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

DATE: SATURDAY, October 14, 1995                   TAG: 9510170111
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

'STRANGE DAYS' IS DISGUSTINGLY VIOLENT

It would be nice to be able to say that statement is meant as a joke, a facetious reply to the pre-release buzz about this movie. But the fact is, "Strange Days" - directed by the apparently delusional Kathryn Bigelow - really is an irresponsible and offensive piece of garbage, when it isn't being utterly conventional and predictable.

The one bright spot in this pile of dark material is Ralph Fiennes, who can't help the fact that he is a great actor, no matter how bad the material. He has Laurence Olivier's ability to carve out a clean little spot in which to work magic in everything he does - no matter how awful the surroundings.

And awful "Strange Days" is, but in such a big way, it's impossible to shrug off. This movie just can't get enough of itself, right down to its long, drawn-out, extraordinarily violent final minutes.

In case you're still curious, this is the story of Lenny Nero (Fiennes), an ex-cop who deals in digital recordings of real human experience. The recordings have the currency of a kind of illicit drug and are sold to people who "wire up" for fun - to experience the pleasure of being an 18-year-old girl in the shower, the adrenalin rush of robbing a restaurant and fleeing from police (this one ends in death), the joy of running along a beach early in the morning.

Lenny doesn't deal in "blackjack" - that is, snuff films, but one suddenly finds its way into his possession. It is a horrifying piece of film of someone breaking into a hotel room, raping and murdering a young woman, and I'd like to say that "Strange Days" has the decency to spare us the details - but it doesn't.

The recording gets Lenny, his friend Mace (Angela Bassett) and another buddy named Max (Tom Sizemore) caught up in a very bad situation that somehow involves Lenny's sleazy ex-girlfriend Faith (Juliette Lewis, doing her best Courtney Love impression) and Faith's new boyfriend Philo (Michael Wincot), who's pretty scary for a guy named after a pastry.

So everyone's running around with guns and digital recordings and it's just hours before the millennium and still L.A. hasn't worked out its collective subconscious anger and guilt about the Rodney King beating. So Bigelow and screenwriters James Cameron and Jay Cocks work in a King beating tableau.

And what it's all supposed to mean, apparently, is this: If we don't stop watching so much darn television-movie violence (huh?), we'll never get to work on problems like drug abuse and racial inequality. But it's perfectly OK if several women get beaten up, raped and murdered in order to make the point.

"Strange Days," indeed.

Strange Days *

A 20th Century Fox release showing at Salem Valley 8 and Valley View Cinema. 145 min. Rated R for excessive violence, nudity and profanity (should be NC-17).