The article didn't go into too many details about why it worked better, but these excerpts gesture at why:
"dialing up Gibson’s cyberpunk paranoia"
"the three computer graphic sections become quite coherent in black-and-white"
"it has this kind of a dreamy, 16mm feel to it. It reminds me of Tetsuo and Eraserhead, and all these great, kind of dreamy, black-and-white movies."
"the color graphics now look all pretty retro, but in black-and-white, it has its own quality to it for sure."
"I take inspiration from films like Alphaville, La Jetée, things like that"
My impression is that the color version sets an expectations that Longo never meant. It was always intended as a B&W art film, and not as a summer block-buster. The colors and expense were a distraction.
So, if you haven't yet, check out the movies mentioned. Ironman: Tetsuo, Eraserhead, Alphaville and La Jetée. They are definitely not Hollywood blockbusters.
I'm not sure that Eraserhead has any overlap with Johnny Mnemonic in anything other than this mention of dreamy colours (military-bleak is how I'd describe Eraserheads palette).
I can't speak for the others in your list, but Eraserhead is an art experience that requires some... endurance of the horrific, depending on how much one invests themselves into what's going on on screen.
"dialing up Gibson’s cyberpunk paranoia"
"the three computer graphic sections become quite coherent in black-and-white"
"it has this kind of a dreamy, 16mm feel to it. It reminds me of Tetsuo and Eraserhead, and all these great, kind of dreamy, black-and-white movies."
"the color graphics now look all pretty retro, but in black-and-white, it has its own quality to it for sure."
"I take inspiration from films like Alphaville, La Jetée, things like that"
My impression is that the color version sets an expectations that Longo never meant. It was always intended as a B&W art film, and not as a summer block-buster. The colors and expense were a distraction.
So, if you haven't yet, check out the movies mentioned. Ironman: Tetsuo, Eraserhead, Alphaville and La Jetée. They are definitely not Hollywood blockbusters.