The Demolition Man - A Belated Review

 (Blogger's Note: Yes, I have been a little lax in posting here but I've had three books due this fall. Two are now completed and the rough draft of the third is almost done.  In other words, I'll have more time to devote to this site... I have notes for two short stories in mind that are somewhat intriguing. I'll try to get those done soon. And, for those interested, two more of the Jefferson's War novels have been published.  The cover to the first it on the right... You can find them at Amazon a ebooks... Take a look.)

Just the other day I happened to see The Demolition Man, that Sylvester Stallone movie from the late 20^th century. While it is a fun film with some predictions that are frighteningly close to the mark in the world today (language monitored with fines levied for the use obscene words) there were others that were way off the mark. There was, for example, no huge earthquake in California in 2010 and there was no Nine Years War (I think that was what they said).

There were a couple of flaws that inspired me to comment on them. Things that the writers and the director should have thought of as they made the film. One of the minor points was Simon Phoenix, the really bad guy, was working some sort of computer station that had a keyboard but no letters on that keyboard. He was approached by a number of police officers who, if some in our world had their way, would be more social worker than law enforcement, he saw one of those officers standing near a wall. Phoenix attempted to activate the anti-graffiti electrodes. He was told that there was a human too close by but Phoenix was able to override that inhibition. The electrodes activated, killing the police officer.

Here’s the point. Why would Phoenix be able to override the safety command? There is no positive benefit for the ability to override that system. It was system was designed to prevent injury. Overriding it could, and in fact, did result in the death of the police officer.

But that’s not the problem that caught my attention. Simon Phoenix, and by extension, the hero, John Spartan, needed to find firearms. Of course, in the world of The Demolition Man, no one has firearms and everyone is somewhat docile. They don’t swear, they sing along with mini-tunes which we think of as advertising jingles, and they don’t seem to have a bad thought in their barbecued brains. Why, they don’t even swap bodily fluids in the course of what we think of as normal activities… You know, they don’t kiss and use a machine to engage in sexual intercourse (can you say Sleeper?).

Both Phoenix and Spartan realize that there will be guns in the museum (though in that world I’m not sure why they’d have a Hall of Violence). Here, on display are all sorts of weapons from hand guns to howitzers. There are “modern” weapons that include some sort of laser weapon that fires explosion bolts of light. There are machine guns and hand grenades and all sorts of ammunition for the various weapons. My question is “Why?”

I can think of no reason that a museum would have, on display, weapons that were still functional. For the rifles, they could have removed the bolts, or at the very least, the firing pins. Why wouldn’t the barrels of the weapons be spiked so that even if they could be fired, the projectile would not leave the weapon.

And all the displays of the ammunition should have been rendered inert. That means that you could have the bullets and the shotgun shells and the artillery shells but there would be no explosives in them.

In fact, you wouldn’t even need to display the real weapons. Mock ups and replicas could serve the purpose and even if someone stole one, it would be of no use to him. The look and feel of the weapons could seem to be real when they were just models to show what the things looked like.

Or, in other words, the weapons wouldn’t work.

To find weapons, Phoenix and Spartan, would have to find another source. There is one, of course. In the movie, there is an underground world. Those who don’t wish to have their lives regulated to the extent those living on the surface are. They have hamburgers, or rat burgers, they live in the squalor of that lower level, and they have all sorts of weapons.

This does lead to another problem and it is Taco Bell, the winner in the “franchise wars.” We’re told that all restaurants, in 2032 are Taco Bell, but Taco Bell is part of Yum Brands that include other restaurants such as KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken) among others. Yum! won the franchise wars so wouldn’t some of the restaurants be KFC or other franchises owed by Yum!

I will note here that, like all movies set in the future, they get so much wrong. I won’t go into all that but instead mention couple of things that seem to be coming. There were the self-driving cars and I think, but 2032 we might have those all over the roads.

They don’t like gasoline, though at one point in the film, it seems that gas makes up an important component of the plot. They’ve done away with toilet paper and replaced them with the three sea shells. I don’t see that happening, and just like John Spartan, I don’t know how they work.

Of course, we must remember that the movie was not made to please me, but to appeal to a wider audience. There are the required fight scenes and the big gunfights. There is some humor that those in the future wouldn’t understand but we do… I’m thinking of the mini-tunes.

I could nitpick the film from this point by why? I enjoyed it and I overlooked the big weapons grab in the museum. I stumbled at that point, but that doesn’t change my impression of the movie. It was a fun film with some nice little insights into the future and some frightening predictions that seem to be coming true… I think “cancel culture,” and the attempts to grab and maintain power by manipulation of the system. It seems to be warning us about those who see the world in one way and wish to impose that vision on the rest of us. You must do this or… well, you’ll find yourself in some sort of trouble because opposition, no matter how well intentioned must be eliminated.

But I digress into political commentary, which, by the way, is one of the aspects of good science fiction. Provide a look into the future, or an alternative future, that is predicated on where we are and where we might be going.

Anyway, if you have an hour or two, and haven’t seen it, The Demolition Man is a fine way to spend a little time. Turn off your brain to ignore the frightening implications of our future and watch Stallone and Wesley Snipes battle one another while the San Angeles police and others watch in horror.