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A better-than-average sci-fi shoot-em-up with a satirical undercurrent, Demolition Man is bolstered by strong performances by Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, and Sandra Bullock.
All Critics (38) | Top Critics (11) | Fresh (23) | Rotten (15) | DVD (2)
Demolition Man is a movie that should have been fun, and isn't. Feb 9, 2018 | Full Review…
Demolition Man is a movie that should have been fun, and isn't.
David Ansen
Ultimately the script's often sharp social satire is drowned out by the noise and confusion. It is also undercut by casting virtually all the psychopathically murderous criminals as minority-group members. Jul 25, 2010 | Full Review…
Ultimately the script's often sharp social satire is drowned out by the noise and confusion. It is also undercut by casting virtually all the psychopathically murderous criminals as minority-group members.
Richard Schickel
Nearly all the SF premises are accorded the status of Andrew Dice Clay one-liners -- which means that they, along with the characters, keep changing from one scene to the next. Apr 30, 2008 | Full Review…
Nearly all the SF premises are accorded the status of Andrew Dice Clay one-liners -- which means that they, along with the characters, keep changing from one scene to the next.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
A noisy, soulless, self-conscious pastiche that mixes elements of sci-fi, action-adventure and romance, then pours on a layer of comedy replete with Hollywood in-jokes. Apr 30, 2008
A noisy, soulless, self-conscious pastiche that mixes elements of sci-fi, action-adventure and romance, then pours on a layer of comedy replete with Hollywood in-jokes.
Emanuel Levy
Forget your preconceptions, but not your brain cells and sense of irony. Jan 26, 2006 | Full Review…
Forget your preconceptions, but not your brain cells and sense of irony.
Demolition Man is a significant artifact of our time or, at least, of this week. May 20, 2003 | Rating: 3/5
Demolition Man is a significant artifact of our time or, at least, of this week.
Vincent Canby
Violent, profanity-filled '90s sci-fi action movie. Sep 28, 2017 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…
Violent, profanity-filled '90s sci-fi action movie.
Brian Costello
Not for nothing does the film open on a screen-filling image of the Hollywood sign in flames, for it torches almost every supposition that a film made to showcase Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes whomping on each other can only be brain-dead. Aug 1, 2013 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
Not for nothing does the film open on a screen-filling image of the Hollywood sign in flames, for it torches almost every supposition that a film made to showcase Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes whomping on each other can only be brain-dead.
Nick Rogers
Doesn't quite go far enough, instead settling for cheap gags and cheap thrills, but it tickles fairly well for a couple of hours of crashes and fireballs. [Blu-ray] Sep 5, 2011 | Rating: 2.5/4 | Full Review…
Doesn't quite go far enough, instead settling for cheap gags and cheap thrills, but it tickles fairly well for a couple of hours of crashes and fireballs. [Blu-ray]
Peter Canavese
...a sporadically amusing yet pervasively underwhelming bit of early '90s cheese... Aug 13, 2011 | Rating: 2/4 | Full Review…
...a sporadically amusing yet pervasively underwhelming bit of early '90s cheese...
David Nusair
The pleasant surprise about Demolition Man is that both the script, and Stallone, are funny; the film blends big-budget action and tongue-in-cheek humor in the way that Last Action Hero tried, and failed, to do. Jul 25, 2010 | Rating: 3/4 | Full Review…
The pleasant surprise about Demolition Man is that both the script, and Stallone, are funny; the film blends big-budget action and tongue-in-cheek humor in the way that Last Action Hero tried, and failed, to do.
This futuristic comedy depends on your opinion of Stallone and his unapologetic popcorn-pleasing action no-brainers. To be fair, this one is one of his better ones. Apr 30, 2008 | Rating: 4/5 | Full Review…
This futuristic comedy depends on your opinion of Stallone and his unapologetic popcorn-pleasing action no-brainers. To be fair, this one is one of his better ones.
Phillipa Bloom
07/07/2012 (MP4, PS3)
Super Reviewer
really fun if not silly action flick.
Zachary Lamb: Simon Phoenix is an old fashioned criminal. We need an old fashioned cop. "The future isn't big enough for the both of them." Demolition Man is one of those weird movies that I can't decide whether I like or not. Parts at me shaking my head in disgust, mostly when the characters talked, but in the end I wasn't angry with it at all. I, for the most part, enjoyed myself. The film is highly entertaining and has some cool ideas. It also has some extremely stupid and silly ideas too. Like the three seashells; I know it is supposed to be humorous, but really? The action stars, Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes are a lot of fun to watch. When they are in their action sequences, they are at their best. When they talk, they are at their worst, but it is still somewhat fun because of how ridiculous they sound. Stallone plays a cop named Spartan, who has the nickname Demolition Man. The nickname comes from the cliche idea that he doesn't play by the rules. He destroys whatever he needs to. He has been trying to catch a ruthless killer, Phoenix, for some time now. When he finally does catch him, things still end up going wrong and he lands himself in prison too. Now prison isn't what we know it to be. Him and Phoenix are frozen in order to serve their sentence. While they are frozen, they are also give rehab. Not really sure how that works, but we'll go with it. Phoenix escapes custody during a parole hearing and starts going nuts on a now crime-less country thirty some years later. In this new country you can't curse or eat junk food. Anything unhealthy is illegal. In order to catch the madman, they unfreeze Spartan also. So from there it is a cat and mouse game. As much as I would like to describe just how bad this movie is, I can't. It was just too entertaining to talk badly about. Another saving grace for the film is a young Sandra Bullock. Damn was she hot back in the 90's. When she was asking Spartan if he wanted to have sex, I was yelling at the screen, "Yes!" She does give a pretty fun, if at times hard to watch, performance also. She plays a bored cop that loves old action movies and really wants to see some action. I recommend watching Demolition Man if you can tolerate stupidness in the midst of great action. It doesn't reach the stupidity level of a movie like Cobra, which is a plus.
A bit of a guilty pleasure film from the time when Stallone was still a convincing action hero. The premise is actually quite fun: in the future villains are frozen for their crimes. And once crime is eradicated and one of the baddies wakes up, you need an old-fashioned cop. Of course that's a role for Stallone, who doesn't take himself or the world he is "born into" too seriously. Snipes also had obviously a lot of fun playing the bad guy. The humor works wonders for the film, while the action is more or less standards. It's the little details of this future world and the many references that make this film quite fun, after all.
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