Demolition Man (1993) is billed as a Science Fiction/Thriller/Crime film.
If I believed that for a moment, I would be writing a very different review.
This is a comedy, pure and simple, and may be Sylvester Stallone's best
performance. The film starts in the near future, with ultraviolent supercop
Stallone going after arch psycho killer Wesley Snipes. While he takes Snipes
into custody, he blows up a building in the process, living up to his
nickname, and the hostages he was looking for are found dead in the building.
Snipes is sentenced to cryo-incarceration, but so is Stallone, for the death
of the hostages. Years later, after the 'big earthquake" in a new ultra PC
society, Snipes escapes at a parole hearing. Cop Sandra Bullock suggests
defrosting Stallone to catch Snipes.
Bullock, who was awarded an undeserved razzie nomination, was a 20th
century groupie, and about to perish from boredom working as a cop in a
society where saying damn was serious crime. She and Stallone team up to chase
Snipes. Her use of 20th century slang is hilarious. Snipes was deliciously
over the top. There was also an underground, who lived literally underground,
to add a little breadth to the plot.
IMDb readers say 6.1. Critics were generally unkind, but it earned $68.1M
at the box office. Rent this expecting a comedy, and I think you will enjoy
it. C.
Scoop's notes:
One thing I have learned over the years is that people don't like their
action hero stars to appear as parodies of themselves. Demolition Man is an
excellent comedy, and The Last Action Hero is both funny and perceptive, but
Stallone and Schwarzenegger fans hated them. Bruce Willis fans hated Hudson
Hawk as well. But Tuna, Junior and I all love The Last Action Hero and Demo
Man, and Junior even likes Hudson Hawk!
Or maybe that just proves that we DO love to see action heroes appear as
parodies of themselves. Whatever. At any rate, I see no reason why comedy and
action can't co-exist. To me, Last Action Hero pulls off exactly the same
self-referential magic as Scream, and is funnier in the process, but Scream is
considered a classic of genre parody, and Last Action Hero is rated an anemic
5.1 at IMDb.
