Critique: Film> Reviews.

"Look... everyone needs to take a walk to the dark end of the street sometimes, it's what we are."

-- Nero (Ralph Fiennes)

Written by James Cameron and directed by his ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow, Strange Days is a cyberpunk film set just before the year 2000. Former vice-cop Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) sells "SQUID" recordings on the underground circuit. Basically, these are full-sensory pieces of human memory on MiniDiscs that capture other people's emotional experiences, and act as a "fix" to the people that are curious or missing something in their lives. Nero is in a state of unhappiness after breaking up with girlfriend Faith (Juliette Lewis) and repeatedly relives their happier (and most erotic) times together via the box of tapes in his apartment.

While strictly only choosing to deal in soft-core porn imagery, Nero soon finds himself in the possession of a snuff disc, which shows the murder of Jeriko One -- a Hip-Hop artist that has been heralded as the next Messiah. Aided by his friend, Mace (Angela Bassett), Lenny attempts to stop the killer's tracks before all hell breaks lose on the streets of Los Angeles prior to the new millennium.

While Strange Days is incredibly cheesy and over-the-top in places, this sort of adds to its charm. Rather than expecting the viewer to cower in fear at the prospect of the world coming to an end in Y2K (well we couldn't now anyway, seen as though the millennium has passed), the film relies on action and wit to drive the plot forward. The issue of virtual reality being so real that you don’t know what reality is anymore is such an intriguing concept, but rather than attempting to lecture us on the dangers of a technological over reliance, Strange Days does what it can to keep the audience entertained.

Director Kathryn Bigelow and the special-effects artists create a Blade Runner-type city that makes us feel like we really want to be part of the action; while cinematographer Matthew F. Leonetti's first-person photography of the "SQUID" recordings is, arguably, the strongest point of the film.

The characters are great: Ralph Fiennes is the insecure protagonist, Angela Bassett the kick-ass sidekick, Michael Wincott the psychopathic music producer, Juliette Lewis the very hot rock chick (who also contributed to the film's soundtrack), and Tom Sizemore is Lenny’s best friend.

A couple of things about Strange Days irritated me: Nero's unrestrained obsession with his former girlfriend, and the overlong running time. At two hours twenty-five mins, the latter may not sound particularly exhausting, but the film could've been wrapped up well before it got to that point, and this was mainly due to Nero's over-emphasized obsession. I mean, we get that Nero misses his ex, but there's no need to go on about it so much.

It's an annoying feature of the film, but one that fortunately doesn't suppress the intriguing concept of seeing the world through other people's eyes. As with most films like this, it isn't about the logic of what could happen if technology gets into the wrong hands; rather, it is about humanity's limitless imagination taking us places that isn't always physically possible.

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.