Demolition Man

Demolition Man

1993
In 1996, brash L.A. detective John Spartan and maniac killer Simon Phoenix are both sentenced to decades in a cryogenic prison as punishment for a rescue mission gone wrong. When Phoenix escapes 36 years later to wreak havoc on the future, Spartan is awakened to capture his nemesis the old-fashioned way.
Ratings:
Brad Score: 5.5/10
Internet Score: 6.7/10
Director:
Marco Brambilla
Cast:
Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne, Benjamin Bratt, Rob Schneider, Bob Gunton, Glenn Shadix, Denis Leary, Bill Cobbs
Genres:
Crime Action Science Fiction

My notes

First time viewing in anything beyond VHS, which means that this was my first time watching this film since I was at least a teenager. This is still a serviceable 90s action film that reads conservative or libertarian in it’s views. Which is fine, I guess.

Watched the international version, which has the notable change of replacing Taco Bell with Pizza Hut (which were both owned by PepsiCo when the film was made).

One thing that stood out sharply was the lost time. In the text, John Spartan was frozen for 36 years and many of the antagonists were in the 50s and 60s, meaning they were very much alive with fully formed frontal cortexes when Spartan was frozen. And yet, they still acted as if he was from hundreds of years ago, referring to him as a Neanderthal. My brothers in Christ, he’s your peer.

It’s a weird statement on how quickly society moves. While individuals can easily be forgotten that quickly, and the world of Demolition Man is clearly dealing with some waves of societal trauma (the Big One earthquake, the Franchise Wars), it was weird how quickly people turned the past into a fetishized simulacra of nostalgia.

And nobody would keep live ammo in a museum.

Watched Jan. 21, 2026 via UHD — rated 5.5/10