---
title: "Demolition Man: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/demolition-man/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/demolition-man"
critics_score: 60
critics_reviews: 7
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Demolition Man (1993): what the critics said

Critics' score 60 from 7 reviews: 3 positive, 2 mixed, 2 negative.

Most critics find Demolition Man more fun than it has any right to be, and the praise clusters on its tone rather than its plot: a tongue-in-cheek send-up of a politically correct future that knows how silly it is. Stallone’s willingness to play against his own image draws warm notices, as does his pairing with Wesley Snipes, and Sandra Bullock is picked out as the comic highlight. The kinder reviews call the action fast and comic-book in the best sense.

The reviews split widely, and the split runs along time. The notices from the film’s release are the harshest: the Los Angeles Times finds it stuck between loud action and dopey parody, with the set pieces stalling between the opening rescue and the finale, and Variety calls it a noisy, derivative pastiche, praising only the production design. The warmer verdicts come later, from Empire, Radio Times and, most recently, Slant Magazine.

## Slant Magazine — Derek Smith

Rating 4.5/5. 11 December 2024. 

Smith calls the film an endlessly entertaining, tongue-in-cheek sci-fi action satire and praises Arrow Video’s release as an embarrassment of riches. He particularly singles out the film’s blend of thrilling action and goofy comedy, with Sandra Bullock a comedic standout.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/dvd/demolition-man-4k-uhd-blu-ray-review-marco-brambilla/)

## Empire — Phillipa Bloom

Fi1m's normalised score 82/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2000. 

Bloom finds the film fast, furious, and thoroughly enjoyable, praising its playful sense of fun. She singles out the chemistry between Stallone and Snipes and the film’s comic-book action spectacle.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/demolition-man-review/)

## Radio Times — John Ferguson

Rating 4/5. 

The critic says the film comes close to being Sylvester Stallone’s best. They praise Stallone’s tongue-in-cheek performance and the film’s playful send-up of political correctness.

[Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-i5zz3v/demolition-man/)

## Time Out — NF

Fi1m's normalised score 64/100 (inferred from the text). 

The page is identified as a film review, but the critic’s verdict is unavailable in the supplied capture. Its description characterizes the film as a cruel satire of a politically correct society.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/demolition-man)

## The New York Times — Janet Maslin

Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 8 October 1993. 

The review’s verdict and specific praise or complaint cannot be verified from the blocked page. The available page text contains only an access prompt.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/10/08/movies/review-film-waking-up-in-a-future-of-muscles.html)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 8 October 1993. 

Turan finds the film caught between loud action and dopey science-fiction parody, making it more trying than entertaining. He praises the opening rescue sequence’s staging but complains that the action largely freezes until the finale.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-10-08-ca-43330-story.html)

## Variety — Emanuel Levy

Fi1m's normalised score 25/100 (inferred from the text). 8 October 1993. 

Levy finds the film a noisy, derivative pastiche that is unlikely to satisfy its broad target audience. He praises its high-tech production design, while faulting the poorly staged action and the lack of a guiding intelligence.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/1993/film/reviews/demolition-man-1200433744/)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/demolition-man.md