Demolition Man
Tags: entertaining, comedy, murder, violence, good versus evil, humor, satire, action, revenge, alternate history, sadist, sci-fi

Plot synopsis:
In 1996, psychopathic career criminal Simon Phoenix kidnaps a number of hostages and takes refuge with his gang in an abandoned building. LAPD Sgt. John Spartan uses a thermal scan of the building and finds no trace of the hostages, and leads an unauthorized assault to capture Phoenix. When he is captured, Phoenix sets off a series of explosives that bring down the building. The corpses of the hostages are found in the rubble, leading to the arrest of Spartan for manslaughter. He is incarcerated along with Phoenix in the city's new "California Cryo-Penitentiary", where they are cryogenically frozen and exposed to subconscious rehabilitation techniques.
During their incarceration, the "Great Earthquake" of 2010 leads the cities of Los Angeles, San Diego, and Santa Barbara to merge into a single metropolis under the name San Angeles. The city becomes a utopia run under the pseudo-pacifist guidance and control of the evangelistic Dr. Raymond Cocteau, where human behavior is tightly controlled. In 2032, Phoenix is thawed for a parole hearing. He inexplicably knows and uses the access codes to the security systems, and escapes the prison. The police, having not dealt with violent crime for many years, are unable to handle Phoenix; Cocteau verbally authorizes the police to employ all means at their disposal to contain Phoenix. Lt. Lenina Huxley suggests that Spartan - the police officer who caught Phoenix - be revived and reinstated to the force to help them stop him again. Spartan, having spent 36 years in cryo-stasis until now, is thawed, reinstated, and assigned to Lieutenant Lenina Huxley to help with acclimation to the future, which he finds depressing and oppressive. Others on the police force find his behavior brutish and uncivilized, and Huxley, though fascinated by the lifestyles of the late 20th century, is disgusted when Spartan suggests kissing and sexual intercourse, acts which are taboo in the future due to their unsanitary exchange of bodily fluids and risk of transmitting diseases.
Even after six officers fail to apprehend and subdue Phoenix, the police chief remains confident of success and predicts, with the help of a computer algorithm, that Phoenix will attempt to establish a crime syndicate, which Spartan finds ludicrous. Spartan instead correctly anticipates that Phoenix will attempt to secure firearms, which by 2032 are only in museum exhibits - Spartan and Phoenix have their first face-to-face confrontation in 2032 at the local museum when Phoenix breaks into a museum's weapon exhibition to arm himself. Phoenix escapes and encounters Dr. Cocteau but finds he is unable to shoot Cocteau. Dr. Cocteau reminds Phoenix to assassinate Edgar Friendly, the leader of the resistance group called the Scraps that fight against Cocteau's rule, and allows Phoenix to bring other criminals out of cryo-sleep to help at his request. After seeing the exchange on security cameras, Spartan and Huxley review the cryo-prison records and find that instead of an appropriate criminal rehabilitation program, Phoenix had been given the information necessary for his escape by Cocteau directly. They also discover information directing Phoenix towards Friendly, and go off to warn him.
At the Scraps' underground base, Spartan convinces Friendly of the threat and takes sympathy in their cause given what he has seen above ground. Spartan and the Scraps ward off an attack by Phoenix's gang, leading to a car chase between Spartan and Phoenix. Phoenix taunts Spartan by revealing that he had killed the hostages before Spartan had arrived in 1996, so Spartan spent 36 years in prison unnecessarily. Phoenix escapes, and Spartan arms himself with help from the Scraps as they emerge in force to get food.
Phoenix returns to Dr. Cocteau with his gang, and as the rehabilitation programming prevents him from killing Cocteau, orders one of his gang to do so. They go back to the CryoPrison and begin to thaw out the most dangerous convicts. Spartan enters the prison alone to fight Phoenix, heavily damaging the facility in the process, and eventually uses the cryogenic chemical to freeze Phoenix solid. Spartan escapes the prison before it explodes and regroups with the police and the Scraps. The police fear the loss of Cocteau and the CryoPrison will send their society into a downward spiral, but Spartan suggests that they and the Scraps work together to create a society which combines the best aspects of order and personal freedom. He then kisses Huxley (which she finds enjoyable) and the two go off together.

Review: I love this film to death it is Stallone-Snipes futuristic science fiction action flick of the 90's.
They don't make like this anymore.Demolition Man is my favorite best Stallone Sci-fi, action movie, very awesome alongside with Rambo films.
Sylvester Stallone is a legendary bad-ass cop John Spartan Demolition Man he plays by his own rules and he does what he does best to catch the bad guys.
The movie has humor, a little comedy and pure action that the gunplay is delivered in perfect Stallone-Snipes style - you'll see lots of heavy automatic and explosive weapons, and you'll see them used well.
Demolition Man shows what would happen if the politics will went to far with it.Anyway I love this film, I grew up with Demolition Man, beside Cliffhanger is my second best favorite action Stallone movie!!!
The film was released in the United States on October 8, 1993.Demolition Man is a 1993 science-fiction action film starring Sylvester Stallone as John Spartan, a Los Angeles cop with a reputation for destruction who in the then future year of 1996 is found guilty of a crime he didn't commit and is subsequently sentenced to be frozen in a cryogenic prison along with his nemesis Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes).
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.Demolition Man is one of the funniest, most action-packed and most poignant social satires of at least the last 30 years.
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.The opening scene feels like a typical late 1980s/early 1990s action sequence.
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.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.
Don't take it seriously and it's a fun ride.Wesley Snipes and Sly Stallone play off each other well as the forces of bad and good -- old foes that have come out of chryo-generic storage hundreds of years into the future.Sandra Bullock as the nostalgia [for Stallone's time, naturally] struck cop isn't even rubbish and annoying -- a first time for everything!Watch out for a fun performance by Nigel Hawthorne also..
The opening action scene is set in the present day and is a rip roaring sequence with Stallone polishing off bad guys with stylish flair, before he has a face off with the show stealer Wesley Snipes.
When Simon Pheonix escapes into a new world in the year 2032, the police have no way of dealing with such a vicious arch-criminal so they re-animate John Sparton, and so it begins.I simply love the way the future is portrayed in this film, it is a wonderfully satirical crime free environment where the humans have become ultra-placid geeks under the new regime.
Sandra Bullock and Nigel Hawthorne are the two main police-persons that we see and they are brilliantly funny in their performances.Demolition man is as funny as it is action packed and although it's pretty shallow, it is still great fun to watch.7/10.
As the baddie, Snipes, hair dyed the color of an upset stomach, gives a performance of operatic schlockiness, laughing in the face ofeverything.Demolition Man is as much a piece of cheese as the grade-B sci-fi movies of the '50s, which also satirized, with a kind of touching literal- mindedness, the brainy emasculation of the future.
As John Spartan, a 20th century policeman frozen in a cryogenic prison and then thawed to pursue his nemesis Simon Phoenix (played by an effusive Wesley Snipes),Sly gives an understated and enjoyable performance as a violent "fish out of water".
I can't for the life of me believe that any fan of the dumb action popcorn picture could not have enjoyed this tremendously fun, violent, and furious film.It's 1996 and L.A. is in chaos, Sly Stallone is tough bastard cop John Spartan, a cop who is known as The Demolition Man because he does what it takes to take the bad guys down.
Lenkov and Robert Reneau have created, but in amongst the jokes is a very cute social commentary that may have been missed by the arty farty set, so although the film serves purely as a one date no brainer offering, it still can proudly lay claim to being one of the best that the genre had to offer not only 1993 (a good year for action movies), but also the whole decade.Leave the brain at the door, turn all the speakers up, and enjoy the ride.
Typical Performances By All. Boy, Sylvester Stallone made a lot of money for awhile there making some dumb action-packed films...but, generally-speaking, they were fun to watch so I guess he himself is no dummy.The dialog is the movie is dumb, I can tell you that.
There are also precious few nice characters to root for, including the annoying Sandra Bullock, an actress who consistently made stupid movies herself.In here, witness the typical: Stallone showing of his body; Snipes being the fast- talking profane "hip" bad guy and Bullock, who only knows how to say OMG and nothing else.There are some nice special-effects in here making it pretty high-tech in spots.
And its funny, all-round way more entertaining than I thought it would be.Sure it has moments where its just your average action movie but it never takes itself too seriously and is bolstered by a strong performance from Sylvester Stallone -who I find usually struggles with the comedy roles but he does a great job here as John Spartan aka The "Demolition man." Wesley Snipes also must have had a ton of fun playing bad guy Simon Pheonix as he basically steals the show.Stallone as Spartan is one of LAPD's most notorious cops and the opening sequence sees him wrongly blamed for the death of several hostages while in pursuit of the crazed Phoenix (Snipes).
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.Stallone does an excellent job as over the top old school police cop in a very soft future.
Just like a lot of other Stallone movies, this one is underrated and just goes to show how much critics (and the razzies) under-appreciate Stallone and just shows that they aren't afraid to say "Hey, where assholes." Demolition Man is one of the best action films I've seen in my life because it has a great balance of satire like Robocop and a good amount of action.
When John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) utters that line about half way through this film, it really symbolizes (unfortunately) the kind of tone "Demolition Man" takes.For a brief plot synopsis, "Demolition Man" begins in Los Angeles circa 1996, where policeman John Spartan is trying to corral wacko criminal Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes).
Unfortunately, the entire film was played for purely "camp", thus leading to groan-inducing one-liners, characters that start off interesting and quickly turn one-dimensional, and a plot that kind of meanders around without ever really delving into the interesting issues (what cryostasis is like, how the future became what it is like, morality, etc.).Don't get me wrong...this is a fun little movie to watch.
The movie begins in the year 1996, where John Spartan, (Sylvester Stallone), (who is nicknamed the "Demolition Man".), is being sent in a burning building to arrest and apprehend a notorious criminal mastermind named Simon Phoenix, (Wesley Spines).
I think she also creates some of the film's humor when she is working with Stallone.The action in Demolition Man borders on cartoon violence, especially when Stallone and Snipes battle each other off in a museum and at the end of the movie.
The supporting cast plays it straight (with the exception of Sandra Bullock, who is part of the joke which underlies this flick).The movie is set in the near-future world where profanity is illegal, along with salt, meat, tobacco and anything that is "bad for you".
Anyhow, I digress Here's a short summary before I let you know what I really think (summary haters, the next paragraph really isn't for you trust me, you won't like it).The year is 1996 and after cop, John Spartan, destroys yet another building while pursuing psychopath Simon Phoenix, he is sent to be cryogenically frozen along with his prisoner.
Unfortunately, the Demolition Man lives up to his reputation and there is much more mayhem in the offing for the seemingly hapless police force.I really love the humour in this film, Wesley Snipes over-the-top performance and Stallone's stone-faced delivery are really enjoyable to watch.
In fact, really good performances all round, particularly from; Sylvester Stallone as John Spartan, Wesley Snipes as Simon Phoenix and Sandra Bullock as Lenina Huxley.
Snipes is good as a bad guy but i more liked when he is Blade...but hey...!!:)...Stallone in this film is hard guy but very funny..!!!
Sylvester Stallone plays John Spartan, aka "Demolition Man", a take-no-prisoners cop who is cryogenically frozen and then thawed when wacko terrorist Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) escapes from his prison and wrecks all manner of havoc.
It's up to Spartan, with some support from female futuristic cop Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock, way before her big role in 1996's SPEED), to fight Phoenix off the "old" Mano-a-Mano way, gun-play and numerous explosions all in.DEMOLITION MAN also co-stars Nigel Hawthorne as Dr. Cocteau, the man who discovered and developed the nearly-perfect paradise and Dennis Leary plays an underground rebel ala Robin Hood who believes the all-too-perfect paradise is too off-whacked.
It's really one of my favorite action flick.from the memorable characters, to the great performances, to the great pacing, and the humor in the film to make this an enjoyable film.The film starts in 1996 officer John Spartan is on a hunt to catch criminal Simon Phoenix.Spartan evenutally catches him, but is arrested when police officers find out that hostages where in a burning building and John takes the blame for their deaths.John is sentenced to be frozen in prison for about 60 years for his crime.Now, 36 years have passed the world has changed from crimes to the environment and etc.Now, Simon Phoenix is having a parole hearing but evenutally frees himself and kills a couple of guards and a doctor.Phoenix also realizes that he has changed and wonders how.he is more stronger, more smarter, and more violent.realizing that the police don't stand a chance against him.they decided to realize John Spartan since he was the only person that ever stopped phoenix.Spartan is now back being a cop and fights phoenix in a museum where guns only exist.John finally discovers that phoenix was relased because to kill someone and john has no choice but stop phoenix despite the fact he is much stronger than him but he isn't alone since he has help from fellow officer Lt. Lenina Huxley.Overall, the one problem of this film is that the film is straight-forward and mediocre.really no plot holes in this film.From phoenix being realized to being stronger and it's obivious that john spartan is gonig to fight phoenix and defeat him in the end so really this film has really no surprises.as for character development, it's decent.John spartan is the overall, tough-guy "I Don't give a damn" personality.but he has sympathy for others.
This movie I think is underrated for the simple fact that it poses as your standard run-of-the-mill action flick, it has two of the biggest action stars playing opposite against each other and looks to be another mindless silly blockbuster film.The great thing about this film is that it is disguised like that but it is actually very clever, it has an almost to the T look at the future (Schwarzenegger, Taco Bell, the people living in the sewers etc.)The film is also quite funny, Sandra Bullock is extremely cute in this, Sly Stallone actually plays his character well & Wesley Snipes is a riot.
DEMOLITION MAN is a sci-fi comedy so hilarious that it compensates for the brain-dead action sequences mandatory in any Stallone movie.John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) is your stereotypical super-cop who is sent into the burning war zone of 1999 Los Angeles (OK, so the movie got dated a bit quickly), where he must rescue some hostages taken by mad criminal Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes).
This is by far the best film that ever starred Stallone and Snipes, and together they deliver in this masterpiece of futuristic sci-fi action thriller.
I wouldn't watch it right away again- it's something that you'll maybe catch on video once, maybe in part again if you really feel like it late at night on a cable channel- but for its running time it's enjoyable as a half red-meat-headed action movie and as self-knowing parody/satire.It's about a cop and a big-time criminal who are already facing off in 1996 (yes, apparently it's already turning into the future, um, three years into the future taking this as set in 1993), and then after a big blunder where Stallone's cop is unable to save a load of hostages that Snipes offs, the two of them are cryogenically frozen (Stallone for letting those people die, Snipes for being a, uh, big-time gangster who is about as evil as possible within his means) and brought back to life decades later.
There are also no guns, which brings about one of the most fun sequences in the movie where Snipes has to go to a museum to crack open the cases to use weaponry as all firearms are outlawed.We get some amusing and cool side characters: Sandra Bullock, in one of her early performances, is the 20th century loving cop who takes a big liking to Stallone even though he can't seem to understand why music is all old-school commercials and that a kiss is met with a "eww".
What we get is two action stars, one just entering his prime while this remains one of the other's few recent films of any worth, engaged in a typical cop vs bad guy movie, but one that doesn't ignore everything else in favour of these two characters.Much of the credit for this lies with Sandra Bullock.
The final fight is pretty off key as well and doesn't really do the tension Stallone and Snipes generate much justice, although it does involve some pretty nifty effects given the year this was made.However, all in all Demolition Man is something of a gem of an action movie, involving a clever premise intelligently handled and with some great lines delivered by actors who are on form.
It doesn't dip much and is a very satisfying couple of hours, complete with all the prerequisites of a futuristic action movie (guns, explosions, love interest and so forth), with a lot more than I was expecting having just watched it again for the first time in years (such as great lines, good acting and excellent pacing).
Cheesy Dumb Fun. Mellow greetings citizen,Demolition Man is a 1993 film about police officer John Spartan, played by Sylvester Stallone, pursuing criminal psychopath Simon Phoenix, played by Wesley Snipes.
The action scenes are also sufficiently well-directed though there is not any particularly mind-blowing or impressive choreography.Final thoughts: Demolition Man is at its strongest not when Stallone and Snipes are fighting it out, but when they are apart and simply interacting with the future world and its people.
I know The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day are two of the best futuristic action science fiction films and they are good movies I like them so much.
Sly Stallone stars here as John Spartan, a hard-charging, take-no-prisoners cop in 1996 who apprehends master criminal Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), only to be charged with manslaughter when it's believed that Spartans' actions caused the death of about 30 hostages.
Wesley Snipes best role and Stallone is not bad either.Really funny and some nice lines LikeI've been dreaming about Killing You for 20 years then keep on dreaming.A Great Film..
Demolition Man is a good, solid action movie with some good action, and even some good humour (the scene where Spartan (Stallone) keeps swearing at the machine on the wall to get some toilet paper), but the plot is average.Wesley Snipes plays Simon Phoenix, a 20th Century criminal that is arrested by John Spartan (Stallone) for kidnapping and murdering (Spartan doesn't know this) 30 bus passengers.
Plenty of action scenes follow, with the Demolition Man John Spartan using his violent methods to try and catch Phoenix.The supporting cast is excellent with a sexy young Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne (Yes, Prime Minister), Benjamin Bratt and Denis Leary.If you liked Die Hard and Terminator 2, you'll love this.
A little more action might not have gone amiss, but as a movie Demolition Man was great to watch, and a good film.
I love this film, in the way it can be funny (particularly the violation machines giving out tickets to people who cuss or curse) have good action sequences, and have characters who u can care about: Sandra Bullock, was hilarious, Wesely Snipes seems right at home as the badguy, and Sly is pretty hilarious too, I just love those one-liners.