Demolition Man

1993 action movie

Rating: 12/20

Plot: It's 1996 and tough-guy copper John Spartan finally catches dangerous criminal Simon Phoenix. He has to break a few cop rules and blow up a bunch of stuff to do it, but he does it. Phoenix is cryogenically frozen. Spartan's cyrogenically frozen, too, because if he wasn't, this wouldn't have enough in common with Austin Powers. Many years later, in a time when society has banished violence, sex, and bad language, Phoenix manages to escape. Reluctantly, they thaw Spartan so that he can team up with Sandra Bullock to once again capture the dangerous criminal.

Denis Leary, who plays mole man Edgar Friendly in this movie: "Demolition Man. . .giant piece of shit."

That might be a little harsh. This is a lot like The Running Man except the action sequences are arguably sillier and more senseless. And probably more explosiony! Bigger-than-life action hero Stallone (see Samurai Spy, the only other Stallone movie I have on this blog) plays the type of character he's supposed to, but he's thrown into a society with new rules that he's not used to and that gives the character a little twist. Like The Running Man, this one is sometimes cleverly satirical. The only surviving restaurant in 20-whatever is Taco Bell, citizens are fined for cursing, Schwartzeneggar is actually the president, and there's a museum with a room devoted to violence to show what past society was like. Wesley Snipes is an adequate baddie, sort of a Dennis Rodman without the tattoos and piercings. Sandra Bullock is as useless as she normally is. There is a Stallone/Bullock sex scene, a really goofy virtual reality thing that might prove that neither Stallone or Bullock have actually climaxed. I had my doubts about them anyway. But despite the occasional humor and clever jabs at society, this ends up being nothing more than your typical sci-fi action flick, action scene piled on action scene piled on Stallone's pecs. It's not always pretty, but it's generally sweaty.