D: Marco Brambilla
Warner Bros. (Joel Silver, Michael Levy & Howard
Kazanjian)
USA 🇺🇸 1993
115 mins
Action/Science Fiction
W: Daniel Waters, Robert Reneau, Peter M. Lenkov &
Jonathan Lemkin
DP:Â Alex Thomson
Ed: Stuart Baird
Mus: Elliott Goldenthal
PD:Â David L. Snyder
Sylvester Stallone (Sgt. John Spartan), Wesley Snipes
(Simon Phoenix), Sandra Bullock (Lt. Lenina Huxley), Nigel Hawthorne (Dr. Raymond Cocteau), Benjamin Bratt (Officer Alfredo Garcia), Denis Leary (Edgar Friendly)
If you don't take this film too seriously it's quite
fun as a satirical action movie set in a non-violent future, that being said, it's not really that great and thinks it's cleverer than what it actually is.
Bad news cop John Spartan (Stallone) is cryogenically
frozen along with über-baddie Wesley Snipes. They are both awoken in the 21st century many years after an earthquake which has changed the landscape of Los Angeles and the attitudes of
the population. Â Violence is unheard of, foul language is punishable by fines and the use of toilet paper is an archaic practice (seriously), but Stallone and Snipes shake it all
up.
The film saw a breakthrough role for Sandra Bullock,
playing spunky a 21st century cop who assists Stallone's fish out of water, but the script really doesn't help her character.
Of course, no blockbuster is complete without blatant
product placement, but surprisingly it's Taco Bell rather than McDonald's which receives the honours.
Despite many criticisms, the production design for
this film is incredibly good, although it's an incredibly unlikely fantasy-vision of the future with some of the concepts beyond bizarre.
Loose parallels could be drawn with Aldous Huxley's
novel 'Brave New World' and Sandra Bullock's character was clearly named as a homage.
6/10