Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, October 9, 1993                   TAG: 9310090026
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

'DEMOLITION MAN' WILL SATISFY ACTION FANS

It meets all the demands of the genre - lots of fights and macho posturing, gunfire and/or shattering glass at least every seven minutes, an explosion or two in between, car chases and cartoon characterizations - and those are plugged into a script that has surprisingly witty moments.

The story begins in 1996 with Los Angeles aflame and at the mercy of gangs who have taken over large portions of the city. Planes don't even land there any more. The baddest bad guy of them all is Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), who is holding 30 innocent hostages in a large building until John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone), the Demolition Man, goes in to release them.

In short order, the building blows up, the hostages are killed and both Phoenix and Spartan are sentenced to cryogenic freezing and rehabilitation. But in 2032, when he's reawakened for a parole hearing, Phoenix escapes.

He's loose in a future that's everything our present is not: serene, peaceful and healthy. It's a world where sin and saturated fats have been forbidden. The most serious crimes the citizenry suffers are profanity and graffiti. Phoenix charges through it like a wolf through a flock of sheep. But of course that tranquil facade of that future paradise hides many secrets, including the reason Phoenix got loose.

One cop, Lenina Huxley (Sandra Bullock), who's nostalgic for the more colorful days of the late 20th century, suggests that they defrost Spartan to catch Phoenix again. Action fans can take it from there as far as the story is concerned.

The script by Daniel Waters, Robert Reneau and Peter Lenkov borrows liberally from several sources. The most obvious are H.G. Welles' "The Time Machine," the film "Total Recall" and Kurt Vonnegut's apocalyptic creation, "Ice Nine." The best parts of the script are the satiric digs it takes at all of the forms of polite behavior that new Puritans, of both the right and left, are demanding these days.

A future in which any physical contact is avoided and "fluid transmission" between individuals is forbidden is not unthinkable.

But those observations really aren't the point in this kind of movie. First-time director Marco Brambilla demonstrates that he learned his lessons well in making TV commercials. The pace is fast; the polish is glossy and the two leads deliver appropriately tongue-in-cheek performances.

You won't hear "Demolition Man" being mentioned very often when the Oscar nominations are handed out, but it sure does deliver what action audiences want to see.

Demolition Man: ***

A Warner Bros. release playing at the Tanglewood Mall Cinema and Salem Valley 8. 120 min. Rated R for graphic violence, strong language, brief nudity.