Demolition Man - re:View

[Mr. Analog]

Ahh a true classic revisited:
https://youtu.be/NUPJBL1nGW4

[Melbosa]

lol Nice

[Darren Dirt]

Part of my lunchtime viewing yesterday.

They were a bit more harsh than I think was justified... obviously the goal was not pure scifi (to defuse their "200 not 30 years!" objection/suggestion) nor was it intelligent comedy (casting Sly should be the giveaway -- though they acknowledged acting was solid all around; Leary notwithstanding).

IMO Demolition Man was like Total Recall, high profile fun entertainment with issues; yet both have stood the test of time similarly well. Like a snapshot of the culture at the time of release but also kinda timeless/rewatchable.


I do enjoy Re:View a lot though so I will watch every one even if I don't agree. Those RLM are so creative in their various series... may they sustain their productivity forever!

[Melbosa]

IMO Demolition Man introduced me to the Beauty and Talent of Sandra (ahh my first on screen love!) and the Action Star of Wesley.  It is in my top 10 films of my youth!

[Mr. Analog]

I think Darren's on to something with the comparison to Total Recall, the thing is they could have made a really dumb action movie with sci-fi dressing (see the stinker Pluto Nash) HOWEVER they actually crafted a well thought out and interesting future world (and then did NOTHING with it augh!)

Total Recall took a surprising twist where the thrilling adventures of underground hero "Hauser" may actually be the ontological nightmare of "Quaid", trapped in a form of entertainment unwilling to leave the fantasy for his drab reality.

Demolition Man is interesting because it takes on several themes that have been explored before but melds them together. The first significantly popular time-travel story is H.G. Wells Time Machine which (among other things) explores duality by actually separating mind and body into two sociological groups, in these stories "contemporary man" is defined as being the balance of both and the force for productive change.

This theme is explored in several other works of sci-fi ranging from Star Trek to b-movies like World Without End (1956). In Demolition Man we get a taste for this where we have the above ground stifling society of seemingly utopian LA where the people are nearly incapable of critical thought or functioning at all. They are seemingly enlightened but equally vacuous. Conversely you've got the Denis Leary underworld which represents the polar opposite, driven, passionate but uncoordinated and ineffectual.

The potential here starts with Wesley Snipes character. Being dropped into the middle of it all he works as a catalyst to unbalance both worlds, he represents the total man; intelligent, dynamic, capable. However he is also flawed; chaotic & destructive, an unstoppable force that cannot be contained. Enter Stallone's character; the foil who is also supposed to represent the total man; intelligent, dynamic, capable but ordered. So the stage is set to have the conflict between Stallone / Snipes take a socially divided world, by first having evil break it then have both societies bring their strengths together to defeat it.

If they had done this it would have been great! The Eloi and Morlocks team up to defeat Evil? A story that interweaves ethics and dualism all in one rip-roarin' guns-a-blazin time-travellin' movie? Um... Hell yeah!

But they don't go there Stallone just goes one-on-one with Snipes and smashes his frozen noggin. All that setup and potential, gone

We still got a really fun, if cheesy action movie BUT there are so many good little hooks for telling a great story... That it came so close to being The Matrix level combination of action / sci-fi is actually frustrating

...sigh...

I wanna watch this again...

[Darren Dirt]

TFW you are reading various tweets about Syria and whatnot, and you find this and immediately know what it is referring to...


https://twitter.com/mrfeelswildride/status/850207006619090944
"rich evans thinks taco bell would be first to lose in a franchise war and is a fool"


(sadly, there wasn't a convo of hundreds of arguing replies... dang TWTR I AM DISAPPOINT.)

[Darren Dirt]

IMO Demolition Man introduced me to the Beauty and Talent of Sandra (ahh my first on screen love!) and the Action Star of Wesley.  It is in my top 10 films of my youth!

^ ...said Melbosa TO THE SURPRISE OF NO OTHER RW REGULAR...

[Darren Dirt]

I think Darren's on to something ...  H.G. Wells Time Machine which (among other things) explores duality by actually separating mind and body into two sociological groups...

At first I thought some casual pop culture references... then, soon:




(aka my brain hurts. Maybe later will revisit this thread.)

[Mr. Analog]

I think Darren's on to something ...  H.G. Wells Time Machine which (among other things) explores duality by actually separating mind and body into two sociological groups...

At first I thought some casual pop culture references... then, soon:




(aka my brain hurts. Maybe later will revisit this thread.)

YOU KNOW WHATs funny? Both these movies are some of my faves and yet I don't have either on disc. Time to hit Amazon (I want to buy more k-cups anyway)

[Darren Dirt]

BTW I gotta say:

...stifling society of seemingly utopian LA where the people are nearly incapable of critical thought or functioning at all. They are seemingly enlightened but equally vacuous.

That made me think of this: REMINDER (or FYI) -- Netflix just recently this rewatchable action-scifi flick: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0238380/ ( apologies to the Kurt Wimmer haters, but something about this film just really works for me )

[Thorin]

TFW you are reading various tweets about Syria and whatnot, and you find this and immediately know what it is referring to...

https://twitter.com/mrfeelswildride/status/850207006619090944
"rich evans thinks taco bell would be first to lose in a franchise war and is a fool"

I read the tweet but didn't immediately who it is referring to...  Sure, Taco Bell, Franchise Wars, but who is Rich Evans?  (don't worry, I looked it up already)

Yeah, Demolition Man is much better known to me than the people on Red Letter Media.

[Darren Dirt]

TFW you are reading various tweets about Syria and whatnot, and you find this and immediately know what it is referring to...

https://twitter.com/mrfeelswildride/status/850207006619090944
"rich evans thinks taco bell would be first to lose in a franchise war and is a fool"

I read the tweet but didn't immediately who it is referring to...  Sure, Taco Bell, Franchise Wars, but who is Rich Evans?  (don't worry, I looked it up already)

Yeah, Demolition Man is much better known to me than the people on Red Letter Media.

Half In The Bag has Mike and Jay as the main "review" guys (along with the ongoing story arc), while Rich often plays a random construction worker or mailman or whatever who stops by and book-ends the review segments (and partakes in them)... But also Rich is "Mr. Plinkett"! However if you search YouTube for clips where RICH EVANS LAUGHS then OMG burned into your brain after that, his name will be. [/Yoda]

[Mr. Analog]

My first brush with RLM was a recommendation to watch the Mr. Plinkett reviews of the Star Wars prequels and man, from there I was hooked.

I have literally watched every video they've done. Every. Video.

The format for their shows really works and they're just naturally funny guys.