“She’s the grounding, realistic, normal person in a sea of these... cyberpunk crazies.”
Strange Days was a film that was released in 1995, directed by Kathryn Bigelow, written by James Cameron and Jay Cocks, and starring Ralph Fiennes as Lenny Nero as well as Angela Bassett as Lornette “Mace” Mason. It is ultimately about a black-market dealer who traffics in illegal, recorded human memories and experiences who gets drawn into a dangerous, high-stakes conspiracy in a chaotic, pre-millennial Los Angeles after receiving a disc containing the memories of a friend’s brutal murder, forcing him to rely on his close friend and bodyguard to survive the city’s corrupt forces and uncover the truth before the clock strikes midnight on the new year.
I chose this as the next part of my 52-Week Movie Challenge, under the prompt for week 5: A 1995 Film Starring Angela Bassett. You know, this challenge has been pretty specific in the past. I thought the first week was overly precise by having me pick a Susan Sarandon film that was released in the ‘90s, but this week? I had to choose a movie specifically from 1995 that also starred Angela Bassett? Are you kidding me? I went into this thinking there couldn’t be more than two, and there are. There are four movies she starred in this year. That’s a huge accomplishment for one person.
None of the choices available were movies I’d seen in the past, so I had my pick of the litter. There was even an Eddie Murphy as a vampire film I nearly chose... however, when I searched Angela Bassett on IMDb, before I even went into her profile, IMDb lists one title next to her name, which I assume is her most popular, or famous, or something... and needless to say, Strange Days is the one title next to her name on IMDb, which so happened to be 1995. On IMDb, it’s also the highest-rated 1995 film of hers as well... so I knew I had my movie.
Now, the first thing you should know about Strange Days is that it is purely 1990s cyberpunk neo-noir, straight up. It has that look and vibe, and hence... it’s a bit aged and a bit cheesy here and there. Now, cyberpunk isn’t really my go-to genre, since it can feel a bit... odd overall, but I also can’t help but feel they are extremely unique in the same breath. Personally, I think they work best when there’s no definitive year that it takes place, because that’s what ages these things the most. For Strange Days, it takes place just before the year 2000, which is crazy because that’s only five years after its original release date. The writers thought it was realistic to say in five years, we would have tech that could record memories and experiences? I don’t know. All I know is they should have kept the year out of it and just said... in the near future.
Narratively, what I liked about this film is that it kind of reminded me of Minority Report. Not in solving a murder mystery through precognition, but rather solving a murder mystery through a different type of futuristic tech that kind of deals with supernatural sight as well.
Real quick, though. Since the prompt for this week was ultimately about an Angela Bassett film, I have to say... her importance in this movie is not a ton. I think intrinsically, her character is the audience. She’s the grounding, realistic, normal person in a sea of these... cyberpunk crazies. She doesn’t want anything to do with the futuristic tech. She helps make logical decisions throughout the movie... so in that sense, I would say her role is important, and she actually won a Saturn Award for Best Actress for her role here, but most of the film is indeed focusing in on Ralph Fiennes as he tracks down what happened with this murder victim, all while being taunted by the murderer who clearly feels invulnerable. That mystery is definitely unpredictable for the most part, too. I think the writing of the film is a lot of fun and pretty smart overall.
There’s some technical achievements in this film that I think are important to note. First of all, the story came from James Cameron, who also technically edited parts of the movie as well as being integral for inventing yet another device and tech, specifically for the first-person POV shot stuff. The film would later be recognized as prophetic for VR specifically... and while this tech specifically was never used again for any other movie, later tech that made things quite a bit easier was naturally available, like GoPro stuff that they used for Hardcore Henry. Also, the first 15 minutes of the film is a one-take, including a stuntman that literally jumps between buildings without a harness or safety wire. I feel like that’s an overlooked thing these days, but that’s kind of insane, especially for 1995.
Overall, this is an interesting movie. I appreciate it for the high-octane premise and murder mystery. I like that there are all of these moving parts that you might not be able to separate right from the get-go. I think certain things about it are definitely aged. Overall, I think it’s unpredictable, but maybe certain things about it are easier to guess than others. I think the cyberpunk-ness of it does work to an extent, but it’s also a product of its time and cheesy. Though, being mid-’90s, I feel like that was inescapable. Overall... I’m glad I saw it. I don’t necessarily think of it as something I’d recommend, but it wouldn’t hurt.
Unbiased/Technical Score: 38/50 or 76%
Biased/Entertainment Score: 36/50 or 72%
Overall Score: 74/100 or 74% or 3.5/5 on Letterboxd
Out of the 5 movies I’ve seen so far on this challenge, I have it at 4th place.