and the final showdown on the 'Killing Floor' is full of hallucinatory weirdness.

Remember, Gibson is writing at time before the Internet existed; his prognostication of cyberspace, data piracy and hacker culture feels eerily accurate but also totally uncanny, which further highlights the story's cognitive estrangement. The dystopian dialectic of technological innovation is convincing and an all too real possibility, especially with the huge advancements being made today. The story's hard technological edge can be a little confusing because Gibson refuses to explain anything so it is up to the reader to disassemble the onslaught of techno-speak and puzzling opaqueness. He introduces new language ("Chiba", technical boy, idiot-savant mode, squids), terminology (The Killing Floor, Lo-Tek, factory custom) and unique technology (cyberspace/the matrix, superconducting quantum interfence detectors, etc) to establish a sense of 'cognitive estrangement' coined by Darko Suvin as one of main aesthetic ideologies of the Science Fiction genre. This is a wonderfully bizarre yet entertaining story that maintains a high-adrenaline intensity from start to finish. It is easy to see why Gibson is often considered one of the most influential authors of the cyberpunk genre.

My apologies for the slight digression, but I am very curious about the film version of this story and anxious to watch it. Keanu Reeves often has the reputation as a dull and uninspired actor but I seem to be in the minority who really enjoys his movies. I have also heard people say that he is a bad actor who just happens to star in really good movies. Perhaps there is truth to that statement. Granted, he is no thespian and lacks a certain emotional range but I still think he is talented with great screen-presence. Despite being a big fan of his work, I was too young when this film adaptation was released and never got around to watching it, which has become sort of a cult-classic. I think casting Keanu Reeves as Johnny is perfect because he is a character defined by his technological alterations, not personality. My initial reaction while reading this story was that it would make a great movie because of it's cinematic style, cool characters, snappy dialogue, great action scenes, dark atmosphere and such a fascinating futuristic world. There is an opportunity and so much potential to flesh out the characters and interesting story-lines, especially hinted at by the wild ending. Seriously, I would watch a movie just about the adventures of Molly Millions. I have seen the trailer and it looks incredibly cheesy but William Gibson also wrote the screenplay so how bad could it be?