MOVIE REVIEW: Demolition Man (1993)

<<Due to then subject matter and ideas brought up by one of my favorite films, this is going to be a LONG one. ALSO: SPOILERS AHEAD.>>

In 1993, there was a distinct lack of movies that I want to see because they were recommended to me for all of the wrong reasons — chiefly because of the color of my skin. Representation becomes very problematic when it becomes a gut check as to whether you can exist in your community or not. It pains me to see Black people accusing each other of being “sell-outs “because they can’t buy Black merch, while wealthy Whites can crow their bona fides on “how much Blacker they are” than a Black person based on how often they’ve been to Africa or how often they’ve purchased Black-created products or experienced Black-coded events and Black people say nothing; there was an entire movie called Bamboozled [2000] about how that doesn’t make sense. Such liberally ignorant behavior based on racially constructed financial lines produces a distinct class of haves and have-nots, which can have a significant backlash. Nowhere is this more clear than one of my favorite science fiction movies from 1993, Demolition Man.

In the far-off dystopia nightmare future of 1996, the criminal war zone of Los Angeles is under siege by the LAPD. Several citizens have been kidnapped and held hostage in an abandoned building by a heavily armed gang, led by the mad sociopath Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes, Gallowwalkers [2013], Chi-Raq [2015]). The rank and file LAPD units have failed to break the line, so they send in their special antipersonnel agent: Sgt. John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone, Rambo: First Blood Part II [1985], “Tulsa King” [TV-Paramount+]), nicknamed the “Demolition Man” for his reckless tactics to apprehend his man — which usually result in significant property damage and lawsuit payouts. When he finally captures Phoenix (after beating him up and blowing up the building with all goons inside), he presents the criminal to his superior. The on-site police captain (Steve Kahan, Lethal Weapon [1987], Timeline [2003]) asks about the hostages, but Spartan swears he did a thermal scan — only he and his gang were in the building. When the fire department called to put out the fires finds the bodies of the hostages in the rubble, Spartan is tried and found guilty. He is sent to a experimental punishment facility: a cryogenic prison. There they would freeze his body and stimulate his mind to become a contributing and law-abiding member of society once his 75-year sentence was up. During his term in the cryo-prison, the world Spartan knew disappeared and was replaced with something anathema to the 90’s: a fascist world dominated by political correctness.

The disgraced Spartan is revived in 2032 — halfway through his term — in a city called San Angeles, a mash-up of several Southern California cities that survived the prophesied earthquake called the “Big One”. He is reinstated by police Chief Earle (character actor Bob Gunton, Bats [1999], Born on the Fourth of July [1989]) due to his particular skills set in apprehending a returning threat to public order: Simon Phoenix, now mysteriously smarter and stronger than when he went in. Not only was he tasked with Phoenix’s capture, he would also have a partner: Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock, The Net [1995], Bird Box [2018]), a policewoman who craves the overstimulation and regressive nature of the 20th century in comparison to her own time. What follows is an amazing comedy of errors and culture shock, wrapped up in an action/sci-fi movie that barely grazes the surface of class warfare and beginnings of societal collapse.

To put the world of Demolition Man into perspective, consider the world had changed so much to counter the inhumanity after the mega-earthquake called “the Big One” that a petty dictator — Dr. Raymond Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne, Tarzan [1999], Watership Down [1978]) — came into power on a message of removing things that he believed made the world a bad place. By doing so, he removed:

• Freedom of artistic expression and direct speech (banning the use of curse words are enforced via Verbal Morality Statute, the only music on the radio is cheezy old commercials)
• Freedom of bodily control (required breeding licenses, acceptable forms of physical contact, controlled nutrition intake, etc.)
• Freedom of information and personal decision (prescribed clothing options, lack of voting options, controlled information intake)
• Freedom of faith, religion, or creed (religion is not mentioned)
• Freedom of movement (every person in San Angeles has a location tracker physically implanted in their body)

In return, Dr. Cocteau gave the people of San Angeles a sanitized version of society — an obnoxiously inoffensive and inauthentic one — where one can expect:

• free health-care (you can get mental health support for free at street kiosks)
• sustainable living wages
• environmentally clean energy (in the form of “capacitance gel”-powered vehicles that work like a battery)
• no school shootings or extra-judicial killings (cops use stun batons, and “the only place where you can even view a gun is at a museum”)
• a clean, crime-free environment to raise children (where applicable for a breeding license).

Because more people value keeping their freedoms over satisfying their needs, we have the scavenging underclass creatively called the “Scavvs”, led by Edgar Friendly (comedian Denis Leary, The Amazing Spider-Man [2012], No Cure for Cancer [comedy special, 1992]). They live underground in the covered over remnants of LA after the Big One, coming to the surface to raid for foodstuffs or make political statements through vandalism. They were cut away from the things that would keep them healthy because they would not compromise on their freedoms by Cocteau. As a result they are one of the driving forces of instability in San Angeles, which plays into preserving Cocteau’s power. To keep this kimono-ed kakistocracy going, Cocteau uses the fear of the unwashed “other” instilled in his populace. This fearful thinking is ultimately what led to Cocteau’s demise: he thought thawing Simon Phoenix — a multiple murder-death-killer — to assassinate someone who simply disagrees with him was a good idea.

The very existence of Dr. Cocteau as ineffective administrator turned dictator in all but name brings to mind the Schwarzenegger presidential library; most might think I’m talking about Arnie’s record as governor of California in the early 2000s as some sort of political dig, but let me make my point. The introduction of a special amendment to the US Constitution, Lenina Huxley informs both John Spartan and the viewers, allowed actor Arnold Schwarzenegger became president. This means there is a greater United States government remaining outside of San Angeles. There’s no indication the city is on an island or so physically isolated that the government can’t investigate or stop the oppression of this particular American population…so did the US government of 2032 write off San Angeles after the Big One? Is Cocteau attempting this coup to steal territory from the United States? Is it just plot holes from bad writing?
Because of all these stimulating questions regarding plot holes, futuristic speculation of things to come (and have come to pass), amazing production design, and wonderful physicality and line deliveries by the two leads in a star-studded cast, Demolition Man consistently remains one of my favorite sci-fi films.

CHOICE CUTS

• We need to talk about equating Eastern culture exoticism with images of the future. I understand that the Western world was very afraid of East Asian companies taking over the auto industry in the 70s and 80s, manifesting in a sloppy “Oriental” paint job on every science fiction project (Blade Runner, the Alien films, etc.) This also resulted in nearly every token Asian role as glowering males and sexualized females (in non-speaking roles, naturally) and crowds of diminutive people speaking in a jabber…but surely we could have moved past this by the 90’s? Also: if anyone knows the name of the young Asian female extra who served Cocteau his tea, let us all know. Hell, if you ARE that extra, that’d be cool too! Tell us what’s been going on with you; we’d love to hear it.

• CAMEOS: Bill Cobbs (I Still Know What You Did Last Summer [1998]), Rob Schneider (Deuce Bigalow Male Gigolo [1999]), and Troy Evans (the Lawnmower Man [1992], Near Dark [1987]) all make appearances as officers in the San Angeles Police Department.
• Shout out to Benjamin Bratt (“Andor” [TV-Disney+], Blood In Blood Out [1993]) as Officer Alfredo Garcia, and Glenn Shadix (Beetlejuice [1988], “Hercules the Legendary Journeys” [TV-syndicated]) as Associate Bob for being amazing in every scene they’re in.
• CAMEOS: Jack Black (A Minecraft Movie [2025], Orange County [2002], Mars Attacks [1996]) plays a Scavv in one of his earliest roles, while future Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura (Predator [1986], Major League II [1994]) plays an escaped cryo-criminal in Simon Phoenix’s gang.
• PRICELESS QUOTE: “Hurting people’s not a good thing…well sometimes it is, but not when it against people trying to get something to eat!” — John Spartan, after fighting off hungry Scavv raiders who hit up a Taco Bell/Pizza Hut truck when the surface San Angelenos would celebrate him for what they lambasted him for minutes earlier.
• CAMEO: MTV was trying to make their hosts into big stars in the 90s. Dan Cortese — the first host of MTV Sports — played two roles: the piano player at the Taco Bell/Pizza Hut, and a scientist at the cryo-prison.
• We need to talk about the alpha-wave transfer headset scene. The idea that sex does not need to be a physical experience to be satisfying is a novel concept, brought low by the contemporary need for physical sensation. I found the reasoning for the rise of the tech to be sensible: so many communicable diseases came about in the intervening decades when Spartan was frozen, that it all seemed common sense precaution (especially in light of our own pandemic experiences). Given the prevalence of people today who need the sexual release but are denied due to physical disability, there’s a place for this technology yet.

• PRICELESS QUOTES: Anything the automatic Verbal Morality Statute demerit dispenser says.
• PRICELESS QUOTE: “Is that what you call this?” — John Spartan, fully disappointed he would not be doing the horizontal mambo.
• The idea that the last known murder took place a full decade before the events of the future is WILD. Either that, or the San Angeles PD subscribes to social cues so tightly they miss obvious clues to murder in the present day.
• I keep making notation about the restaurant that survived the Franchise Wars — Taco Bell/Pizza Hut — because both were owned by PepsiCo when the film was released, not because it was a combination restaurant. Taco Bell was the Franchise Wars winner in the US theatrical cut of Demolition Man, while Pizza Hut was the winner in foreign markets. A small amount of the restaurant scene footage was dubbed with a different name and shot with different logos (see below), which makes the idea of waiters dressed as mariachis serving small triangular slices with Tex-Mex toppings at Pizza Hut a very weird thing.

• In the film Arnold Schwarzenegger was allowed to become president of the United States, thanks to the introduction of a fictional 61st Amendment; currently we are on our 27th amendment (with 6 more waiting to be decided upon), and the only thing close to letting Arnie — a naturalized citizen since 1983—be the US president was the rejected Equal Opportunity to Govern Amendment proposed in 2003.
• People of color like Zachary Lamb, Alfredo Garcia, the Asian lady that serves Cocteau his tea, and the black cop that fights Simon Phoenix all got to live on the surface while the majority of people of color are below ground. In either San Angeles community, there are no people of color holding leadership positions. Unless something else happened in the 35 years when Spartan was frozen, the fact there are no leaders of color in California has to be the most fanciful element of the film.
• He ate the hell outta that rat-burger tho’.