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Review: Demolition Man (1993)
Having regained his footing as an action star this summer with Cliffhanger, Sylvester Stallone is back to testosteronic heroics in the latest offering of ace action mogul Joel Silver (Lethal Weapon, Predator, Die Hard), Demolition Man. Marco Brambilla’s off beat blend of satire and action makes for quite a guilty pleasure. In other words: ardent afficianadoes of action flicks (especially those starring the likes of Stallone, Schwarzenegger, or any other big screen behemoth) will enjoy it.
Near the end of the twentieth century, the LAPD send in their top cop John Spartan (Stallone) to stop the malevolence of the notorious Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes). Spartan does so the only way he knows how: resorting to maverick methods to take on—and hopefully take down—his foe(s). He arrests Phoenix but his actions result in the deaths of innocent citizens. Spartan is sentenced to some serious time in the cooler, as does Phoenix. They get the big chill in a cryo prison.
Several years later in the twenty-first century, Phoenix is reborn and deadlier than ever. He makes short work of the warden (Andre Gregory) and a few others before making good his escape. The police are unable to stop Phoenix and are unsettled by the flamboyant thug’s brazenly brutal behavior. For in this new world, extreme acts of aberrant behahavior have become things of the past and talk is a bit more civil as profanities garner offenders demerits. The cops find their options limited and realize the only way to fight fire with fire is to thaw out Spartan.
Like Phoenix, Spartan is surprised by just how much the world has changed: guns are no longer used; tobacco and alcohol are illegal, non-nontritional foodstuffs are history; among other things. Finding the action she has so often read about but never experienced in an office decorated with contraband relics (a Lethal Weapon 3 poster along with figurines of Batman and the Joker—probably not too difficult to obtain as Silver produced the former and Batman, like Lethal Weapon, proved to be profitable ventures for Warner Brothers; which also released this film and probably hope for similar results), Lenina Huxley (cute star-on-the-rise Sandra Bullock) welcomes the chance to see an old pro like Spartan in action.
It turns out that Phoenix’s release has been part of a plan to eliminate a radical (Dennis Leary) deemed a danger by the government. The police, however, know nothing about the strategem devised by the deceptively benevolent despot Raymond Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne) who is in charge of things in this weird new world.
Demolition Man pales in comparison to John Carpenter’s future adventure tale Escape from New York (1981) but it isn’t bad. The storyline is a bit reminiscent of Nicholas Meyer’s Time after Time (1979) where Jack the Ripper (David Warner) was pursued by H.G. Wells (Malcolm McDowell). It’s got a few good laughs despite offering nothing really new to those who’ve seen the forementioned release. Demolition Man borrows from the likes of The Road Warrior (1982) and Logan’s Run (1976) and a number of Joel Silver’s prior efforts. Stallone looks like he’s having fun and now Silver can claim to have worked with the three big shareholders in the Planet Hollywood business.
Robert Baum is Currently a Bryn Mawr, PA-based film afficanado and pop culture junkie.
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