Demolition Man

Let's get this out of the way first, Demolition Man is a somewhat fun, if incredibly stupid, movie. Set in a dystopian future of a seemingly innocuous utopia (but with its own troubles bubbling under the surface), the film gives us super-cop John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) and psychopath Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) both being released from cryogenic prison where their battles in the late 90s left them (thanks to Phoenix framing Spartan in a way so obvious it could only be missed by 90s rule of law).

Phoenix awakes first, decidedly not rehabilitated from his cryosleep, and begins causing havoc on the peaceful future where violent crimes are a thing of the past. This forces the blundering police force of 2032 to thaw out Spartan, who struggles in this brave new world, to catch him.

Pairing Spartan up with a naive cop of the future (Sandra Bullock) with interest in the 90s that she constantly misquotes, the film is basically discovering a future where all restaurants are Taco Bell through the eyes of Spartan (and to a lesser extent Phoenix). Eventually Spartan is proved right in the way he does things which helps not only catch the bad guy but potentially cause some small ripple of change in the future.

The mix of camp and comedy has about a 50% hit rate, with some of the misses being excessively groan worthy, but Stallone makes a good hero and Snipes a fun villain (for roles both originally turned down). The film also throws in Denis Leary basically doing his own schtick as the underground revolutionary Phoenix is thawed out to kill by a corrupt government leader (Nigel Hawthorne) before going about with his own plans instead.

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• Title: Demolition Man
• IMDb: link