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.
Empire Magazine
April 30, 2008
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.
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.
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.
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.
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]
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.
