Demolition Man (1993)
Director: Marco Brambilla
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne
Primary genre: Science fiction
Secondary genre: Action
What is “Demolition Man”? According to the stereotypical blockbuster description for this 90s flick, it is a science fiction action vehicle for a career peak Sylvester Stallone fighting against a blonde haired Wesley Snipes. Yet, it is one of these films that after a couple of decades, it has been prophetic in a plethora of ways, its satirical edge elevating it from the other mindless action movies of the same decade. Imagine if “Con Air” (1997) had a baby with “Total Recall” (1990) and you will get the visual style and potentially thematic meat of Marco Brambilla’s production. Spending a lot of money to highlight a clash of physical titans (i.e., Stallone, Snipes), this futuristic adrenaline ride packs more context than your daily direct to stream outputs of Netflix and Paramount+.
You see in this future, people can be easily offended by any unpredictable human behavior, touch is not permitted and neither sexual intercourse, people can “Skype” call each other and technology is the number assistant for our every day needs. Political correctness is the new medium and in this pseudo utopia, choice, free will and individualism is a thing of the past. Mirroring sentiments of Aldus Huxley highly relevant “Brave New World”, “Demolition Man” is smarter than any Stallone R-rated picture has the right to be. Amidst all this almost heavy-handed commentary on societal progression and paradoxes, there is also a subtle justice heath reform proposal which perhaps is not that far away in our lifetime offering the opportunity of (superficially) explore prison sentences, rehabilitation and recidivism.
“Spartan? John Spartan? Aw shit, they let anybody into this century! What the hell you doing here?”
Yet, you are not here to argue about the moral fabric of a 90s blockbuster but to see things blow up. The title is “Demolition Man” of course, and not “Knitting Man” although a joke around this form of activity is cleverly integrated into the screenplay. Car chases, massive explosions, John Woo inspired shootouts, (very) aggressive stuntwork and one on one fights disrupt the new future chaotically in a way that John Hammond would be proud. While we are swinging from set piece to set piece in expansive sets and gorgeous real life brutalistic architecture, the film falters when it switches gears between PG-13 humor and OTT violence. Shot primarily with adult audiences in mind, there are segments of violence that contrast against certain cartoonistic aspects of the movie. For example the implementation of contemporary and self-aware pop culture references (e.g., Rambo, Schwarzenegger, “Lethal Weapon 3” (1993)) could cause people to cringe even if they are highly entertaining at how absurd they are.
The other big problem that Brambilla’s motion picture suffers from is the sloppy editing which not only damages the flick’s tone but renders additional subplots pointless. Jesse Ventura’s name appears in the opening credits, yet he is absent from the entire film and Stallone’s living daughter is only mentioned to no effect. Scenes end abruptly leaving the audience to desire a much more bombastic aspect minimizing the perfect specimen of athletics that is Wesley Snipes. Speaking of Snipes he is by far the best thing in it; although he hated his haircut, his Simon Phoenix is a more capable physically Joker, a nihilist with a tendency for mayhem and the perfect antidote to Stallone’s adequate tough and law abiding cop. The rest of the cast are great but underutilized with only Sandra Bullock having any sort of impact even though her pun antiques become old quite fast.
Could this considered a misunderstood masterpiece? Not really but it is a damn entertaining one boasting a smart script that asks the right questions but fails to deliver on anything more substantial. At least, it is easily separated from the rest of the pile due to its relentless action and futuristic representation under entertaining performances and a grandiose score by the always reliable Elliot Goldenthal who flexes his musical muscles before grabbing the reigns of a dark knight (“Batman Forever“ (1995)).
The Rolls-Royce of British gangster cinema
+Interesting justice reform ideas
+Huxle-ian future presentation
+Aggressive stuntwork
+Lots of action
+Goldenthal’s score
+Snipes dominates
-Sloppy editing
-Pointless subplots
-Tonal inconsistency