![]() Unsurprisingly, wealth inequality in the modern world is at an all-time high, and by 2030 – just two years before the setting of Demolition Man – the richest 1% are on course to own two thirds of global wealth. This clearly represents a prominent gap between the rich and poor. ![]() They do so by willingly living in the sewers, swearing to their heart’s content and chewing on delicious-looking rat burgers. With almost everything remotely joyous banned in this fictitious future, some citizens of San Angeles choose to rebel. In one scene, Spartan prepares himself for what he thinks will be a hot night of bodily fluid-transferring wild mambo with Bullock’s Lenina Huxley, only for her to whack a VR headset on his bonce and tell him that real sex is disgusting – which it is. Mercifully, coitus isn’t yet illegal in real life, but Demolition Man did sensationally predict virtual reality porn. In 2032 San Angeles, not even sex is condoned by the law. And, in a similar vein, it accurately called a change in attitude towards meat, as concerns about health, climate change and animal welfare has led to an increase in veganism. In the UK, smoking was, of course, banned from all enclosed work places in 2007, with a lot of people now sucking on fruity tubes instead. The film also foretold a ban on cigarettes. Meanwhile, the overdue rise of political correctness has become an increasing and welcome concern for most sexists and racists. It’s fair to say that this was an accurate prediction, what with there being a huge increase of on-the-spot fines in the UK in the ‘99s and ‘00s for anti-social behaviour. “You are fined one credit for a violation of the verbal morality statute,” speaks a ticket-spitting hole in the wall after Spartan drops his first profanity. And if you’re not in agreement with the masses on Twitter, it won’t be long before you’re banished from the internet altogether and sent to live with the goats in Tibet.įreedom of speech is one of the main issues Demolition Man tackles, most notably through its depicted ban of swearing. Was this one of Brambilla’s fears about the future that we’d one day be a bunch of robe-wearing wimps who are simultaneously offended and terrified by the thought of eating crisps? Well, apart from the robe bit, it could be argued that we’re already at that point, with social media acting as a soapbox for people to announce the latest thing they’re upset about. It’s basically Guildford.īut this has all come at a cost: human behaviour is now heavily controlled in a hyper-sensitive society, where anything deemed ‘bad’ has actually been made illegal. When Spartan and Phoenix are prematurely defrosted in the year 2032, they find themselves in a reformed world, a seemingly utopian “San Angeles” – Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara were merged together after the “Great Earthquake” of 2010 – where disease has been eradicated and crime is virtually non-existent. But when both characters are held responsible for the deaths of dozens of hostages and sent straight to cryo-prison, the film suddenly becomes a political parody of what tomorrow might bring. Opening in a near-apocalyptic Los Angeles in 1996, ravaged by crime, disorder and, presumably, Bill Clinton’s administration, the film wastes absolutely no time in getting to the action, as Sly’s expertly-named John Spartan dukes it out with Snipes’ Simon Phoenix in a set piece fit for a finale. 25 years after its theatrical release, it’s also proven itself to be eerily prescient, predicting far more about the future than director Marco Brambilla possibly could have imagined. And when Sandra Bullock delivers a Jackie Chan-inspired kick to a nameless goon’s head, I actually stand up and take off my shirt.īut there is so much more to Demolition Man than just gland-stimulating action. When Sly does his first of many slow motion runs from whatever is exploding behind him, I sweat profusely and stroke my dog’s head so firmly he meows. I make sure I watch Demolition Man at least three times a month, and with each viewing I appreciate it even more. Admittedly, there are some strong contenders – Commando, Predator, the original Total Recall and Terminator 2 obviously spring to mind – but how can anything compete with a film in which Sylvester Stallone fights a dungaree-clad Wesley Snipes in the future? Demolition Man is the greatest action film ever made.
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