Demolition Man
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Demolition Man |
| Original title | Demolition Man |
 | |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1993 |
| length | 115 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Marco Brambilla |
| script |
Daniel Waters , Robert Reneau , Peter M. Lenkov |
| production |
Joel Silver , Howard G. Kazanjian |
| music | Elliot Goldenthal |
| camera | Alex Thomson |
| cut | Stuart Baird |
| occupation | |
| |
Demolition Man , also under the link title Demolition Man - An ice-cold cop known, an ironic science fiction - action film directed by Marco Brambilla in 1993 with Wesley Snipes , Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock in the lead roles. The film opened in German cinemas on December 2, 1993.
The main plot of the film takes place in 2032, while the flashback takes place at the beginning in 1996, which was in the not-too-distant future when the film was made in 1993.
action
The city of Los Angeles was hit by serious unrest in 1996. During this tumult, the gangster Simon Phoenix took control of the occupants of a bus and holed himself up in a factory building. The hardened cop John Spartan wants to arrest Phoenix on his own. He succeeds, but all of the hostages die in the process. Spartan is suspended and convicted of negligent homicide and, like Phoenix, is sent to a " cryogenic " prison, where he spends his sentence frozen in a cold sleep.
Spartan and Phoenix spend several decades in cold sleep until in 2032 Phoenix is ostensibly thawed for the purpose of possible rehabilitation . The world has now changed and transformed into the ideal image of an American suburb. A major earthquake and the associated destruction of Santa Monica , Los Angeles and San Diego created the metropolitan area of San Angeles. This resembles a futuristic Garden of Eden , in which there is no pollution, unemployment, or crime - just as little as carnal food, physical closeness, kisses or even sex, let alone rock music or swear words.
Phoenix escapes from his early release hearing, kills several people while fleeing and thus commits the first murders since 2010. The police, for whom graffiti is already a serious crime, are overwhelmed with the situation and the level of violence. Finally, you also thaw Spartan, as he has already managed to capture Phoenix in the past.
Phoenix can be found through a stolen car, but the arriving Spartan cannot prevent his escape either. Dr. Raymond Cocteau, the founder of San Angeles, suggests waiting for more murders to track down Phoenix.
During a meeting with Dr. Raymond Cocteau at dinner an incident occurs with some rebels who are supporters of the underground fighter Edgar Friendly. Although everyone else present thinks Friendly is an anarchist , Spartan doubts the ruling system when he witnesses the underground fighters raid a restaurant in order not to starve.
With the help of Huxley, Spartan discovers that Phoenix was made into a mentally superior criminal by subconscious manipulation while in prison. Phoenix itself doesn't know where its abilities come from. Spartan finally exposes Cocteau as the principal of Phoenix's manipulation, and that Cocteau wants to use the gangster to eliminate his archenemy Edgar Friendly.
Cocteau then wants to have Spartan arrested, but Spartan ignores this and leaves. The police from the year 2032 are obviously overwhelmed with resistance during the arrest and do not stop him.
Shortly thereafter, Cocteau falls out with Phoenix, who, despite his desires, cannot kill Cocteau himself due to a fuse that has been anchored in his subconscious. Therefore, Phoenix thaws his also frozen gang of criminals from the old days in order to have Cocteau kill her.
Meanwhile, Spartan and Huxley descend into the sewer and meet Friendly there. He lives with other impoverished people in a system of ramified slums and turns out to be a harmless common man who wages a campaign against Cocteau's utopia . Phoenix is also hiding in the channels, searching for his victim, Friendly, attacking both Spartan and Friendly, but eventually escaping.
Spartan pursues Phoenix to the cryo-prison, where Simon and his gang are in the process of freeing a large number of felons, including Charles Manson and Jeffrey Dahmer . After the gang has been overpowered, Spartan and Phoenix showdown, in which Spartan kills the latter and destroys the prison.
The citizens of San Angeles are approaching the way of life of Friendly and the rebels in an effort to restore the aseptic world a little more normal as the rebellion is abandoned. Spartan and Huxley become a couple and seal it with a kiss that was forbidden by the previous regime.
template
Despite the very similar title, the original of the film is not the Hugo Award- winning novel “The Demolished Man” by Alfred Bester , although the film and the novel both take place in the criminal and police milieu. Rather, Demolition Man was obviously inspired by Aldous Huxley's “ Brave New World ” , in whose work the new (apparently) perfect society is ultimately overtaken by its past. This can be recognized by numerous references to the book, starting with the names of the main characters. Sandra Bullock's film character is called Lenina Huxley. This name is composed of the first name of the novel protagonist Lenina Crowne and the author's last name. In his novel, Huxley himself often shows a weakness for this type of name construction (almost all character names are made up of names of well-known writers, politicians, scientists, and philosophers). Stallone's character is named after one of the protagonists, John Cooper, who comes to modern society from a “backward” reservation (still based on our present-day life and values that were present in Huxley's lifetime). In Demolition Man , John Spartan comes from the past into the future, but is often referred to here as a "savage" or "barbarian" for similar reasons. Another hint is a little more difficult to discover with the German dubbing than in the original. When Phoenix and Spartan fight in the museum, Phoenix says in the English version "It's a" brave new world "" and in the German dubbing quite literally "Such a" brave new world "". This is an older translation problem, as the work in German-speaking countries has meanwhile been translated as “Brave New World” following a Shakespeare quote from which the novel's title comes from.
background
Casting the film turned out to be difficult. Originally, Steven Seagal and Jean-Claude Van Damme were supposed to play the protagonists, with Van Damme acting as the villain. He initially agreed, but wanted Seagal to play the villain. Seagal now refused, so both he and Van Damme were removed from the project. Sylvester Stallone wanted Jackie Chan as his opponent in the role of Simon Phoenix. Chan refused, however, because he never wanted to play a villain, after all, he had always embodied the hero in Asian films and could not suddenly appear as a villain. However, there is a reference to Stallone's original wish: In one scene, Huxley kills a bat using kung fu and gives Jackie Chan films as the origin of her skills. Lori Petty was initially cast for the role of Lenina Huxley . But she left filming after a few days and was replaced by Sandra Bullock.
Several well-known actors also appear in the supporting roles. Rob Schneider acts as the police operator for Erwin , who was also seen in Judge Dredd with Stallone . Jack Black , known from King Kong and School of Rock , can be seen as one of Friendly's henchmen . Eventually, Jesse Ventura plays a gang member from Phoenix. Ventura was a well-known wrestler for the WWE as Jesse "the Body" before he switched to acting and starred alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger in Running Man and Predator .
Sting sang the theme song "Demolition Man" . He took up an old song from his previous band The Police , which gave the film its name.
Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt play two law enforcement friends who are friends. This was taken up again in the production of Miss Undercover in 2000.
Several vehicles appear in the film based on prototypes and design studies by automakers. The police vehicles and some civilian vehicles are based on a GM study called “Ultralite” from 1992. Since the film required several vehicles not only for stunts , these were built on the basis of VW Beetle chassis. Since the protagonists, including the main actor Sylvester Stallone, are not very tall, they found their place comfortably in the not exactly spacious interior of these models. Two of the original props were on display at Warner Bros. Movie World amusement park until 2004 . However, these two vehicles differ in terms of equipment. While one of the models could open both gullwing doors, the other one on the passenger side was just a dummy.
Spartan is referred to as Neanderthal (h) aler several times - chiefly by Chief George Earle. However, if he is referring to the Age of Spartans, Earle's father would have to be a Neanderthal as well. There is also an "old" colleague from Spartan in the police force (Zachary Lamb 2032) - according to Earle's definition, he should also be a Neanderthal. After all, "only" 36 years have passed since Spartan's freeze.
In the film, Schwarzenegger is referred to as the former President of the United States, after whom the "Schwarzenegger Presidential Library" is named. This was a revenge from Stallone, which was shown in the Schwarzenegger film Last Action Hero on a movie poster in the leading role and pose of the film Terminator 2 - Judgment Day - which was released in the same year - combined with Schwarzenegger's statement that this was Stallone's best film has been. There are also other references to other films. The figure of Alfredo Garcia portrayed by Benjamin Bratt is said to remind of the film Bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia , the name of the prison director William Smithers to that of the prison director in Papillon . In addition, Lt. Lenina Huxley seen a Lethal Weapon 3 movie poster with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover . Finally, Phoenix bought weapons and ammunition from the local museum's weapons exhibition, disarming one of the characters there with the words "sorry, Rambo , I have to borrow this".
The restaurant scene takes place in a branch of " Taco Bell ". Since the fast food chain is less well known outside of the US, the name has been changed to " Pizza Hut " for some versions of the international market . For this, almost all Taco Bell logos were replaced by “Pizza Hut” on the computer and the verbal mentions, which exist in the English original, were synchronized accordingly. At the beginning of the attack by Friendly's people, if you pay close attention to the window pane of the restaurant, which everyone in the restaurant rushes to, you can still see the Taco Bell logo there.
The “Rail Gun” used by Phoenix, referred to as the “Accelerator Weapon” in the German film version, is based on the outside of the HK G11 , a prototype made by the German weapons manufacturer Heckler & Koch (HK).
Wesley Snipes is a black belt wearer in Asian martial arts. So his kicks were sometimes too fast for the camera, similar to what was the case with Jet Li in Lethal Weapon 4 . Due to the improvements made to the computer, some of his actions seem a little clumsy.
The gem-studded dress that Sandra Bullock wore in the Taco Bell scene weighed around 18 kilograms. When she jumped around for the recordings, however, it tore and threatened to slip. Because of this, Bullock grabs by the side as she walks away with Stallone.
A scene in which Sylvester Stallone can be seen as Spartan in a full-body shot after thawing has been removed from the final version of the film - at Stallone's express request.
Many of Simon Phoenix's monologues are allusions to the American children's game “ Simon says ”.
synchronization
The film was set to music at Berliner Synchron . Michael Nowka wrote the dialogue book and directed the dialogue.
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Det. John Spartan | Sylvester Stallone | Thomas Danneberg |
| Lt. Lenina Huxley | Sandra Bullock | Bettina White |
| Simon Phoenix | Wesley Snipes | Torsten Michaelis |
| Dr. Raymond Cocteau | Nigel Hawthorne | Peter Matic |
| Alfredo Garcia | Benjamin Bratt | Christian Olsen |
| Chief George Earle | Bob Gunton | Friedrich G. Beckhaus |
| Edgar Friendly | Denis Leary | Peter Reinhardt |
| bob | Glenn Shadix | Tom Deininger |
| Zachary Lamb 2032 | Bill Cobbs | Helmut Krauss |
| Erwin | Rob Schneider | Oliver Rohrbeck |
Reviews
In the opinion of the Lexicon of International Films , Demolition Man is "a perfect and ironically staged action film, but due to the homely story and the lack of a halfway plausible vision of the future, it only acts like a vehicle for two Hollywood stars."
In the judgment of Cinema magazine, on the other hand, “[Demolition Man] not only impresses with the futuristic setting and the fights between Sylvester Stallone and Wesley Snipes, but also with the comical exchange of words between the woman of the future, Sandra Bullock, and the“ Neanderthal ”Stallone . "
Awards (selection)
Sandra Bullock was nominated in 1994 for the Golden Raspberry for "Worst Supporting Actress". Wesley Snipes received a nomination for the MTV Movie Award for "Best Villain". Composer Elliot Goldenthal received the ASCAP Award .
Individual evidence
- ↑ FILM VIEW; 'Demolition Man' Makes Recycling an Art. Retrieved April 2, 2011 .
- ^ Aldous Huxley : Brave New World . 1932
- ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | Demolition Man. Retrieved May 28, 2018 .
- ↑ Demolition Man. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Demolition Man on cinema.de
Web links
- Demolition Man in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Demolition Man at Rotten Tomatoes (English)
- Demolition Man at Metacritic (English)
- Demolition Man in the online movie database
- Discussion of the music on Filmmusikwelt.de
- Comparison of the cut versions US version - Euro version , FSK 12 TV - FSK 16 , BBFC 15 - US version by Demolition Man at Schnittberichte.com