PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Demolition Man (1993)

Demolition Man (1993)

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Released 12-Jul-1999

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Action None
Rating Rated M
Year Of Production 1993
Running Time 110:20
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Programme
Region Coding 2,4 Directed By Marco Brambilla
Studio
Distributor

Warner Home Video
Starring Sylvester Stallone
Wesley Snipes
Sandra Bullock
Nigel Hawthorne
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI $24.95 Music Elliot Goldenthal


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
French Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Italian Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
French
Italian
Dutch
Arabic
Spanish
Portuguese
English for the Hearing Impaired
Italian for the Hearing Impaired
Smoking Yes
Annoying Product Placement Yes, extremely (see Censorship Notes)
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Demolition Man is so way-over-the-top that it is entertaining in a campy way. Sylvester Stallone is a police officer (John Spartan, the "Demolition Man") who blows up a building with Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) contained in it. Simon survives, but the 20 hostages he had taken do not. Both John Spartan and Simon Phoenix are cryogenically frozen - that is their prison sentence.

    Fast forward 32 years. The world has mellowed out from the hyper-violent 1990s. Things are tranquil, there is peace on Earth, and there is no violence. This seemingly utopian society is presided over by Dr Raymond Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorn), ably assisted by the magnificently corpulent and grovelling Associate Bob (Glenn Shadix).

    Simon Phoenix comes up for parole, and he is awoken from his cryogenic sleep. He escapes, and begins a brutal reign of terror - the pacifist police force of the 2020s is no match for Phoenix's brutal tactics, and so they awaken John Spartan.

    The movie shows two extremes, from the serene and semi-hypnotic vision of the 21st Century, to the ultra-violent juxtaposition of the 1990s way of doing things. I enjoyed the serenity - it was well-written, and an interesting vision of the next century. I thought the violence was way way way over the top (where did that seemingly inexhaustible ammunition originate from?), but I enjoyed the movie overall, except for the very annoying product placement.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1. It is 16x9 enhanced.

    The image is generally sharp and clear. Some of the scenes lacked in definition slightly, and some of the scenes exhibited some graininess. Shadow detail was good, and there was no low level noise.

    The colours were well saturated throughout.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. Film-to-video artefacts consisted of moderate amounts of aliasing, but this artefact remained at acceptable limits at all times. Film artefacts were rarely present.

Audio

    There are three audio tracks on this DVD; English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1 and Italian Dolby Digital 5.1. I listened to the default English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

    Dialogue was usually clear and easy to understand, though as is the norm for Sylvester Stallone movies, his dialogue was hard to make out at times.

    The only audio sync problems with this disc occurred as a result of the overdubbing of the words "Pizza Hut" wherever the movie originally had "Taco Bell". Each time this occurred, there was a clear discrepancy between the words which were being said and the mouth movements taking place at the same time. Other than this very annoying issue, there were no audio sync problems with this disc.

    The soundtrack was scored by Elliot Goldenthal and is comprised of a mix of eclectic tunes and heavy action movie scoring. Generallly, it admirably suited the on-screen action.

    The surround channels were very aggressively used for the special effects, especially towards the latter part of the movie, where a nicely enveloping soundfield was created. Music also found its way into the rear channels periodically.

    The .1 channel was heavily used during the special effects sequences, with very good effect.

Extras

    There are no extras on this disc.

Menu

    The menu is 16x9 enhanced and is otherwise unremarkable.

Censorship

    There is censorship information available for this title. Click here to read it (a new window will open). WARNING: Often these entries contain MAJOR plot spoilers.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 4 version of this DVD misses out on;

    The Region 1 version of this DVD misses out on;

    The Region 1 version of this DVD is the version of choice.

Summary

    Demolition Man is a flawed, but interesting nonetheless, look at the near future. The script has numerous good ideas, and plenty of tongue-in-cheek action and humour, and is only let down by some of the more ridiculous action sequences which are just so over the top that they are not believable.

    The video quality is good but not great.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The extras are non-existent.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna (read my bio)
Monday, August 09, 1999
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-505, using S-Video output
DisplayLoewe Art-95 (95cm). Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL).
Audio DecoderDenon AVD-2000 Dolby Digital decoder. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
Amplification2 x EA Playmaster 100W per channel stereo amplifiers for Left, Right, Left Rear and Right Rear; Philips 360 50W per channel stereo amplifier for Centre and Subwoofer
SpeakersPhilips S2000 speakers for Left, Right; Polk Audio CS-100 Centre Speaker; Apex AS-123 speakers for Left Rear and Right Rear; Yamaha B100-115SE subwoofer

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