Wesley Snipes

Demolition Man (1993)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Demolition Man (1993) 

Director: 

Marco Brambilla 

Writers: 

Daniel Waters 

Robert Reneau 

Peter M. Lenkov 

Starring: 

Sylvester Stallone 

Wesley Snipes 

Sandra Bullock 

Nigel Hawthorne 

Blurb: 

A police officer is brought out of suspended animation in prison to pursue an old ultra-violent nemesis who is loose in a non-violent future society. 

Thoughts: 

Demolition Man is one of my favorite movies. I wouldn’t say top ten, but it’s one that I love to go back and watch frequently. It’s so entertaining. You’ve got action, it’s set in the future, and it’s funny. So often, the balance of comedy and action isn’t done well, like in Tango and Cash, but Demolition Man nails it.  

Wesley Snipes is perfectly cast. He nails the manic energy of Simon Phoenix. It was surprising to find out he turned down the role multiple times until the director and a producer visited him on the set of another movie. Stallone also initially turned done the role before he accepted. He wanted Jackie Chan to play Phoenix, but Chan knew better. He’s not a villain.  

We’ve got eleven years yet to reach this “utopian” paradise with no murder where Taco Bell won the franchise wars. I can agree that no murder would be incredible, but I’m not sure if I’m willing to live with everything else. The loss of exchanging bodily fluids would be a big no for me.  

I love how consistent the movie is. Whenever they’re in a building or near tech, they get fined credits anytime one of the characters curses. There is also unique music that plays when Phoenix is on screen. It’s all just so fun.  

Sandra Bullock was another excellent casting choice. She does seem a bit young for Stallone. I’m also side-eyeing him and how quick he is to jump into a relationship with her. His first question when he wakes up is about his wife. The memory that sticks with him the most is her hammering on the block of ice he was jailed in. Yet, a couple of days later, he’s fine to get down with Bullock. My least favorite trope in action movies.  

Last year Stallone said a sequel was in the works. I have no idea what could be done, and I’m hesitant to see what they would do. I find it difficult to believe that they could capture what makes Demolition Man so fun. If it happens, I guess we’ll see. 

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Passenger 57 (1992)

The Great Movie Re-Watch

Passenger 57 (1992)

Director:

Kevin Hooks

Writers:

David Loughery

Dan Gordon

Starring:

Wesley Snipes

Bruce Payne

Tom Sizemore

Alex Datcher

Elizabeth Hurley

Blurb:

An airline security expert must take action when he finds himself trapped on a passenger jet when terrorists seize control of it.

Thoughts:

Cutter: “Always bet on black.”

Chief Biggs: In my position, what would you do? If you were me, what would you do?
Cutter: Kill myself.”

Apart from having some great quotes, Passenger 57 is an entertaining action movie. There isn’t as much action as, say, Commando, but there’s still a lot of kicks. The villain is a psycho, and we’ve got two women in it. Sadly, one does end up with the hero, but I can’t have it all.

The film aided in the launch of Wesley Snipes’s career, so for that, we’ll always be indebted to it. He’s a welcome addition to the action movie genre, and it’s kind of a bummer that he came along as the genre started its downward decline. We’ve still got a few years before that happens, though.

Demolition Man (1993)

demolition-man

Demolition Man (1993)

Director:

Marco Brambilla

Starring:

Sylvester Stallone

Wesley Snipes

Sandra Bullock

Plot:

A police officer is brought out of suspended animation in prison to pursue an old ultra-violent nemesis who is loose in a non-violent future society.

Review:

This is one of my go to movies, something that I’ve watched many times, and I love it. I say this a lot, but they don’t make movies like this anymore. It’s a cheesy action movie but it’s actually thought out. The world is built, there’s all kinds of little details fleshing it out, and the characters are fun. It flows well, it’s violent, and funny. Sure the tech doesn’t make sense but it’s not horrible CG either.

If you haven’t seen Demolition Man I highly recommend.

5/5

The Expendables 3 (2014)

Expendables 3

The Expendables 3 (2014)

Director:

Patrick Hughes

Starring:

Sylvester Stallone

Jason Statham

Jet Li

Harrison Ford

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Mel Gibson

Wesley Snipes

Dolph Lundgren

Randy Couture

Terry Crews

Kelsey Grammer

Antonio Banderas

Plot:

Barney augments his team with new blood for a personal battle: to take down Conrad Stonebanks, the Expendables co-founder and notorious arms trader who is hell bent on wiping out Barney and every single one of his associates.

Review:

It sucks that this movie got leaked, but then it sucks that they screwed over their fans and made the movie PG-13. I don’t expect much of a story from an Expendables movie but I do expect lots of blood, action, and violence. When the best part of the movie is the dialog you know that something is wrong.

The best parts were Kelsey Grammer, Wesley Snipes, Harrison Ford, and Antonio Banderas. The kids might not have even been in the movie, though if they weren’t we wouldn’t have the awesome scenes with Grammer. I wasn’t expecting much from Banderas but he was crazy and not what I had anticipated. I expected more from Snipes, but apart from the beginning, he was barely in the movie.

Evidently the original cut was four hours long but obviously it couldn’t be that long so they cut a bunch. At least I hope that’s what it was, because there were a lot of parts where it was just what the hell? They had a dude for half an hour just jumping up an elevator shaft. They’d just cut to him randomly.

There are a lot of people in the Expendables movies but unlike the Avengers movies they have a hard time finding a good balance with characters. That’s actually something I wish they had done with these, have build up. One movie shows off how much of a badass this character is and then another movies does the same with another and then they team up to kick even more ass. But that hasn’t been done so I should just get over it.

I really liked the first two Expendables movies, they were on the cusp of being awesome and with each one they just fell a little short. They suffered from too many quick cuts, poor editing, and bad CG. This one had that times a hundred. My hope is that they cut a lot to get a PG-13 rating and that when the extended cut comes out on Blu-ray I get a better movie.

3/5