Demolition Man

MPAA Rating: R

Entertainment: +2 1/2

Content: -3

The year 1996, Los Angeles is a war zone, ruled solely by the ruthless Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes). Phoenix seems unstoppable but one cop, John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone), goes in and single-handedly nabs him. Unfortunately, both Phoenix and Spartan are frozen as a result of their violent behavior. Almost forty-years later, Phoenix is mistakenly thawed and goes on a spree of violence in a Los Angeles where no one owns a weapon and no one commits crimes anymore. Unable to handle this dangerous criminal, the police thaw Spartan to apprehend him and the mayhem begins. Phoenix and Spartan are like two raging bulls in a china shop, and the horrified citizens do not seem to know what to do. Some funny scenes occur as Spartan tries to adjust to advances in technology and hears how the 20th century has been misinterpreted. Overall, however, the movie exists for the action sequences and though the plot has more holes than a rusty bucket, the special effects are very good. Young adults will probably like this hyper-action film, but most others will be disappointed.

DEMOLITION MAN seems to deliver a message that violence, though kind of bad, actually makes life interesting and worth living. The future is simply too boring without violence. What we need in the world is not order, but disorder, and not peace, but a gun. Phoenix and Spartan kill about 15 men, usually with automatic weapons, and injure a great many others by punching, kicking or beating them. A man's eye is removed with a fountain pen off-screen, but the eye is shown. One man is frozen solid and then has his head knocked off. Besides the violence, which is the basis for the plot, there is gratuitous breast nudity twice in the film. The language also falls off the deep end with 54 obscenities. The disgusting theme that violence is actually good and necessary in a society demolishes any chance this film had for acceptability.

Preview Reviewer: Greg Wilson
Distributor: Warner Bros, 4000 Warner Blvd., Burbank, CA 91522

Summary
The following categories contain objective listings of film content which contribute to the subjective numeric Content ratings posted to the left and on the Home page.

Crude Language: Many (36) times - Mild 21; Moderate 15

Obscene Language: Many (54) times (f-word 22, s-word 27, 5 others)

Profanity: Many (12) times - Regular 8; Exclamatory 4

Violence: Many times - Moderate and Severe (15 people killed, most shot to death; many people kicked, punched and hit with clubs; one man frozen with head knocked off; eye removed).

Sex: None, but computer simulated sexual images

Nudity: Few (2) times (breast nudity)

Sexual Dialogue/Gesture: Many times - references to intercourse

Drugs: None

Other: Major theme that violence is needed in a healthy society.

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