Demolition Man

1993 Warner Bros. Pictures
Directed by: Marco Brambilla; Written by: Daniel Waters, Robert Reneau, and Peter M. Lenkov
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, and Nigel Hawthorne
MPAA Rating: R; Running Time: 115 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 6/10

John Spartan struggles with property destruction. Every time he arrests someone, something explodes. The LAPD Sergeant is a self-described maniac, and in the 1996 dystopia of Los Angeles, he's on the trail of his criminal equivalent, Simon Phoenix. When Spartan discovers Phoenix is holding hostages in a massive building, Spartan is ready for a showdown...and he gets it. Spartan catches Phoenix, but also completely destroys the building...and apparently, the hostages. Spartan and Phoenix are both shipped off to prison and cryogenically frozen...until 2032, when Phoenix, awakened and up for parole, suddenly breaks out. Unfortunately, 2032 is a bland and personality-free utopia. It's also free of crime, but consequently, has little ability to stop it. The 2032 police force realizes they've got only one option--awaken Spartan so that a maniac can catch a maniac.
1993's Demolition Man is a strange flick. First time film director, Marco Brambilla, seems an odd choice to helm a big budget, high concept, sci-fi action film. He's got to not only create a fully realized future world here, but execute well-choreographed fight and chase scenes, all while balancing pacing along with the film's comedic, satirical, and dramatic tones. That's a big ask, and Brambilla doesn't always succeed. The strange thing is, he doesn't do any of these parts better or worse than the other--sometimes he does each individual part well, and sometimes he doesn't.
For instance, Brambilla does a great job of world-building as far as the costuming, speech cadences, and bathroom habits go. However, he doesn't do nearly as well at giving a clear picture of just what this brave new world is like outside of what feels like a few city blocks. Also, the film's opening action scene, which starts off with a helicopter base jump, is brilliantly executed, but the film never approaches anything that kinetic or fun again...in fact, true action sequences are few and far between. Likewise, some comedic elements work brilliantly, particularly those involving 2032 bathroom habits, but some, like the film's capricious use of one-liners, crash-land hard.
Overall, though, it's Demolition Man's goofiness that gets it through. As Spartan, Sylvester Stallone could stand to loosen up a bit, but his bull-in-china-shop routine works overall. As Phoenix, Wesley Snipes brings a bizarre, nutty energy that I personally enjoyed quite a bit. Sandra Bullock, portraying Spartan's new partner, follows him around with a puppy-dog excitement, and brings a goofy energy that makes up for Stallone's dourness. Composer, Elliot Goldenthal, also seems to understand the film's predicament, presenting his usual atonal bombast for Demolition Man's more intense moments, but near sound effect bleep-burps for its sillier ones.
Demolition Man also seems to want to make some type of cultural commentary, but can't seem to get anywhere past "everyone should meet in the middle." There's most definitely some lost potential here that perhaps an experienced director, or one more geared toward these genres, could have realized. As it is, I appreciate Demolition Man's weirdness and its standout moments, but can't say it did any more for me than that.