Take the toughest, most ruthless cop and pit him against the most brutally sadistic criminal in a near-future Los Angeles—a hellish vision of the city that presupposes that the 1992 riots never stopped—and you’ve got a quintessential early-’90s Hollywood action film setup. Marco Brambilla’s Demolition Man starts in 1996, but after John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) and Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) are frozen in a cryogenic prison after a deadly square-off, they awaken again in 2032, only to be greeted by a sanitized, peaceful “utopia” in which swearing, smoking, meat-eating, “gasoline, uneducational toys, and anything spicy” have been banned.
With the population effectively neutered, even the cops have been reduced to enforcing petty tickets, mere shells of their former hyper-violent selves. “We’re police officers. We’re not trained to handle this kind of violence,” Rob Schneider’s Erwin asserts upon seeing the freshly unfrozen Simon take out six cops who are armed, ironically, in the wake of the Rodney King beatings, only with batons. Demolition Man’s ineffectual, defanged police certainly serve a subtext that could often easily be read as fascistic, particularly in their contrast with the effectively reckless havoc that Spartan wreaks in his second citywide battle with Phoenix. On the other hand, one can’t underestimate the pleasure some audiences felt in 1993—and will still feel in 2024—getting to see a Black man gleefully pummel a group of white cops into submission.
Inconsistent politics aside, the film is all about contrasts, from those ingrained in its future visions to its leads: the white, square-jawed, military beret-donning Spartan and the Black, comically vainglorious sociopath with dyed blonde hair, Phoenix. But its most effective contrast, and what made it feel especially fresh upon its release, is that between its grandiose action set pieces and the endearingly goofy, fish-out-of-water comedy that stems from having a pair of savage goons unleashed in a society whose violent instincts have been completely quelled.
Brambilla is dexterous in his weaving together of genuinely thrilling action scenes and very funny comedy of manners with a sci-fi spin. Through it all, Snipes exudes so much charisma that even the worst of his “Simon Says” groaners are still quite charming, and his tongue-in-cheek, widely over-the-top performance is the perfect counterbalance to Stallone’s stone-faced machismo. But it’s Sandra Bullock, as the amusingly naïve officer obsessed with the “barbaric” ways of the past, who stands as the film’s comedic MVP, as evidenced in everything from her character misquoting old slang (“You really licked his ass!”) to expressing disgust over the possibility of a “fluid transfer” after Spartan suggests that they have real, rather than virtual, sex.
Image/Sound
Arrow Video’s 4K UHD release features a transfer that’s presented in DolbyVision, allowing for a wider array of colors. The icy blues and grays that dominate the film’s largely muted color scheme, along with the earthy browns and greens of the literal underworld, boast a variety of shades. The image is crisp while retaining all of the graininess of the 35mm original camera negative, and the detail and depth are consistently impressive, allowing for full appreciation of the fantastic production design. The 5.1 audio is equally strong, making productive use of all the tracks and rendering the many action sequences all the more immersive.
Extras
This slate of extras is anchored by three audio commentaries, two of which are newly recorded. In the first new one, director Marco Brambilla and screenwriter Daniel Waters have a spirited conversation about Demolition Man, discussing the film’s cult status and production details like the use of practical effects and the monochromatic color scheme of the set design.
In the second new commentary track, film historian Mike White makes a compelling argument for his theory that Demolition Man, along with two other 1993 juggernauts, Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park and John McTiernan’s The Last Action Hero, ushered in a new era of Hollywood action films. He also provides some interesting insight into the disagreements between different writers about how much humor, if any, to inject into the final screenplay, and the tumultuous relationship between Brambilla and producer Joel Silver. The last commentary, interestingly enough, features those two men, and while you can’t sense any animosity in their voices, the track is all business, touching on various aspects of the production as well as the casting process.
Film scholar Josh Nelson provides a visual essay that focuses on Sylvester Stallone’s career and the ways that his character in Demolition Man was both in line with and contrasted his popular on-screen persona. The remaining on-disc extras include a slew of interviews with members of the crew, covering stunts, body effects, makeup, and production and set design. The package is rounded out with a foldout poster, some stickers, six “artcards,” and a beautiful 60-page booklet featuring essays by film critics Clem Bastow, William Bibbiani, Priscilla Page, and Martyn Pedler, each of whom tackle Demolition Man from different angles.
Overall
Arrow Video’s 4K release of Marco Brambilla’s endlessly entertaining, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi action satire is an embarrassment of riches, including everything you could possibly want to know about the film, except how to use those three seashells.
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