Movie Title: Demolition Man
Genre: Action, Crime, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Director: Marco Brambilla
Writer: Daniel Waters, Robert Reneau, and Peter M. Lenkov
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne, Benjamin Bratt, Bob Gunton, Glenn Shadix, Denis Leary, Bill Cobbs, Jesse Ventura, Rob Schneider
Review: The tagline for Demolition Man is "The world's most dangerous cop. The world's most ruthless criminal. The 21st Century isn't big enough for both of them." And that's the truth!
Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) is the baddest of the bad guys and John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) is the toughest cop and the only man that can keep Phoenix from rising. See what I did there? Demolition Man is an adrenaline fueled action movie, but it's also a very funny and clever satire. Both Snipes and Stallone have a lot of fun in this movie taking shots at their action-star images and poking fun at '90s pop culture.
I enjoyed the humorous fish-out-of-water stuff with Snipes and Stallone in the futuristic utopian society. Plus, with a great cast featuring Nigel Hawthorne, Benjamin Bratt, Bob Gunton, Glenn Shadix, Denis Leary, and Bill Cobbs, it helps to ground the ridiculous premise more than you would think. Sandra Bullock, pre-Speed fame, is the real star here. She's fun, funny, and has personality to spare as Stallone's partner, Lenina Huxley.
My only problem with Demolition Man is that I'm not sure I understand the villain's plan 100% and the last 30 minutes or so are just non-stop action scenes, which are great, but kind of lose sight of what really made this movie memorable. All that aside, Demolition Man is sci-fi, action-packed fun that could have only happened in the '90s.
Fun Fact: Sylvester Stallone described the cryogenic freezing scene as "probably the worst five hours I've ever had on movie sets... I was terrified."