Demolition Man (film)

Demolition Man is a 1993 American action film. It was directed by Marco Brambilla, written by Peter M. Lenkov, Robert Reneau and Daniel Waters, and produced by Joel Silver and Howard Kazanjian. It stars 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 cryonically 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. Some aspects of the movie allude to Aldous Huxley's dystopian novel, Brave New World.

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

Synopsis

In an alternate 1996, Los Angeles has descended into anarchy, 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, against orders. After defeating 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, also says Spartan knew they were there but didn't care. Spartan is arrested for involuntary manslaughter.

After their respective trials, Phoenix and Spartan are incarcerated in a "cryoprison", which keeps its prisoners cryonically 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 (the cities of San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco having merged after the big earthquake of 2012). As the city has long since become a utopia, police officers no longer know how to deal with violent criminals. Spartan, who had been sentenced to 70 years, is therefore paroled early from the cryoprison for the purpose of apprehending Phoenix.

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 facist-like system of 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, and later sweetheart, 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 their planned city is unprepared for a more chaotic future. Spartan advises that the police chief and the surface dwellers get "a little dirtier" while Friendly and the Scraps get "a lot cleaner", and promises "somewhere in the middle... you'll figure it out."

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 European versions of the film, this was changed to Pizza Hut, another PepsiCo (now Yum! Brands) franchise. In some television edits, the restaurant name was removed altogether.)

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 over 16 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 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 pregnancy (without a license).

Future devices

As with other films set in the future, many new technologies are shown. Some of these have subsequently been invented and a few are even widespread.

• The addition of skills to the brain during the cryogenic process in order to aid rehabilitation.
• Profanity Sensors which automatically, emits a LOUD buzzing noise and a red light, prints out tickets and fines whenever a person utters out a swear word:
• "(name), you are fined one credit for a violation of the Verbal Morality Statute."
• "(name), you are fined one half credit for a sotto voce violation of the Verbal Morality Statute."
• "Your repeated violation of the Verbal Morality Statute has caused me to notify the San Angeles Police Department. Please remain where you are for your reprimand."
• "Laser defibrillation" to remove people from their frozen state.
• Retinal scan
• CCTV (including audio) covering every location except the underground areas.
• Video conferencing and videophones
• Toilet paper replaced by "three seashells", a concept unexplained in the film. Spartan addresses this omission by deliberately incurring a series of profanity tickets.
• Electronic tagging of the population, coupled with GPS
• "Auto drive" mode for cars
• Automatic inflation of car tires after puncture
• "Secure Foam" crash protection
• Robotic paint sprinklers that spray complicated graffiti in seconds, countered by walls that remove it and disable the bots even more quickly
• Police officers have stun batons referred to as "glow rods", with guns being relegated to museums
• Voice-activated computers
• Magnetic Accelerator gun (Acc-Mag), a firearm in a museum exhibit noted as being one of the most efficient rifles ever invented, though it takes an extremely long time to reload. When used by Simon Phoenix, it appears rather unwieldy and impractical, though this may be attributable to Phoenix's unfamiliarity with the futuristic weapon. (In actuality, this firearm is a non-functional H&K G11 Caseless Rifle, which underwent testing during the 1970's and 1980's but never entered production.)
• Sex simulators worn on the participants' heads replace physical intercourse. These appear to function by influencing brain activity to replicate sexual arousal.

Many of these systems are linked together and used in the central headquarters of the police.

In the film's future society, the most popular music on the radio is based on television commercials (including the "Jolly Green Giant" jingle).

Props

• The particle weapon carried by Simon Phoenix is actually a Heckler & Koch G11, an experimental rifle made in the 1980s that used caseless ammunition.
• The futuristic police cars used by the SAPD are General Motors Ultralites.

Los Angeles shooting locations

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.

Cast

• Sergeant John Spartan: Sylvester Stallone
• Simon Phoenix: Wesley Snipes
• Lieutenant Lenina Huxley: Sandra Bullock
• Doctor Raymond Cocteau: Nigel Hawthorne
• Alfredo Garcia: Benjamin Bratt
• Edgar Friendly: Denis Leary
• Erwin: Rob Schneider
• Wasteland Scrap: Jack Black
• Cryocon Ally: Jesse Ventura
• Zachary Lamb: Bill Cobbs (Old)
• Chief George Earle: Bob Gunton
• Associate Bob: Glenn Shadix
• Boggle Guard: Trent Walker
• Tough Cop: Troy Evans
• Zachary Lamb: Grand L. Bush (Young)
• Helicopter Pilot: Pat Skipper
• Captain Healy: Steve Kahan
• T.F.R. Officer: Paul Bollen
• Assistant Warden William Smithers: Mark Colson (Young)
• Warden William Smithers: Andre Gregory (Aged)

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!"

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

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.

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

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

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

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 to current media figures

In one scene, the "Arnold Schwarzenegger Presidential Library" is mentioned, as well as the changes to society beginning with his election as President. This was presumably intended as an incongruous joke in 1993, particularly in a film starring Stallone, who was seen as a rival of sorts to Schwarzenegger. However, given Schwarzenegger's subsequent political career as the Governor of California and the possibility that the U.S. Constitution could be amended to permit those other than natural-born citizens to serve as President (later in the scene, a reference is made to "the 61st Amendment", which apparently permitted just this), the reference could be considered unintentionally prophetic.

When Simon Phoenix is going over the list of cryocons, he comes across Jeffrey Dahmer's name and decides to release him ("Jeffrey Dahmer? I LOVE that guy!"). At the time the film was shot, Dahmer, who was one of the most infamous serial killers of the 1990s, had just been sentenced to life imprisonment for several murders. This scene is frequently deleted in modern broadcasts of the film due to Dahmer's subsequent murder in prison in 1994, thus making the scene anachronistic.

In a bizarre coincidence, when Huxley is accessing the daily parole files following Simon's escape from the cryoprison, the name Scott Peterson comes up. Scott Peterson was convicted of murdering his wife and unborn baby in 2005 and was sentenced to death by lethal injection and is currently at San Quentin State Prison while his case is pending appeal with the Supreme Court of California.

The role of Simon Phoenix was once offered to Jackie Chan. Chan turned down the role because he did not want to associate his movie status in America as a villain. However, his name was mentioned in the movie when Spartan asked Huxley where she learned how to fight. Huxley replied, "Jackie Chan movies."

Sandra Bullock's character's name 'Lenina Huxley' is a reference to 'Aldous Huxley', the author of the Dystopian novel Brave New World, a book which influenced the view of the future in this film and whose main female character is named Lenina.

References

External links