FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Demolition Man [DVD] [1993]

Demolition Man [DVD] [1993]
enlarge	Director: Marco Brambilla Actors: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne, Benjamin Bratt Studio: Warner Home Video Category: DVD List Price: ~~£13.99~~ Buy Used: £1.36 as of 21/11/2009 09:11 GMT details You Save: £12.63 (90%) New (18) Used (28) from £1.36 Seller: zoverstocks Rating: 22 reviews Sales Rank: 1839 Format: PAL, Widescreen Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Arabic (Subtitled) Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region: 2 Discs: 1 Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 110 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 EAN: 7321900129855 ASIN: B00004CYKZ Theatrical Release Date: October 8, 1993 Release Date: May 24, 1999 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Editorial Reviews: Amazon.co.uk Review Searching for new directions, Sylvester Stallone starred in this farcical, 1993 SF piece about an ex-cop (Stallone) freed from 36 years of forced hibernation to help catch a criminal (Wesley Snipes) who released himself from a similar incarceration. The futuristic story finds Los Angeles a sea of Taco Bells and enforced peace and within that satiric overview Stallone's character becomes a gun-toting fish out of water. The film plays like a live-action cartoon and while there is nothing particularly wrong with that, IDemolition Man/I is a rather flat experience. The irony of a peaceable society that both requires and despises its bloody saviours has been captured far more profoundly in movies like IDirty Harry/I. Sandra Bullock costars. I--Tom Keogh/I

Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 22 1 2 3 4 5 Next » Stallone Goes Sci-Fi! October 29, 2004 no1filmaddict (UK) 18 out of 18 found this review helpful His career faultering somewhat, Sylvester Stallone decided to try somthing new and branched out into the realmes of sci fi, this being his first attempt, 'Judge Dredd' in 1995 being his second. While most people including some of the fans shunned it, i personally think that it is a breety good film all round. It's a typical Stallone film, with plenty of guns, explosions, a bad guy, and of course a hero which is Stallone himself in the form of John Spartan.pJohn Spartan is a cop who has been on the trail of master criminal Simon Phoenix for two years, and when he finally does catch him, the building that they are in blows up killing thirty or so innocent people. Of course Spartan is blamed for the incident, resulting in him being incarcerated in a cryogenic prison for thirty odd years. pFinally he is released in the next century, in the year 2032 where the world is very different. All harmful things have been made illegal; smoking, drinking, contact sports, and even salt etc, sex has become a non contact affair as well (much to the dismay of Spartan) and people even recieve criminal credits for swearing, somthing that Spartan (and phoenix) get a lot of. pThe reason for his early release is so that he can once again catch Phoenix who has escaped from the cryogenic facility and is causeing havok in the streets of the new San Angeles (San Dieago and LA have merged). None of the police force can handle him and only the outmoded ways of John Spartan and the help of Lenina Huxley to show him the new ways, can save the city from certain peril. pStallone is perfect in his role as the tough 'old fashioned' cop who is released from Cryosleep to help the new SAPD. A blonde Wesly Snipes is also brillaint in his role as the heartless criminal Simon Phoenix who starts a meaningless rampage through the city. Originally Stallone wanted Jackie Chan to play this role, however he turned it down as he did not like playing bad guys. pHowever both stars work very well together, producing some very exciting fight scenes, Snipes being a black belt, and Stallone's experience from the Rocky films helping them. In fact Wesley Snipes was so fast on camera that the producers had to ask him to slow down as he was too much of a blurr. pOf course, lets not forget Sandra Bullock who replaced Lori Petty after a few days filming, and is very well suited to her role as Lenina Huxley, and helped to bring that vital mixture of comedy into the film with her studies of the past. Both her and Stallone work well on-screen together with the scene in her apartment being a great laugh. Benjamin Bratt played Alfredo Garcia who is named after the Sam Pekinpah Film, 'Bring me the Head of Alfredo Garcia' from 1974. pAs regards to the extras on this DVD, unfortunately there are none what so ever bar scene selection, interactive menus and subtitles, theres not even a trailer. This is a shame as a featurette or a behind the scenes documentary would have been nice for some of the die hard fans. However for the time being we'll just have to make do with the wonderful film itself.pOverall though, 'Demolition Man' is brilliant action packed movie, just what you would expect from a Stallone, or even a Wesley Snipes movie. A treat for fans of both stars or just action and/or sci-fi fans in general and with just the right mixture of comedy and action i highly recommend it to all! Funny, Underrated Film July 6, 2006 A. Hardy (Rowley Regis, West Midlands United Kingdom) 10 out of 10 found this review helpful I loved this film. Stallone's comments upon finding out about Arnold Scwarzenegger's having been president are comic. Dennis Leary is good as the leader of the underground rebel movement and Wesley Snipes is absolutely spot on as the completely amoral and psycopathic baddie. The film sparkles with loads of comic lines and Sandra Bullock's character's trying to use 20th Century sayings and getting them wrong is priceless. Well worth watching. Absolute Genius July 19, 2003 Martin J (Denbigh,North Wales) 8 out of 8 found this review helpful I dont know how people can review this film so badly,it is a classic action film.Wesley Snipes is cast in his perfect role and is brilliant in this film,and along with Stallone,provide lots of fantastic fight scenes.The Story may be a bit far fetched considering it doesnt look too far into the future,but that doesnt take anything away from this film.Sandra Bullock is also great in this film,and provides many very funny moments.It is a brilliant film which gets the balance of action and comedy just right,and is a must for any fan of good films.Buy this! Possibly the most entertaining film of all time. April 23, 2004 7 out of 7 found this review helpful This is a film that you can watch every day for the rest of your life andnever get tired of it. The jocularity has an impeccable longevity andevery actor suits their role to perfection. brIt's not that the writeror director was victimising British people as some have said, it is simplymore believable for the evil person to be british, especialy with thatdrawling accent. brA masterpiece for those with common sense and arefree from spite. EXCELLENT CULTURAL SATIRE August 23, 2007 stuart (MIDDLESBROUGH, ENGLAND) 3 out of 3 found this review helpful John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) is a reckless Los Angeles policeman, known as the "demolition man" for the destruction he routinely engenders while apprehending big baddies. After a particularly ruthless criminal, Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), sets him up by making it appear that Spartan wantonly caused the deaths of a bus load of hostages, Spartan is sentenced to 60 years or so in prison. The film begins in a not-too-distant future (relative to its 1992/1993 production date) of 1996. Prisons are quite a bit different, and there's a new policy of cryogenically freezing inmates. We cut forward to 2032. Phoenix is up for an obligatory parole hearing when he escapes. The film's 21st Century society is extremely different (worsening cultural chaos, exacerbated by a huge earthquake, precipitated the change), and the "San Angeles" police cannot capture Phoenix or keep him in check. Chief Earle makes a decision to revive Spartan, reasoning that an out of control but effective cop mired in the ways of the late 20th Century may be the only one who can capture the out of control criminal, but he, and the future society, may be in for a lot more than they bargained for by reawakening the Demolition Man. br / br /Demolition Man is one of the funniest, most action-packed and most poignant social satires of at least the last 30 years. It's not necessarily the easiest film to appreciate, as it makes its points through extremely over-the-top "mindless" action and tongue-in-cheek, purposefully cheesy plot and dialogue, but it's well worth trying to acclimate oneself to the style if you're not an action or sci-fi fan, as the satire cuts deep. There are other films with somewhat similar aims, such as Total Recall (1990) and Starship Troopers (1997), which are perhaps just as good as Demolition Man, but they certainly can't top it, and they have aims other than the purely satirical. br / br /The opening scene feels like a typical late 1980s/early 1990s action sequence. At least until we realize that there's not going to be a happy ending for the hostages that Spartan is trying to save. Once we arrive at the future, a lot of viewers might misjudge the performances of the principal cast besides Stallone and Snipes. Sandra Bullock, as Lieutenant Lenina Huxley (a reference to Aldous Huxley's book Brave New World), and Benjamin Bratt, as Alfredo Garcia (a reference to Sam Peckinpah's 1974 film, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia), at first seem to be turning in bizarrely incompetent performances. It's only later that we realize they are spot on for the film's "brave new world", which is basically an instantiation of a staunchly moralist cult run by Dr. Raymond Cocteau (a reference to famed director Jean Cocteau combined with Cocteau's friend, novelist Raymond Radiguet). br / br /Technically, the film is quite impressive. The production design, cinematography, effects, staging of the action sequences, score and soundtrack are excellent. But what sets Demolition Man a cut above the rest are the script and the performances--yes, even from Stallone and Snipes, although Bullock, and especially Denis Leary, in a relatively minor part where he gets to do his motor-mouthed, ranting comedy schtick that made him famous, both threaten to steal the show. br / br /Director Marco Brambilla (who has remained oddly inactive since Demolition Man, which was his first film) and his writing "team" skewer a lot of cultural norms as relatively arbitrary conventions. Radio and television commercial jingles are considered the pinnacle of musical art in the film's world. Strict morality is enforced through constant computer monitoring of behavior combined with fines--a running joke throughout the film is that profanity results in fines. Meat and alcohol have been outlawed. So has physical contact, including sex. All restaurants are now Taco Bells (in some cuts of the film intended for foreign markets, this was changed to Pizza Hut instead). There is an underground, outside of the cultic mainstream society, but they're literally underground, living relatively lawless (well, at least they eat meat and drink beers) in tunnels strewn with utility pipes. br / br /As a result, serious crime is a thing of the past, swept under the rug (or into the sewers) and labeled with Orwellian newspeak. Phoenix and Spartan's reintroduction of violence and mayhem, including "murder/death/kill", results in a reawakening of cultural freedom, analogous to their own thawing out. The anti-utopian, anti-utilitarian political message, like that of Orwell's 1984 and later films influenced by the same, such as Equilibrium (2002), couldn't be clearer. And the message can be extended to situations that are not political. I didn't use "cult" above carelessly. The idea is that the society's warts are necessary for individual authenticity. Yes, things can run smoother under a dictatorship, but who wants to live under a dictatorship, even a supposedly "benevolent" one? br / Showing reviews 1-5 of 22 1 2 3 4 5 Next »

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