Additional trivia: In foreign versions, “Taco Bell” is dubbed over with “Pizza Hut,” who had a bigger market overseas. I saw this version once in Australia and it seemed so much more wrong to me than it probably should have.

I don’t know if it’s specific enough to be called a theory, but I have an inkling that if a movie presents a unique enough vision of the future, the plot almost doesn’t matter. Demolition Man is a lot like The 5th Element in that you can overlook its flaws (and sure, it has lots more of them than The 5th Element) simply because they did such a great job building this strange, cheesy (and occasionally insightful) future.

Released on October 8th, 1993, Demolition Man turns 20 years old today. While it’s perhaps not what you’d call a “great film,” it’s one of those movies that I’ve found myself watching every time it comes on TV, full of endlessly quotable minutiae and anachronistic cultural touchstones. I can’t tell if it’s brilliant, stupid, or both, but I love the hell out of it. Until Gravity came out this week, it was Sandra Bullock’s best movie.

Though not as irksome as “Last Action Hero,” “Demolition Man” is a similar kind of film: a noisy, soulless, self-conscious pastiche that mixes elements of sci-fi, action-adventure and romance, then pours on a layer of comedy replete with Hollywood in-jokes. – Variety critic Emanuel Levy.

Demolition Man is sleek and empty as well as brutal and pointless. It feels computer engineered, untouched by human hands. A real pod movie. -Peter Travers

Yes, this film is worse than Cliffhanger, Stallone’s last venture into chaos. And, while I’m not one to leap forward and extol the limitless virtues of Total Recall, that motion picture is a masterpiece in comparison to this one. -James Berardinelli

Random Trivia

According to some accounts, Wesley Snipes’ hair was the reason Dennis Rodman started dying his, after seeing the film twice in a row.

Demolition Man was director Marco Brambilla’s first feature. He made only one more, Excess Baggage, starring Alicia Silverstone. I think I sprouted my first pube during that scene in Clueless where you could kind of see her underwear.

The love interest was played by Sandra Bullock, who dropped off the face of the Earth after this, never to be heard from again.

In any case, happy Demolition Man day, everyone. I’m proud that I got to introduce this film to our youngest writer Evan this week. Make sure you find a younger person to make watch this movie, or else there may come a day when no one gets our three seashells references.

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