Demolition Man - 1993

Warner Bros., Silver Pictures

Directed by Marco Brambilla

Cast:

• Detective John Spartan – Sylvester Stallone
• Simon Phoenix – Wesley Snipes
• Lenina Huxley – Sandra Bullock
• Dr. Raymond Cocteau - Sir Nigel Hawthorne
• Alfredo Garcia – Benjamin Bratt
• Chief George Earle – Bob Gunton
• Edgar Friendly – Denis Leary

Story: In the very near future, super criminal Simon Phoenix has taken a bus hostage in the war zone called Los Angeles, and only John Spartan, the Demolition Man, is brave enough to defy him. As he bungee jumps out of the helicopter onto Pheonix's stronghold, he gives his motto “Send a maniac to catch a maniac.”. But his nemesis has framed him for the murder of those passengers, and John is sentenced to 70 years in cryo-suspension, the prison of the day, where he will have his behavior modified by synaptic suggestion. In 2032, Simon Phoenix (who is also a cryo-prisoner), has been thawed for his parole hearing in the San Angeles metro complex prison. Suddenly he knows all the passwords, and how to work the computers that never existed when he was frozen. In order to catch the madman, they release John Spartan, who goes about catching Phoenix with all his training and cunning. Unknown to Spartan and the officers of the San Angeles Metro Complex, the “savior” of their community, Mr. Cocteau, has had Phoenix released for his own selfish purposes.

Review: This has got to be one of the funniest action adventure films ever released. And the beauty of it all is the seriousness with which the actors play their roles. Stallone and Snipes are two 20th century macho types in an Orwellian society where everything is monitored and the police are almost superfluous. Bullock is a radical thinker bored with her perfect society, and Leary is just trying to keep people alive...the people who decided they didn't want to be part of the Perfect society. Now it is worth remembering this film was one of the first shameless product promotion films, with Taco Bell being featured in the film as the only restaurant to survive the Franchise wars, whatever those were. I would classify it as a “pre-comic” movie, with all the trimmings...bad guys and good guys, technological oddities, and a lot of great lines. Worth seeing, PG-13 because of a few lines here and there and a couple of brief shots of nudity. Collectible if you like Stallone, otherwise rent it and return it.