Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

In 2021, society is driven by a virtual Internet, which has created a degenerate 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 is for a group of scientists in Beijing. Johnny initially balks when he learns the data exceeds his memory capacity even with compression, but agrees given the large fee will be enough to cover the cost of the operation to remove the device. Johnny warns that he must have the data extracted within a few days or suffer psychological damage.

The scientists encrypt the data with three random images from a television feed and start sending these images to the receiver in Newark, New Jersey, but they are attacked and killed by the Yakuza led by Shinji before the images can be fully transmitted. Johnny escapes with a portion of the images, but is pursued by both the Yakuza as well as security forces for Pharmakom, one of the mega-corporations run by Takahashi, both seeking the data he carries. Johnny starts witnessing brief images of a female projection of an artificial intelligence who attempts to aid Johnny, but he dismisses her. In Newark, Johnny meets with his handler Ralfi to explain the situation, but finds Ralfi is also working with the Yakuza and wants to kill Johnny to get the storage device.