The Year is 2032. The prison system, not having learnt its lessons from the past century (such as the case involving Alcatraz), now "puts away" people in deep freeze using cryogenic technology. Among those in the deep freeze are John Spartan (Sylvester Stallone), a police officer convicted of involuntary manslaughter, and Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes), a ruthless criminal with a list of crimes too numerous to mention.
In Demolition Man, the future of what is now Los Angeles and its surrounding areas (known as San Angeles) appears blissful. It is illegal to swear, smoke, drink alcohol, have any contact with other humans that would lead to the exchange of fluids, and have children without a license. Sounds just like what the Christian Coalition would like, eh?
Unfortunately for the peace-loving people of San Angeles, there exists a band of rebels who wish to make their depraved choices without government intervention. Rebelling against the above Orwellian system, they live underground and are a thorn in the side of the San Angeles administration. In order to eliminate them and gain total power, Raymond Cocteau (Nigel Hawthorne), the leader of San Angeles, covertly arranges to have Phoenix "programmed" to kill the leader of the underground rebels, Edgar Friendly (Denis Leary). When Phoenix escapes from prison, the prison officials (who are unaware of plan) lack the skill to combat him and thus release Spartan also, since it was he who brought Phoenix to justice in the 20th century.
As you can guess, there're a lot of explosions, gunfights, and general mayhem. Snipes is reasonably funny as a blonde-haired villain. Stallone actually manages more than three facial expressions. Surprisingly, there is a lot of good humour throughout the movie: There's a priceless moment involving meeting matches and licking asses, which had me rolling over the floor. Sandra Bullock is cute as Spartan's sidekick and love interest.
There's a fair bit of socio-political commentary hidden in the movie, but none of it is new. This is definitely worth renting if you've not seen it before.