Demolition Man

* My favorite IMDB user reviews about Demolition Man:

Why the hate? - 6 June 2009
Im not sure at all why people hate on this movie. In my opinion, it bridges a gap between mindless action movie and satire, and the result is pure gold.

Im not going to write this like a review "Stallone plays John Spartan etc" because you KNOW that. Id rather comment on the movie as it was made.

This movie halfway pokes fun at a 1984 style future, and halfway takes it seriously. And most movies that try to split things down the middle fail on both fronts, well as I see it this one pulls it right off and makes it great. The laughs in the movie don't come from "ha-ha" gags, but rather from biting satire and eerily prescient predictions. Tracking chips, omniprescent surveillance, making cigarettes illegal? Maybe we aren't there yet, but its been heading that way for a long time. It takes a lot to make an audience laugh at a ridiculous setup, then right after the laugh make them think "Wait... That could easily happen!"

The thing that I appreciate most about this movie is the fact that it doesn't forget its own gags. Most other movies, the first time a character was fined for the "Verbal morality statute", the movie would drop the gag, skipping the alarm tone and accusing voice. In this movie, every time someone swears in public within voice distance of whatever it is that "hears" them swear, in the background you hear the gag played out. This transforms it from a joke to a "Holy crap, that would suck" type of mindset, and it works!

And thats what I mean. This movie more than most others that I could name merges satire and a dystopian look with lighthearted gags and "mindless" action scenes. Thats hard to do, and more people should give the writers and director and crew credit for sewing it together and making it play.

One of the few action movies that I watch every time I catch it playing on my TV box, it works that well, and the gags still make you laugh. After all, absurdity is a very real way to highlight and satirize elements of society. It sticks with you longer that way.

Witty Sci-Fi Actioner - 22 June 2007
This movie comes close to having everything I want in an action flick. Great fight sequences - the museum is a standout - are only the beginning. The chemistry between Stallone and Snipes makes every interplay between the two characters a mix of humour and excitement. But, fifteen years after release, it is the futuristic elements of this movie that make it a standout. The outlawing of dangerous or unhealthy activities, the fines meted out for swearing ("you have been fined 5 credits for a sotto voce violation of the verbal morality code..."), the relentless pushing of the peace and tranquility message - many of these jokes have cleverly anticipated trends which are taking place in today's society. Every time I read about a government banning trans-fats, all I can think about is John Spartan chowing down on his "hamburger" with such relish. Whether by accident or design, this movie portrayed many future trends with eerie prescience. Can the Schwartzeneggar Presidential Library be far behind?

Perfect blend of action and comedy - 6 March 2009
Demolition Man is a movie that I love, but some others seem to have mixed feelings about. The main complaint I've seen is that people ask whether this is comedy or action. It is both. I think it is the perfect blend of action and comedy. You get great action, funny one-liners, more action, and more jokes. The comedy doesn't outweigh the action, and to me that is good. Its not impossible to have 2 genres in a movie. The Tremors series was horror/comedy. This is a good Action/Comedy. I love the action in this movie, it is top notch. Wesley Snipes was on top of things. He sold this movie for me and played the role of Simon Phoenix to perfection. Stallone is of course great as the good action hero. No complaints about any performance. The music is good as well. My only complaint is that it the movie is a touch long, but when I watch it I don't notice it.

"They'll let anybody into this century!" - 23 April 2010
Sly and Wesley Snipes wind up in 2030 after destroying everything in their path in the 90's. As respectively, a disgraced violent cop and a psychotic crook, they awake from 40 year cryogenic napping to find a world of docile sheep, and start to wreck everything once again. "They'll let anybody into this century!" Snipes says, as he and Rambo open fire at each other and everything else.

An early appearance by Sandra Bullock as a cop/90's history buff who has a romanticized Old West perception of the 90's plays the love-interest. It features some great culture satire bits a la Sleeper, as stuff like corny commercial jingles are sent up for satire. Look for an envisioned 2030 (prophecied by tongue-in-cheek), which has about as much chance of being fulfilled as a used-car dealer's promises. That is, except for the humorously accurate prediction about Sly's long time buddy, Arnold.

The cast are hilarious; the comedy, sci-fi, and /cops'n'robbers steroid action are blended together for a great ride.

Mind-numbingly fun - 2 October 2008
It's always nice to see an action-film which doesn't take itself too seriously. Demolition Man, in a way, is almost a parody of a cheesy action movie. The movie's depiction of a future-society works as a bit of an intelligent exercise while the silly pop-culture references keep the film with a firmly tongue-in-cheek mood.

Wesley Snipes provides a worthy foe for Stallone. Even though he comes off from time to time as a gag-villain, he provides an almost comic-book dynamic to the film which is what makes the movie so watchable.

Undoubtedly at times the movie seems to degenerate more into parody and at the end it's difficult to decide if the movie's comical direction was necessarily a good move. At times it feels there's almost too much camp to bear. For this the movie may be a turn off for some, but for lovers of cheesy action comedy Demolition Man is a real treat.

A delightfully successful action/comedy - 11 December 2006
Demolition Man was a childhood favorite of mine. In fact, I distinctly remember seeing this in the theater at 9 years old, my first theater going R-rated film experience. I loved it then, and like too few childhood favorites, I've just kept on loving it.

I appreciate Demolition Man for different reasons now. As a child, I loved the action and it's still great today. The action of this film actually feels very fresh now as this was made before CG became the industry standard. I love CG as much as anybody, but I'll always have a soft spot for just plain old gritty stunt work and this film has top notch stunt work.

One of the aspects that's continued to amuse me (and reveal itself to me as I've grown old enough to comprehend) is the humor and the sharp satirical edge. This is an action film that actually has a brain in its head and has something to say. The satirical element doesn't feel like a tacked on hanger for action scenes, and the two aesthetics are pretty affectively blended into one another such as in the museum scene.

Despite some small nit picky elements (like the 1996 LA in the opening) this film does not feel dated at all. Its take on censorship and free will feels as relevant now as it did 13 years ago (honestly, that's not that long, of course). Popular music seems to be inching closer and closer to the 30 second commercial sound bites of this film's future.

I'd say this is easily one of Stallone's best performances (though Rocky will probably always be his crowning achievement). Comedy is a tough and a frequently under appreciated acting talent and Stallone pulls it off here. He doesn't play it like he's in on the joke which makes it all the more effective. Snipes obviously had a blast as Simon Pheonix, chewing the scenery, and busting out some very impressive kung-fu. If there's a character who's in on the joke it's this one. Bullock is endearing in her awkward attempts at impressing Spartan with her shaky hold on action movie lingo.

Demolition Man is a real comfort movie. I can put this film on any time, no matter what my mood is, and it puts a big smile on my face and sometimes, that's exactly what everyone needs from time to time.

* My favorite trivia about Demolition Man:

* Sandra Bullock replaced Lori Petty after a few days filming.

* Sylvester Stallone wanted the Simon Phoenix character to be played by Jackie Chan. Chan refused, since Asian audiences don't like the idea of actors who have always played heroes suddenly playing evil characters.

* For some non-American releases, references to Taco Bell were changed to Pizza Hut. This includes dubbing, plus changing the logos during post-production. Taco Bell remains in the closing credits. In both the Dutch and Swedish releases the subtitles still use Taco Bell while the sound and picture have been altered as above.

* Wesley Snipes's kicks and punches sometimes look lurchy and awkward. Snipes is a black belt in real life, and his kicks and punches were so fast that they blurred on camera. Hence the producers asked him to slow them down.

* Lenina Huxley tells John Spartan about the Arnold Schwarzenegger Presidential Library, explaining that, based on the sheer popularity of his movies, a Constitutional amendment was passed in order for Schwarzenegger to run for president, which, according to Huxley, he did. In 2003, ten years after this film's release, Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected governor of California and shortly after his election, three senators separately proposed amendments to the US Constitution to allow naturalized citizens to become president.

* The two original choices for the roles were Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme. Van Damme was offered the role of the bad guy, but didn't want that role. He agreed to star in it if both the lead roles could be switched, the producers tried to get Seagal to play the bad guy, he declined.

* In an early scene, set after the first MDK (Murder Death Kill), the name Scott Peterson is listed as one of the cryo-prisoners. The name appears listed before Simon Phoenix on a computer display, which the character Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock) has called to the screen. This is merely a coincidence, however, as Scott Peterson was not a public figure until he was tried for the murder of his wife during 2004-2005.

* Though the movie was released in 1993, Simon Phoenix and John Spartan were supposed to have been imprisoned in the cryo-prison in 1996. In the scene where Wesley Snipes' character Simon Phoenix is releasing the other cryo-prisoners, he makes a reference to serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. Dahmer was killed in prison in 1994, after the film's release but before the cryo-prison would have been built. During TV replays, the Dahmer references were edited out because they seemed anachronistic.

* Sylvester Stallone has stated, in interviews, that the idea behind the three seashells was that two were used like chopsticks or to clamp together to pull waste out of the body and the third was used to scrape what was left over. No explanation was made about how they were to be cleaned or sanitized between uses.