ohnny Dalton (Fahey) is a brilliant scientist who has come up with a new cloning technique. After cloning a dog successfully, he and his partner Frank Donahue (Ironside) are sharing a toast when their company, Azine, is broken into by animal activists. During a fight with the activists, Johnny suffers a head injury. He fades in and out of consciousness and is taken to the hospital for an MRI to assess his injuries.
Johnny wakes up feeling terrible. When Frank walks into the room, Johnny
realizes something is wrong. Frank has gotten older. Frank tells Johnny
that he is a clone and that 20 years have passed. The memories Johnny has of his
previous life have been implanted by using the MRI. The real Johnny Dalton
recovered from his injuries and was doing fine until he was kidnapped by
terrorists.
Johnny is taken to meet Mr. Bosch (Neville), the present CEO of Azine. Johnny is told he only has a week to live. Human clones suffer a genetic flaw which causes the clone's body to reject its genetic material. His only hope is to find the real Johnny Dalton, who has developed software that can eliminate the genetic flaw.
Less than a day old, Johnny sets off to find himself. But his job isn't easy. The world has changed. A private police force from Azine runs things, "ozone isn't what it used to be" and new diseases such as "the grip" ravage the population.
As Johnny gets closer to the rebels, he discovers that not only has the world changed, the real Johnny has changed with it. As he must choose between Azine and the rebels, he learns there's more to himself than meets the eye.
More than just a pale imitation
Johnny 2.0 is an entertaining and sometimes clever flick that shows what a little attention to the script can do for a low-budget movie. The film is backed up with good direction, solid acting and plenty of action to move things along.
Wynne McLaughlin's script lets the characters have fun with their subject matter, and it also lets the audience know what a clever writer McLaughlin is, but without being intrusive. While there are a few too many convenient elements to be believable--and the film feels familiar with its corporations-have-taken-over theme--the script weaves science into the story nicely, making up for its weaknesses.
Even with a couple of nice special effects to call its own and two Johnnys on the screen through much of the picture, Johnny 2.0 looks as if it was filmed on a shoestring. The sets feel canned and might as well have been shipped over from the last low-budget science fiction movie.
Solid acting helps cover up many of the film's flaws. Fahey has fun as both the mysterious "real" Johnny and his confused clone. Ironside is terrific as Johnny's partner, Frank, and Neville adds class as Mr. Bosch. Welch keeps up with the boys in the girl role.
It's refreshing to see filmmakers realize they don't need to have a fortune to make an entertaining film. What they do need is a decent script. While it may not be a true original, Johnny 2.0 is more than just a pale imitation of another bad science fiction film because it is entertaining.
