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It's the year 2032, and Los Angeles, now called San Angeles, is free from violent crimes and sexual contact between human beings. In fact, anything that you would deem a risk to human health at this point in time -- alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, spicy foods, etc. -- has been eliminated from society. It's a characterless, law-abiding world.

Enter John Spartan (Stallone) -- the "Demolition Man" -- and his blonde-haired arch enemy, Simon Phoenix (Snipes), to reap havoc -- '90s style!

In retrospect, they're the perfect men for the job. Spartan accidentally killed thirty hostages by blowing up a building when pursuing violent psychopath Phoenix in 1996. Phoenix was imprisoned for his crimes, but has escaped forty years later and is attempting to overhaul the new world order with his violent methods -- mainly for his own amusement. Spartan is awoken soon after by the SAPD from his cryogenically-frozen sleep as they have no clue how to deal with this threat on their own. "Send a manic to catch a maniac" is the film's philosophy of violence, resulting in plenty of action for the moviegoer.

One of my favourite scenes in Demolition Man involves Snipes' character breaking into the "gun exhibition" in the local museum. A hapless museum worker comes along and asks "What seems to be his boggle?", resulting in him being thrown through the glass of the weapons store and Phoenix then going apeshit with classic pistols and shotguns from the '90s, as well as a more-recent phaser gun. Stallone's character soon gets in on the action and ends up walloping Phoenix with a 14 " portable TV in retaliation (the full works -- no flat screen here), quickly following up with the pun "You're on TV" to humiliate his enemy further. I couldn't help but laugh.

Demolition Man is loud and funny, and, perhaps more surprisingly, thought-provocative. The envisioned future has been built upon the ideas from such films as Total Recall and Woody Allen's Sleeper -- the underground resistance/having sex through electronic equipment -- and the majority of society is seen to have become politically correct, overtaken by corporate food chains such as Taco Bell, which has resulted in the people being mindless drones with nothing to excite them (I can see that happening already).

Prompted to think that little bit deeper about Demolition Man, beyond all the senseless violence caused by Stallone and Snipes, doesn't always work in the movie's favour, however. We begin to see various plot holes. Why, for example, would a dangerous criminal be put into a cryogenic chamber to be preserved for the future? Why would a good-guy cop be given the same sentence as the same lying criminal? And why is Phoenix then given parole before Spartan to wreck havoc once again? These things just don't add up.

If this was just another one of Stallone's mindless action flicks then it would perhaps be easy to oversee such things. But given that this was marketed as a Science-Fiction movie, also, one notices its implausibilities. Demolition Man tries to be smart but mostly fails.

Primarily, this is a film about Stallone and Snipes bringing as much chaos to the new world order as they can. Sly is great as the snarling, no-nonsense cop: When he throws his punches you can really feel the force of them connecting with his enemies. Snipes looks ridiculous with his blonde hair and baggy striped trousers, but is hilarious and brings a good amount of energy to every scene he is in. Even Sandra Bullock as Stallone's sidekick is reasonably funny as she attempts to recycle the cliché punch lines seen in her favourite action films of the 1990s.

In conclusion, Demolition Man has plenty of action, special effects and humour -- it ranks high on entertainment value. If you're looking for an intelligent Sci-Fi film, however, you'd probably be better off looking elsewhere.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.