STARRING Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock and Nigel Hawthorne. Screenplay by Daniel Waters, Robert Reneau and Peter M. Lenkov. Story by Peter M. Lenkov and Robert Reneau. Produced by Joel Silver, Michael Levy and Howard Kazanjian. Music by Elliot Goldenthal. Budget $77 million. Running time 115 minutes.
Originally released in 1993 in the same year of Jurassic Park, The Fugitive, Schindler's List and another Stallone classic, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man has become something of a much-loved treasure, often cited by people who've probably not seen it in a while as one of their favourite Stallone flicks.
The plot, set only three years in its future (from when it was made), but now over 28 years in our past, sees Stallone's super cop, John Spartan get into a ruck with Wesley Snipes' psychotic maniac, mass-murdering Uber Simon Phoenix. Both end up getting frozen for crimes against humanity and awakened in the far flung future of 2032.
The world of 2032 is now a glorious woke utopia, with instant fines for minor infractions, including swearing, and the banishment of toilet paper in favour of three sea-shells. It's a world of peace and love, where crime is a distant memory and violence is a thing of the past under the benevolent rule of Nigel Hawthorne's Dr. Raymond Cocteau. But when Phoenix is unleashed into a world unprepared for his violence the only course of action is to unfreeze Spartan to bring him down! Partnered with Sandra Bullock's young eager cop Lenina Huxley (named after Aldous Huxley) the pair set out to save the world of the future!
There's so much that good in this film, such great ideas and concepts and yet it never has time to slow down and explore this world before the weakest part, that battle between Spartan and Phoenix takes over. The action builds until the obligatory final showdown, but by then it's gone from being a unique vision of the future to become just another slam-dunk action-fest.
It's a pretty looking film, with a good solid cast, but doesn't quite gel.
7/10
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