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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
EAN: 0086162104251
Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, Letterboxed, THX, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Letterbox
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 21, 2002
Running Time: 145 minutes
Sales Rank: 14992
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Theatrical Release Date: October 13, 1995
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Editorial Review:
Description:
It's the eve of the millennium in Los Angeles, December 31, 1999. Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) is an ex-cop turned street hustler who preys on human nature by dealing the drug of the future. It's an environment that will lead him deep into the danger zone when he falls into a maze filled with intrigue and betrayal, murder and conspiracy. Angela Bassett and Juliette Lewis co-star in this provocative, action-packed thriller written by James Cameron (Titanic, The Terminator, Terminator 2: Judgement Day).
Amazon.com essential video:
James Cameron wrote the script for this not-so-futuristic science fiction tale about a former vice cop (Ralph Fiennes) who now sells addicting, virtual reality clips that allow a user to experience the recorded sensations of others. He becomes embroiled in a murder conspiracy, tries to save a former girlfriend (Juliette Lewis), and has a romance with his chauffeur and bodyguard (Angela Bassett). Cameron's ex-wife, director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break), brought the whole, busy, violent enterprise to the screen, and while the film's socially relevant heart is in the right place, its excesses wear one out. Some of the casting doesn't quite click either: Fiennes isn't really right for his nervous role, and Lewis is annoying (and unbelievable as the hero's much-yearned-for former squeeze). Expect some ugly if daring moments with the virtual reality stuff. --Tom Keogh
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - What other movies about Y2K were so much fun?
I loved this movie, if nothing else because it is one of the few times that Ralph Fiennes leaves behind the glacial, remote,untouchable persona of so many of his roles. Yeah,he's kind of greasy at first, but by the end, his eyes are so soft,his face so emotive with love for his friend and desperation to do the right thing.
Plus, this was- at the time, the only modern movie where a beautiful White man, realizes he loves a beautiful Black woman- a woman he respects and has always been his friend. No skanky sex shenanigans here (at least not between these two- Juliette takes care of that part!)!
There was so much hoopla about Y2K- people really thought there would be riots, and such. I stayed home, and they had the entire police force out on 6th street in Austin, for fear of trouble! So, it fit the time as pop entertainment.
Now, well, it's kind of tired, but Ralph is still so tender and tormented, a regular kind of screwed up guy- I watch it again, and again just to see him.
Rating: - Strange Sizzle N Sparks
Hadn't seen this film in forever. Saw it a couple times when it came out. Just watched it again today. Wow! I totally forgot how amazing it was.
It's still relevant and a work of art today. I haven't seen anything like it since it came out in '95.
The idea of virtual reality that you can plug into by use of a SQUID, an electronic cap with electrodes to electrically stimulate and manipulate your brain. The use of floppy disks, yeah, okay, it was '95. The use of a big ole box like the old cable boxes from yore? yah. Ok. The idea of people getting sucked into spending more time with electronic devices than living real life? Right on. Then and now. Yeah, there are internet/techno junkies. Near catatonia and zoned out. Subjective. The idea that electronics/games can get the best of you, and bring out the worst? Too much of anything's not good. People too game. Bound for perversion. Gamer is played out. Another consumer consumed? Yeah. Pushing limits to pushing daisies.
Some other movies popped into mind when watching this film again. Videodrome. 8MM. Blue Velvet. Sean Penn's The Game. And then there's the Vincent D'Onofrio The Cell (New Line Platinum Series). In 8mm, Joaquin Phoenix's character Max California warns Nick Cage's Tom Welles, 'When you dance with the devil, you don't change the devil, the devil changes you.'
All visually appealing films, often with more than 1 superstar. Strange Days, no doubt, a title ode to The Doors song, includes many superstars. ... Read More
Rating: - Good "Drug" movie
I enjoyed this film a lot.. although not many fans of "Drug" movies will tag it as such.. but it's a very good thriller with lots of twists and turns.
=)
Rating:  - Brilliant and Fatally Flawed
A brilliant, ambitious failure.
Looking back at this movie from the perspective of 13 years in the future, you can see what the writers and the director were trying to achieve, and, simulataneously, how far they fell short.
The contradictions make it interesting.
The LA of this 1999 looks like a kindler, gentler American occupied Baghdad. It seems to be occupied by a foreign army, and yet nobody seems to get killed. The city is in a constant state of riot, and yet it's supposed to be an earth shattering moment when some people (after watching for almost a minute) finally attack some riot cops who are beating up a black woman in front of their eyes. There's a powerful sense of the apocalyptic and yet in the end all it turns out to be is a few rogue cops (a few bad apples) trying to cover up a police murder.
The concept of experiencing someone else's brainwaves could have been a cheesy gimmick and yet it's the strongest part of the movie, especially the scene where the prositute is murdered and forced to watch her own death from the point of view of the murderer. That in a way sums up the brainwashed, cable news saturated, Rush Limbaugh and Fox News dominated American people of today. The government in the process of murdering American civil society brainwashed the American people out of their own point of view and into the point of view of their oppressers. The constant bombardment of triviality in the media erases the individual and the ability of the ... Read More
Rating:  - The Cameron Bigalow film they don't want you to remember
Back in the mid 1990s there was talk about how Katherine Bigelow (ex of James Cameroon and director of popular shows like Near Dark and Point Break) was doing a new movie with state of the art POV (point of view) content that used new camera techniques to put the viewer inside someone's head. The reason for this was to film James Cameron's vision of a world where people are able to record others people's lives via a neural net interface for playback... a sort of hippy drug for the turn of the Millennium. There was a lot of hype about this film.
Unfortunately Strange Days never lived up to its expectations. The film contained a lot of music sequences (such as bands playing) with lyrics that are frankly, bad. Just listening to the rap video makes you ask why they didn't even attempt to rhyme? It was dreadful then... and it's horrible today.
Ralph Fiennes' American accent was as inept as the script's one-liners with a delivery that didn't pay off. Jennifer Lewis did lots of nudity for what seems like the sake of nudity and quite frankly most of us would prefer her with her clothes back on. Talented actors, such as Vincent D'Onofrio cop running around chasing people, are completely wasted.
While there is an interesting twist involving the sudden appearance of a serial killer the film gets boring and overlong with action sequences and back stories that never once stir our imagination or make a hair stand on end. To top it off the coolness expected of Bigelow's production ... Read More
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