Kathryn Bigelow: Strange Days
December 1999 was a crazy time: riots all throughout LA, cops everywhere, and a little technology that "wires" videos straight from one brain to another. Of course, it's mostly used for porn, but Lenny, a purveyor of such goods, hates the snuff/violent stuff that's out there. But he runs across a "tape" of a friend of his, a hooker, who is killed in a snuff film. When his ex-girlfriend is involved he knows he has to do something.
Even as I'm writing the synopsis, I'm bored. It all seems to have been done before. Even the new technology was in an 80s film called Brainstorm, which does more interesting things with the technology than this film does. The characters are kinda dumb, and the dialogue is terribly written.
But one thing that captivates me are the main themes of police brutality, race oppression and technology addiction. That's pretty cool. And the final scenes are so powerful for 2014 that it amazes me that they were made in 1995. If Bigelow, in full possession of her powers as a director were to remake this film and release it today, it would be crazy controversial, charged with all kinds of politicization. Instead of being a twenty year old sci-fi, it would be a modern day social commentary. Spot on.
3.5/5