Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2283 in DVD
• Released on: 1999-05-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Formats: PAL, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: Arabic, English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 110 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Searching for new directions, Sylvester Stallone starred in this farcical, 1993 SF piece about an ex-cop (Stallone) freed from 36 years of forced hibernation to help catch a criminal (Wesley Snipes) who released himself from a similar incarceration. The futuristic story finds Los Angeles a sea of Taco Bells and enforced peace and within that satiric overview Stallone's character becomes a gun-toting fish out of water. The film plays like a live-action cartoon and while there is nothing particularly wrong with that, Demolition Man is a rather flat experience. The irony of a peaceable society that both requires and despises its bloody saviours has been captured far more profoundly in movies like Dirty Harry. Sandra Bullock costars. --Tom Keogh

Synopsis
San Angeles, a megalopolis stretching from Santa Barbara to San Diego, is the futuristic utopia of the politically correct. Red meat, salt, sugar, smoking and sex have all been outlawed. This spells h-e-l-l for John Spartan, a 20th century cop revived to chase down a 20th century terrorist on the loose in this sterile paradise.

From the Back Cover
Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes go at it amid a dazzling cyber-future in this explosive hit. In 2032 arch-criminal Simon Pheonix (Snipes) awakens from a 35-year deep freeze in CryPrison to find a serene, nonviolent Los Angeles ready for the taking. Unable to deal with Pheonix's brutal 1990s style, officials seek and old-fashioned cop to fight old-fashioned crime. They revive Sgt. John Spartan (Stallone), unjustly serving a CryoPrison sentence because of his last encounter with Pheonix. Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt (TV's Law and Order) also uphold the law in this "terrific mix of action and humour" (Jon Siegel, Good Morning America/ABC-TV).

Customer Reviews

Great movie, terrible transfer.
For me, the movie itself is a nineties' classic: action, adventure and humour blended together seamlessly to provide a thoroughly enjoyable (if untaxing) two hour break from reality.

Unfortunately, this DVD release is WOEFUL. I could forgive the complete lack of extras (not even a trailer or production notes) but the picture looks like a poor transfer from VHS: it may be anamorphic, but it suffers from clear macro-blocking, colour shifts, artifacing and wholly excessive grain from the opening Warner Bros logo to the end credits. The entire disc takes up less than 3.5gb: given the complete lack of additional material, I find it perplexing that Warner Bros didn't at least use up the remaining free space to give the video a much-needed boost in bitrate.

Here's hoping this great movie will get the treatment it deserves in a future release, be it a special-edition DVD or in hi-def.

Movie: 4/5, Disc: 1/5

The Stallone ethos
It's frustrating having to defend Demolition Man as it's attackers have so much ammunition. Very similar to another Stallone flick Judge Dredd, the main character of John Spartan seems too similar to Rambo and to Stallone himself to be distinct. It can feel like there is a good movie here being suffocated by cliché.

However, I feel that Demolition Man, like Stallone himself, is a little misunderstood. The story concerns John Spartan a warrior police man who will destroy any obstacle to get make an arrest (hence the nickname Demolition Man). Convicted of a crime he is cyrogenically frozen and awakens to a sanitized future where his necessarily brutal methods have become entirely alien to the police force of the time. Even though the police need him to take care of the bad guy they treat him suspicion and distain, calling him a "Savage" and "Caveman."

Demolition Man is key to understanding the Stallone ethos. Stallone is a man, and he celebrates a disappearing world where men are meant to be strong and tough. The predicament of John Spartan is one that Stallone faces himself, the alienated misunderstood tough guy in a sanitized world. Though the movie is steeped in cliché and macho one liners there are some great moments. In the opening where he finds out the hostages have been killed Spartans shocked response is brilliant, the running joke with Spartan being fined for using curse words is also fun.

Sandra Bullock is sweet as his future cop partner, the soundtrack is good but the action could have been filmed better. But still this remains a good action flick with Stallone and Snipes delivering a muscular and dramatic conflinct, especailly in the finale. Judged on these terms, on Stallone's terms, Demolition Man is a good film.

disappointing quality of transfer
As most other reviews are about the film and I share the same sentiment as virtually everyone else here (I love this comic book action movie), my review is about the truly disappointing quality of transfer. Both picture quality and sound are really poor.

My rating relates only to the film though and not quality of transfer.