Highly original concept film - the cyberpunk, dystopian noir feel is pretty standard fare, but the integration of computers is way ahead of its time and concepts like "jacking in" and watching and *feeling* yourself get raped are pretty cool.
James Cameron's script envisions a future where experiential sensation junkies look for their next fix by taking the memories and lives of other people. Lenny Nero is a compelling character, an ex-cop who was kicked off the force for experimenting with the addictive computer memories. As played moistly by Ralph Fiennes, he is sympathetic to the audience, and to a hard-edged limo driver (Angela Bassett).
The plot involves the police killing Jeriko One, a black civil rights leader and rapper, and makes Lenney a reluctant hero, swinging him away from his world of cyberporn and fantasies of Juliette Lewis and putting him on a noir-style quest for truth.
Kathryn Bigelow (POINT BREAK) gives the film some stylish direction, but I really didn;t like the way the ending turned out. I thought it finished with a whimper, not a bang - the racial tumult, the millennium apocalypse, it all gets swept away into a tidy package. There's even a silly fade-out kiss; I thought Fiennes and Bassett worked better as friends rather than lovers.
James Cameron's script envisions a future where experiential sensation junkies look for their next fix by taking the memories and lives of other people. Lenny Nero is a compelling character, an ex-cop who was kicked off the force for experimenting with the addictive computer memories. As played moistly by Ralph Fiennes, he is sympathetic to the audience, and to a hard-edged limo driver (Angela Bassett).
The plot involves the police killing Jeriko One, a black civil rights leader and rapper, and makes Lenney a reluctant hero, swinging him away from his world of cyberporn and fantasies of Juliette Lewis and putting him on a noir-style quest for truth.
Kathryn Bigelow (POINT BREAK) gives the film some stylish direction, but I really didn;t like the way the ending turned out. I thought it finished with a whimper, not a bang - the racial tumult, the millennium apocalypse, it all gets swept away into a tidy package. There's even a silly fade-out kiss; I thought Fiennes and Bassett worked better as friends rather than lovers.