A while ago I heard of "Strange Days", a sci-fi movie set in LA during an alternate 1999. It got pretty good reviews (~70% average) so I thought I'd give it a watch.
The basic premise of Strange Days is interesting: SQUID magnetometry (a phenomenon ironically used in my work field as a Chemist in real life) has evolved to the extent that it can be used to completely record someone's feelings, thoughts, emotions and experiences on a "tape", directly from their brain.
Obviously, this technology is not merely limited to recording mundane things. The film opens with a bombastic sequence in which a man "tapes" the robbery of a store, culminating with his own gut-wrenching death as he falls from a building. This depiction of real death in a "tape" makes it a "blackjack".
The main character, Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) is a washed-out ex-cop who makes a sleazy living from selling "tapes" that allow users to experience illicit thrills. He has a pathetic hang-up on his ex-girlfriend, Faith (Juliette Lewis) that's bolstered by his constant re-watching of his SQUID memories of her. While he proclaims that he has ethics ("I don't trade blackjacks, everyone knows that."), most of the film he comes across as a loser with minimal scruples.
Fiennes does a really good job of somehow making Lenny likable enough to care about. It'd be very easy, with his fake Rolexes and selfish demeanour, to make him a character that the audience takes an instant dislike to. But somehow he hits that sweet spot where we pity him because his life is such a wreck, and also perhaps because his wretched state stems from losing his "true love".
Really, though, the show is stolen by Angela Bassett as "Mace", Lenny's close friend. A bodyguard in an LA completely overrun by crime, Mace is tough, smart and uncompromising. However, she's also caring, compassionate and honest, unlike almost everyone around her in the film. It is often her discussions with Lenny that give the film it's best moments.
Unfortunately, the film itself for me was a real example of how poor scripting and lazy action scenes can really detract from a movie. Despite Fiennes and Bassett putting in performances that are worth watching, the story itself devolves into being almost nonsensical by the end, and it feels like the film entirely squanders the ability to really explore the whole "tape" concept when it goes off trying to make some really vague, confused statement about civil liberties instead.
Firstly, there is a ridiculous amount of repetition. The worst example in the film has to be the club scenes: there are so many scenes in which Lenny walks into the same club and bickers with Faith and nothing actually gets resolved that I started genuinely feeling like the DVD was stuck on a loop or something. This is combined with slightly bizarre drawn-out shots of Faith singing in the club with a Grunge band that seem to go on for ages and contribute nothing.
Philo Gant (Michael Wincott) is Faith's new man. He is one of the most pointless and irritating characters in the movie by far. He plays a part in the plot, but is a 2D character stuck in the same loop of walking around pouting and threatening Lenny while not doing much else.
Finally, the action scenes are just stupid in places. We have a scene in which a bad guy gets shot in the chest three times at almost point-blank range, but then simply jumps up and is fit enough to have a car chase immediately afterwards because he was wearing a weedy looking bullet-proof vest. There are a couple of good fight scenes with Mace, but the majority of them are so over the top they're just silly.
The ending deserves a paragraph of it's own: it's clear that the scriptwriters wanted to produce an "unexpected" ending, but they do it through a really formulaic twist that doesn't make any sense at all. Especially when it requires us to believe that one of the main characters is actually a psychotic rapist, but can completely hide that trait from everyone else for years.
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So what do we have? We've got a unique and interesting concept that is actually left barely explored over the course of the film. It's perplexing: the story could have been really strong if it focused on the profound nature of being able to experience any sensation as any person, but the fact that doing so requires that you leave your own consciousness and ethics behind.
Similarly, making the action more realistic and cutting all the pointless scenes with Gant and Faith to allow us to focus on Lenny and Mace would have made the film much more lean and dynamic.
As it is, though, with so much filler and so many pointless scenes, parts of the movie are a real drag. Combined with the ludicrous ending, it's a real shame that I can't give it more than 2 stars.
Rating: 2/5
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An excellent premise with some strong main characters, sadly hampered by a go-nowhere story and a complete inability to actually use that premise in the plot in a meaningful way.
I still recommend seeing it if you're a Fatboy Slim fan: you'll immediately recognise Mace's amazingly distinctive shout of "Right here, right now!" as one of his samples.
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