Demolition Man (1993)
You are fined one credit for a violation of the Verbal Morality Statute.
THE SUMMARY: A reckless police officer and his criminal nemesis are cryogenically frozen into a safety-obsessed sanitized dystopian future, creating a battle that forces the future world to accept that there is no substitute for brute force when necessary. There was plenty of doubt for me early, but by the end, the movie won me over with its striking parallels to present, plus its subtle but effective comedy.
FROM MOVIE-PICKER WHISKEY NOODLE: This is a movie people always seem to point to as being somewhat prophetic. I don’t think I need to explain too much, the movie kind of speaks for itself as to how it’s relevant to the current climate. It’s also just a fun action movie about a cop with a penchant for destroying buildings going after a psycho who loves being the bad guy.
THE BEST:
It’s prophetic, not absurd: Throughout the movie, I was constantly taking notes about how so many premises were only a degree or two removed from our current politics and culture, with an undeniable trajectory toward exactly these movie scenes. Dr. Cocteau is Dr. Fauci, perfecting the world and humanity through subjugation (and indeed, they both do resemble an ‘evil Mr. Rogers’). The underworld ‘scraps’ are the unvaccinated, the undesirable dissident obstacles to Cocteau’s utopia. Human biology itself is viewed as dangerous, and people are brainwashed to avoid it (see the ‘sex’ scene). These are the obvious parallels, but I noted many throughout my viewing:
Is there something specific you plan to do with that archaic device?
The guy promising utopia works with criminals to construct it. Dr. Cocteau, in his quest to eliminate danger in the world, personally enhances the criminal capabilities of Simon Phoenix to pursue his ends. The leader promising security and prosperity through control is actually only unleashing a criminal hellscape. Sound familiar? See every Democrat big city mayor.
The authorities only have power because the population accepts it. Much like we are supposed to wear masks and get vaccinated in the present, the smallest of ‘crimes’ are punished in this future world, and nearly every vice is outright banned. But ironically, the cultivation of such weakness creates an authority unable to enforce its own rules. When challenged, these leaders can’t force anyone to do anything, because they lack the strength and proficiency to do it. In this movie, only when John Spartan and others say ‘make me’ is it exposed that the authorities simply cannot. Be John Spartan.
Weak men simply surrender to the power structure - they have no higher moral framework. ‘Associate Bob’ is a very important character. He’s obese. He’s weak. He looks like a jackass. He’s subservient to anything that exercises power over him. The moment that Phoenix kills his boss Dr. Cocteau, Bob immediately starts selling his services to Phoenix. Bob then does the same with Edgar Friendly the moment that Phoenix is re-frozen. Bob is what happens when men are neutered not just of their balls, but of principles. Men who serve men, rather than a moral framework, are doomed to become Bob. Bob is the reason the phrase ‘death before dishonor’ exists. Seek your principles and commit to them - do not, under any circumstances, blindly follow orders.
Guns are ‘archaic devices.’ When Spartan confronts Dr. Cocteau with a gun, Cocteau asks him dismissively ‘is there something specific you plan to do with that archaic device?,’ because Cocteau is on too high of a moral plane ever to use such a thing. Except he isn’t - he manipulates and abuses others more than anybody in the movie. He just outsources that dirty work, and places himself above it. Ironically, Cocteau is killed by an ‘archaic device’ in the end, which is what happens when we refuse to learn that knowledge and proficiency, and consider it beneath us: we make ourselves vulnerable. Violence is morally neutral, not morally wrong - and if you refuse to learn it for its proper applications, odds are good it will come for you and have its way.
Ultimately, there is no replacement for raw masculinity - it will never be obsolete. In the end, none of the engineering and philosophizing and sanitizing and banning of all the things could replace what inevitably claims power - raw masculinity. It’s naturally occurring, it has its proper function, and there’s no deleting it, so we are better off putting it to its purposes and safeguarding against its excesses than we are trying to erase it on some utopian moral objection. Weak men lose - in this movie, and everywhere else.
It’s funny: The movie has plenty of underrated comedy. The recurring bit of Huxley botching the phrases of the past had me laughing, and of course, the ‘three seashells’ scene was memorable.
He’s matched his meat - you licked his ass!
The three seashells
THE WORST:
The acting can be stiff/forced: To be fair, I think the awkwardness of many of the characters is intentional to convey a bland, personality-free future, which makes sense. But it wasn’t only the dry characters that made for sometimes rough dialogue - on the other side, there was plenty of over-acting too. Wesley Snipes as Simon Phoenix was overdone. I get it - he’s a criminal psycho - but I don’t need every line at 11/10. I don’t need to listen to him cackling weirdly talking to himself. Give me some subtlety. Give me some mystique.
No, Sandra Bullock can’t kick anyone’s ass: I will always call it out when I see it - stop showing me scenes of women kicking men’s asses in hand-to-hand combat. It doesn’t make sense even in a trained context, but in this context, it makes even less sense, as the future police are not trained in violence, by their own description. At the movie start, it’s ‘we’re police officers - we’re not trained to handle this kind of violence!’ By the end, Huxley is fighting and killing men. Pick one.
Also, we’re trained in violence.
THE RATING: 4/5 Wickies. While I appreciate a fast, action-packed start, the best of this movie is not until John arrives in the future world, and it takes a minute to get there. Still, Demolition Man creeps on the coveted 5-Wicky™, and is a highly enjoyable and recommended movie from me.
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NEXT WEEK: Starship Troopers (1997)
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