Demolition Man's Attempt at Satire and the Tenor of the '90s

After Rambo III Sylvester Stallone's career was in clear decline, but he went on headlining major action films for some time after, returning to the form with 1993's summer tentpole Cliffhanger--and that same autumn, Demolition Man.

I remember first seeing Demolition Man and being pleasantly surprised by its attempt at satire--I suppose, the fact that it tried at all rather than its being very good at it. After all, consider the subject matter so satirists have taken up over the years--the terms of daily survival at work and elsewhere, social hierarchy, religions, prejudice.

By contrast what do we have here? It seems here and there that there are hints of aspiration to something bigger, like its allusions to Aldous Huxley (as in its naming Sandra Bullock's character "Lenina Huxley") but mostly what we see is a heavy-handed attempt to impose "lameness" on society, identified with healthy diets, safe sex, clean language, "soothing" aesthetics, and the "mavericks" who won't have it, all too tellingly led by Denis Leary playing . . . well, his character's name was "Edgar Friendly," but really it seemed like it was just the already well-known Denis Leary persona.

It ends up very slight stuff indeed--and in that characteristically '90s, when the conventional wisdom held that all the big issues were decided, leaving us little to debt argue over little ones in the manner that made "What is the deal with that?" a catchphrase.