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Demolition Man (film)

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Demolition Man
Theatrical release poster
Directed byMarco Brambilla
Written byStory:
Peter M. Lenkov
Robert Reneau
Screenplay:
Daniel Waters
Robert Reneau
Peter M. Lenkov
Produced byJoel Silver
Howard Kazanjian
StarringSylvester Stallone
Wesley Snipes
Sandra Bullock
Nigel Hawthorne
Denis Leary
Glen Shadix
CinematographyAlex Thomson
Edited byStuart Baird
Music byElliot Goldenthal
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
United States:
October 8, 1993
United Kingdom:
November 12, 1993
Australia:
December 2, 1993
Running time
115 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Demolition Man is a 1993 American dystopian action film directed by Marco Brambilla, and starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne and Denis Leary.

The film is a story about two men, one an evil crime lord and the other a risk-taking police officer, who are cryogenically frozen in the year 1996 and reawakened to face each other in 2032, by which point Los Angeles, now called San Angeles, has become part of a planned city where violence has been outlawed. Some aspects of the film allude to Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel, Brave New World.[citation needed]

Demolition Man grossed $58,055,768 by the end of its box office run in North America.[1]

Synopsis

File:DemolitionMansnipesstallone.jpg
Simon Phoenix faces John Spartan in 2032.

In 1996, Los Angeles has descended into chaos, with criminals ruling over sections of the city as warlords. The most dangerous of these warlords is Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), who has recently kidnapped 30 people after their city bus violated his territory. As the L.A.P.D. lay siege to Phoenix's hideout, Sgt. John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone) aka "The Demolition Man", who has been chasing Phoenix for two years, rappels in from a helicopter piloted by younger LAPD officer Zachary Lamb, against orders. After killing or beating up several members of Phoenix's gang, Spartan holds Phoenix at gunpoint and demands to know the location of the hostages. Phoenix simply says the hostages are "gone" and begins setting off explosives throughout the building. Spartan subdues Phoenix and escapes the building with him, just as a final series of explosions causes it to collapse. Outside, Spartan is berated by his superiors for going in against orders, destroying another building (the origin of his nickname) and placing the hostages at risk. Spartan insists he took a heat signature scan of the building before he went in and only found enough people to be Phoenix's gang members. However, the fire chief approaches them and says he has found 30 bodies in the wreckage; Phoenix, as he is being led away, lies that Spartan knew they were there but didn't care. Spartan is arrested for involuntary manslaughter (it is later revealed that the bus passengers were dead before the explosion, something the coroners at the time somehow didn't notice).

After their respective trials, Phoenix and Spartan are incarcerated in a "CryoPrison", which keeps its prisoners cryogenically frozen in suspended animation. During a parole hearing in 2032, Phoenix escapes and soon thereafter embarks on a reign of terror throughout the city of San Angeles, a megalopolis formed from the cities San Diego, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara that merged after a big earthquake in 2010. As the city has long since become a utopia, police officers are helpless against Phoenix (one cop actually says, "We're police officers--we're not prepared to handle this kind of violence!"). Spartan, who had been sentenced to 70 years (set to be released in the year 2066; eligible for parole no earlier or later than the year 2046), is therefore paroled early from the cryoprison for the purpose of apprehending Phoenix. Though the Chief of Police initially expresses outrage at the thought of paroling a "muscle bound grotesque" (his description of Spartan), he is ultimately convinced by the now-elderly and wise Officer Lamb's argument ("Simon Phoenix is an old fashioned criminal. We need an old fashioned cop."). Upon his release, the blue collar, anti-authority Spartan immediately finds himself out of place in the wholesome, G-rated future. Nonetheless, he is treated like a hero by many of his fellow officers, who admire his "no nonsense" attitude.

As he searches for Phoenix, Spartan discovers that the mayor/governor of San Angeles, Dr. Raymond Cocteau, engineered the escape of Simon Phoenix in order to have him kill Edgar Friendly, leader of an underground resistance movement at odds with Cocteau's totalitarian government. To this end, Phoenix was given extensive training while in cryostasis, including computer hacking and paramilitary skills. Friendly's resistance movement, dubbed "The Scraps", is made up of homeless people and refugees living on the margin of society in the underground ruins of the old city, periodically raiding the surface for food. Unfortunately for Cocteau, he did not anticipate that the SAPD would revive Spartan in order to try to stop Phoenix. He also underestimated Phoenix's criminal genius, much as Spartan had; Phoenix was conditioned in cryostasis not to kill Cocteau, but eventually he simply directs another revived criminal to do so. Phoenix then takes control of the CryoPrison, planning to revive all the violent criminals in the facility to create an elite street gang and form a new base of power.

Spartan and his partner, Lieutenant Lenina Huxley (Bullock), attempt to stop Phoenix from rebuilding his criminal empire in a San Angeles ill-equipped to resist it. Spartan tracks down Phoenix in the Cryoprison and, after an epic final confrontation, finally kills him by freezing and then decapitating him, destroying the CryoPrison in the process. With Cocteau dead, the city is in disarray as Cocteau's plans for a dull, autocratic utopia rest in his grave, but things won't be as boring from now on.

Setting

The film depicts a future society in which crime and violence are rare and seen as remnants of the 20th century.

Hints are dropped throughout the movie that the United States underwent a period of anarchy before it was stabilized. In particular, Taco Bell is the only restaurant available, because it won the "Franchise Wars". In some versions in Europe and the Arab World this was changed to Pizza Hut, another PepsiCo (now Yum! Brands) franchise. In some television edits, the restaurant name was removed altogether. [citation needed]

Several distinctive euphemisms and neologisms are used in the film: homicide is referred to as a "non-sanctioned life termination" and as "Murder Death Kill" or "MDK". A homicide has not taken place in 22 years, and the police are initially confused when the reports come in, having forgotten the code. In addition, even the mildest profanity is a violation of the Verbal Morality Statute, and punishable by police reprimand or a fine of one half to one credit per violation, which is automatically deducted from a citizen's finances. The perpetrator is dispensed a ticket by a machine. Perhaps to suggest the infantilisation of the 21st-century population, the favorite songs of the time are old 20th-century children's commercial jingles and many words have gained redundant, childish repetitions: to be happy is to experience "joy-joy" feelings, the policemen's stun batons are referred to as "baton-tons"; Edgar Friendly acknowledges, perhaps ironically, that Spartan has "ball-balls".

It is explained that anything deemed "bad for you" is now illegal, including alcohol, caffeine, contact sports, non-educational toys, meat, spicy and unhealthy food, table salt and tobacco. Firearms can only be seen in museums. Physical contact was recognized as causing the spread of disease and is now seen as unusual. "Sex" is no longer a physical act for the same reasons, and even kissing is not condoned. Instead, "Vir-Sex" is performed by using sex simulators worn on the participants' heads to replace physical intercourse. Procreation is carried out in a laboratory; abortion is illegal, but so is unlicensed pregnancy. Toilet paper has been replaced by a set of seashell-like items, though their method of use is left unexplained in the movie (though Stallone later revealed said method in an interview as told to him by one of the film's writers[2]).

Props

Filming locations for Demolition Man

The new Los Angeles Convention Center is used in an establishing shot, with superimposed matting of futuristic buildings composited in the background. The Pacific Design Center, in West Hollywood is used for the exterior shot of Lenina Huxley's apartment building.

The Police Station in the background the first time Stallone goes outside as an officer is The Baxter building in Westlake Village, CA.

More filming locations can be seen here[3]

Cast

Sandra Bullock's character's name 'Lenina Huxley' is a reference to 'Aldous Huxley', the author of the Dystopian novel Brave New World, and 'Lenina Crowne', a character in Brave New World.[4]

Jack Black played one of the "Wasteland Scraps" in the underground scene, who flinches when Spartan shoves the gun out of his face and says "And Cocteau's an asshole!" [citation needed]

Jesse Ventura, former WWE wrestler and later Governor of Minnesota, played one of Simon Phoenix's Cryocon allies.[citation needed]

An uncredited Rob Schneider played Erwin, one of the operators in the San Angeles Police control room; he would also play opposite Stallone in the 1995 movie Judge Dredd.[citation needed]

Sandra Bullock replaced original actress Lori Petty in the role of Lt Lenina Huxley after a few days filming.[citation needed]

Then-football player Bill Goldberg, who would later become a famous professional wrestling superstar, appears in the film in a cameo[citation needed].

John Spartan is seen, at one point in the movie, protecting an unknown female Scrap from Phoenix and his revived gang. Going by the novelization, this is likely his daughter (now the same age he is), who was mentioned several times in passing but never actually seen in the movie. In the novel, she reintroduced herself to her father moments before Phoenix's attack occurred. This would suggest that the scenes featuring her were filmed, but subsequently cut from the film.

Soundtrack

Main article: Demolition Man (soundtrack)

The theme song to the film is titled "Demolition Man" and is played over the end credits. It is a remix (heavier version) of the song originally written by Sting and recorded during his time as frontman for The Police. The song was first released in 1981, as the fifth track on the band's fourth album, Ghost in the Machine. Sting released an EP featuring this song and other live tracks, entitled Demolition Man.

Acclaimed composer Elliot Goldenthal composed the score for the film; it was his second big Hollywood project after the Alien³ score.

Game adaptations

Main article: Demolition Man (video game)

Virgin Interactive released Demolition Man on various home video game systems. The 16-bit versions were distributed by Acclaim. The 3DO version of the game was a first-person shooter that incorporated Full Motion Video scenes, with both Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes reprising their roles as their characters.

In April 1994, Williams released a widebody pinball game, Demolition Man (based on the movie). It is designed by Dennis Nordman. This game features sound clips from the movie, as well as original speech by Stallone and Snipes. This game was part of WMS' SuperPin series (Twilight Zone, Indiana Jones, etc.).

References

  1. ^ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/business
  2. ^ http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30865
  3. ^ "Demolition Man (1993) - Filming locations". Imdb.com. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
  4. ^ James, Caryn (1993-10-24). "FILM VIEW; 'Demolition Man' Makes Recycling an Art - The". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-03-09.
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