Demolition Man

Hot on the heels of last summer's rollercoaster "Cliffhanger", old Sly is back in "Demolition Man", a slick and enjoyable action movie that effectively combines comedy and adventure in roughly equal measure. Glossy and indulgent it may be, but this latest Stallone effort is also shamelessly entertaining and easily one of the best action films of the year.

It is 1997 and gang violence is rampant. Stallone plays John Spartan, a maverick cop whose blatant disregard for the rules has led to his nick-name as The Demolition Man. On one of the assignments things go badly wrong and thirty innocent civilians are murdered by pyschotic Simon Pheonix (Wesley Snipes). Stallone is held responsible and sentenced to a seventy year prison sentence in cryogenic suspension.

Thirty-six years later and the world is a very different place. Advances in technology have meant that crime is now a thing of the past and the police have become obsolete. So when Pheonix escapes his imprisonment and goes on the rampage there is no one who can deal with this new menace. Until, that is, resourceful police officer Lena Huxley (Sandra Bullock in stonking form) thaws out Stallone, to recapture his arch-enemy, setting the stage for a battle to the death between the two adversaries from another time, a conflict that finally unearths the dark secrets that lurk below the surface of the Brave New World.

Marco Brambilla opts for a light-hearted Comic-Book tone that works remarkably well. The cross-culture clashes are well handled (in the future political correctness has been taken to extremes - smoking, swearing and spicy foods have all been banned for their harmful effects) and numerous references to the 20th Century are made. Snipes plays the pyschotic Pheonix with a passion, emerging as a sort of black Joker, while Bullock is a capable and amusing heroine. Stallone handles the comedy scenes far better than in his previous films Oscar and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. Sure Demolition Man is simplistic - yet despite this it's a lot of fun and often very exciting. (Yeah, but what do the three shells do?! - Ed).

Anonymous