Demolition Man
While itās not uncommon to see an action movie that has so many big explosions and wild fight scenes that it nearly verges on self parody, it IS rare to see that same type of movie in the genre that also incorporates a sly sense of social commentary as well, projecting where we are as a society now along with where we are possibly headed, but this 1993 release managed to do just that, portraying our āmodernā time (1996) as a violence plagued hellhole rife with violent criminals before projecting us 40 years into the future where the world has become so cleaned up and sanitized that it borders on being embarrassing, a world where even the agents of law enforcement have become such pussies that they donāt even use a gun, not that they really need to since us citizens have also been brainwashed to the point of embracing weakness as a virtue, complete with an utter fear of human contact that is so profound that they even avoid sex, preferring instead to get it on through the means of virtual reality and inducing pregnancy with the help of a laboratory. The two modern miscreants who find themselves thrust into this wussy future are John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone), certainly not the first of the prototype of destruction prone action movie heroes played here by Sly with a stoic this-is-what-I-do-and-how-I-do-it attitude and Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes with bleach blonde hair), at first glance the more interesting of the two who apparently we are told made South Central Los Angeles his own personal criminal empire all while being played by Snipes in such a giggling, gleefully over the top evil manner that he almost resembles the actorās take on playing an insane ghetto variation of The Joker or almost any other comic book villain. Indeed, when you have the casting of the hero and the villain of the film to be this strong, it really would take a monumental fuck up to not make this whole thing at least partially work with the key element not only being the contrast between good and evil, but also with the idea that both men seem to thrive on the old fashioned ultraviolence in how they do things (or as Stalloneās Spartan says āSend a maniac to catch oneā). This is made evident by the opening scene where Spartan (apparently in pursuit of this guy for two years) is sent in when Phoenix has kidnapped and taken a busload of civilians hostage. Spartan gets his man, but the building blows up in the process and all the hostages are killed, leading to both men being incarcerated in a deep freeze cryo prison (impossible in 96 and still is now) where 40 years later, Phoenix is thawed out for his āparole hearingā, only to know all of the codes and secret tricks to escape his restraints, killing the warden and several guards before easily breaking out. This appears to be a problem for the local police in the city of āSan Angelesā (thus renamed after the big earthquake that destroyed the west coast in 2010) since they havenāt dealt with a āmurderdeathkillā in well over a decade and are neither mentally nor physically equipped to deal with a maniac such as Snipes who is tough enough to kill people with his bare hands. It seems that the reason for this neutering of our society is a man named Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne) who had apparently rose to power after the big quake and had fully laid down the rules and groundwork for a more āenlightenedā world where men being passive and women being dizzy (none moreso than Sandra Bullockās girl cop who constantly says the stupidest things while trying to sound cool whereas Bullock only avoids any major embarrassment as an actress simply because sheās so damn cute) are the order of the day and besides the lack of sex, fines and punishment are also given out for the use of profanity (causing a loud beeping noise everytime somebody swears which is easily the funniest running gag of the movie) and anything that is deemed unhealthy. Truth is that Cocteau has handpicked the unruly criminal that is Snipes to be thawed out as a preprogrammed assassin to go after a rebel leader (Denis Leary) whom it appears is part of the last vestiges of society that refuses to knuckle under and live life according to one manās standards, but since the police donāt know this about Snipes, they thaw out Stallone as he is the only cop who was ever tough enough to take this villain down. Of course, why Cocteau didnāt brainwash and thaw out Stallone to begin with (with his sense of duty and honor) to do his dirty work in bringing down the rebel leader as opposed to the volatile and unstable Snipes is a mystery onto itself outside of the fact that it would preclude Snipes from appearing in anywhere else but the opening scene (although if you have the rebel leader find a way to thaw out Snipes as a countermeasure to Stallone, then youād have a movie). So off to the races we go as our two mortal enemies make a burning mockery out of this enlightened city with Snipes never quite achieving the level of a robotic assassin who just does what heās told and Stallone learning to fit in quite well with his fellow police officer friends (including an older, aged friend from the past who remembers him quite well) probably because heās not quite the savage that they were making him out to be and at the end of the day is still the good guy. Leary on the other hand as the rebel leader stays in the shadows for much of the time before stinking up the place acting wise by going on one of his little rat a tat tat rants that were the trademark of his old stand up comedy routine, here revised to reflect the frustration of living in a world where it appears everything is restricted to the point of ridiculousness, but unfortunately seeing Leary resort to one of those rants that the real life comedian is known for takes us right out of the character (and the movie) with the even sadder element being that it seems like he is trying to fit in as many pop culture references as possible before the editor cuts him off. But the real debate to be had here is in the political leanings of the story and how it relates to the Cocteau character (who probably had a few people killed himself in his rise to power). In a world where no references are ever made to either God or religion itself, itās pretty safe to say that Cocteau is an ultra left wing progressive liberal who has had all firearms successfully banned (which makes the only people with guns the most powerful ones), has honed the citizenry to enjoy only music that consists of either old commercial jingles or TV show theme songs and manages to wield a level of control over nearly everybody (with obvious constant surveillance) that almost makes them afraid to āact outā lest they be declared a danger to society and locked away which explains why Leary and his people literally live underground where they might be free but still face a day to day fear of starvation for not following the fearless leaderās rules. In fact, Leary is perceived to pose such a threat to the established order that Cocteau going to such elaborate means to revive Snipes (clearly the antithesis of his ideal citizen) and set him loose in his society knowing that many others (not just Leary) will die as a result shows him to be a hypocrite as well, caring little for the innocent civilians who will suffer as long as the intended target is taken out (or not) with seemingly no exit plan either to shut Snipes back down once the mission is complete, save for some lame pondering on how once again he will rebuild society to be even better than it was before (which also exposes inherent weaknesses in the writing). As for Stallone, in between the showdowns and firefights with his archnemesis, he at least gets to project some bemusement at just what a travesty his world has become from the natural and accepted sexual repression to the infamously hilarious āthree seashellsā that one finds in all of the bathrooms which has replaced conventional toilet paper. Even with this backdrop, the film eventually gets to be a little too action packed for its own good, with so many near misses between Stallone and Snipes that when the final confrontation finally comes around, it almost seems like a relief rather than a barn burner. But the film does derive a lot of comic mileage from its portrayal of two badasses adrift in a sadly castrated society where the victor arguably can and will have a say in where things will go from there, a most unusual prize considering that there is no more monetary system and most of the grown adults have never even had conventional sexual intercourse, thus making it a world where the man who just doesnāt give a shit is Kingā¦
8/10