![[box cover]](../../reviewimgs/d/demolitionman.jpg)
Demolition Man
Psychotic criminal Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) and his top nemesis, renegade LAPD cop John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone), are both cryrogenically incarcerated in 1996, but when Phoenix escapes from a parole hearing in 2033, the police — who have become a bunch of incompetent wimps after a series of politically correct laws have rendered society crime-free — find that they are unable to combat the ruthless lunatic and have no choice but to reluctantly defrost Spartan in the hopes that his bygone brand of redneck law-and-order can bring Phoenix down. At times overwhelmed by its own loud, brash style, Demolition Man doesn't worry too much about plot progression and instead lets the numerous cartoonish action sequences speak for themselves. Scenarist Robert Reneau even throws in a generous helping of comic bits, some that work, and some that don't (twentieth-century commercial jingles are top-40 radio hits — funny; Arnold Schwarzenegger is a former U.S. president — not funny). But despite these few drawbacks, Demolition Man succeeds as a silly action frolic that never takes itself too seriously, and Snipes' over-the-top histrionics are dependable good fun. Also starring Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne, Denis Leary, and Benjamin Bratt. Good transfer, DD 5.1, commentary track with director Marco Brambilla and producer Joel Silver, trailer, textual supplements.
—JJB
