Demolition Man (1993) – Film Review

Director: Marco Brambilla
Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock
Certificate: 15

By Sarah Morgan

What do muscle-men actors do when they start to age?

Well, if they’re Arnold Schwarzenegger, they begin to diversify, moving away from the he-man roles that made them famous and trying their hand at comedy.

Arnie did that well with the likes of Twins and Kindergarten Cop, both of which were hits. Sylvester Stallone, however, struggled.

By 1990, his franchises Rocky and Rambo were both seemingly over (although they would eventually return), and his attempts to make his audience laugh with Oscar and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot raised a smile, but for all the wrong reasons – they were, quite frankly, terrible.

“A sense of humour”

However, you can’t keep Sly down for long. In 1993 he bounced back with the double-whammy of action-thriller Cliffhanger and Demolition Man, a sci-fi tale with a sense of humour.

The latter did well at the box office despite the fact that the critics were largely less than impressed. Now, more than 30 years on, it’s perhaps ripe for a reassessment.

The tale begins in 1996 as Stallone’s John Spartan, a risk-taking LA police officer, finally captures evil criminal Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes). However, the cost is great – various hostages have been killed, resulting in both Spartan and Phoenix being incarcerated in an unusual fashion; they are cryogenically frozen. In 2032, Phoenix escapes, and Spartan is thawed out because he may be the only man who can find him.

The problem is, the world has changed a lot during the intervening 36 years. It’s now a seemingly peaceful place in which swearing and anything deemed bad for you has been banned. Spartan soon finds himself out of sync with his new colleagues, and he has to battle their timid if well-meaning approach if he’s to successfully carry out his task.

“Colourful villain”

Thankfully, one member of the team, Lenina (Sandra Bullock), who is obsessed with the 1990s, proves to be more useful than the rest.

As you can probably imagine, it’s not exactly Shakespeare. Neither is it worthy of Aldous Huxley or HG Wells, on whose works (primarily Brave New World and The Sleeper Awakes) it was supposedly inspired by. Nevertheless, it’s rather fun.

Snipes makes a colourful villain, Bullock displays all the perky charm we’ve come to expect from her in the decades since. And Stallone is, well, Stallone, but with a wry smile every now and then.

Watch out too for Nigel Hawthorne, clearly cashing in on the profile boost his Oscar nomination for The Madness of King George brought him, as the architect of a society that isn’t quite what it appears to be, while Denis Leary pops up as the leader of an underground group of freedom fighters who are, in some ways, more interesting than the central characters. They’re also present to convince the viewers, if they need to be convinced, that being able to make your own choices and mistakes is far preferable to having Big Brother do it for you.

Spartan and Lenina eventually drive off into the sunset together, maybe towards a possible sequel that never materialised. I can’t quite make my mind up whether or not we missed out on a follow-up, but it might have been interesting to see what the future held for the characters, particularly as the 2030s are no longer that far away.