So ahead of its time, people didn’t appreciate it on release. As years go by it’s getting the respect it deserves
JeebusDaves
Amazing movie with an even better soundtrack.
cholotariat
One of the finest Bigelow films, and that’s saying a lot, given her body of work.
Easily one of the best cyberpunk films ever made.
jayinfidel
I try to watch every year on new years eve.
Edit: wanted to add I’m old enough that I saw it in theaters on release day.
Ekkobelli
Love this movie, it’s a classic. I rewatch it constantly. I’m yearning for something new like this. Any suggestions?
Esekig184
great movie. underrated back in it’s day.
impulsivetre
The synopsis is basically a dude getting caught up with selling illegal braindances. I’m watching this ASAP!
snortingajax
Very underrated. Still skip through the rape scene though
P75N7
great movie has aged so well and is such a slept on piece of the genre
CSBD001
It is a really good film that was ahead of its time.
Aethernaught
One of the best cyberpunk movies. It’s plot pretty obviously inspired some of the braindance sections of Cyberpunk 2077.
When I started a pack of my friends on a Cyberpunk 2020 campaign (they were hyped about 2077, and wanted to get to know the world, and I’ve played 2020 since the early 90s) This is one of the three movies I watched with them to give them the feel for my game. Strange Days, Johnny Mnemonic, and Split Second
Daimyo79
An amazing film!
NeoPrimitiveOasis
One of my all-time favorite films. The themes of race, politics, and policing are even more resonant and important today than 30 years ago. The technology themes have aged well. Amazing actors and performances, too.
fittgers
Watching cops act like actual cops but with consequences *chef’s kiss*
BigDanny92
One of my favorite movies
It’s cyberpunk in themes but not much in aesthetic
I don’t remember seeing too many Japanese letters or neon billboards but the rest of the vibe is there
KalistoCA
I have memory of really enjoying it when it first came out
It’s been a long time
I recall of feeling disturbed by it …
PhantomSesay
Anyone got a link to watch it?
Can’t find it on any apps to stream in the UK
User1539
Favorite movie. Hands down.
It’s the only movie to really create a Cyberpunk world I can believe 100% without any need to suspend disbelief.
traumatism
Love it. One of my favourite movies and a great soundtrack to boot.
Knytemare44
The characters in strange days are almost 1:1 the jobs from the o.g. pen and paper cyberpunk rpg.
Lennie is a fixer. Mace is a solo. Max is a cop. Grace is a rockerboy. Tweak is a techie. Philo is a corporate.
They dont have cyberspace, so no net runner and no nomad. But, yeah, 100% one of the all time great pieces of cyber punk media.
Aegrim
I watched this as a kid so can only really remember the brain dance aspect of it and nothing else.
Sweaty-Astronaut7248
I just rewatched this a couple months ago. Holds up. The casting from top to bottom is exquisite. Lenny still begs for you to hate him in the beginning
spacemanaut
The cyberpunk is fascinating. The politics are garbage. Here’s the full ~~rant~~ review I wrote after watching it:
___
I was awed by much of *Strange Days*. Kathryn Bigelow is (or was…) a truly innovative filmmaker – it’s a feat to pull off a scene that leaves you wondering mouth agape “How the fuck did they do that?” while still being totally immersed due to how that breathtaking craft complements the story. The fantastical technology explored in the film is as interesting as the real technology its makers invented to realize it, achieving the holy tetrad (quaternity?) most/lesser sci fi fails to: 1) is fascinating and cool by itself, 2) explores contemporary anxieties, 3) eerily prescient, and 4) is about human nature more than gadgets. And (cancel me) I’m a bit of a Ralph Fiennes skeptic, but here he and everyone else shines, guided by masterful direction and tight, savvy writing.
Unfortunately, the racial politics of this film are an utter mess and finally amount to a huge whiff.
Understand: I do not demand that every story [align with my own political views](https://i.imgur.com/oqAdWRL.jpeg). *Strange Days* falls flat on its face at the finish line because co-writers Jay Cocks and James Cameron are too cowardly or naïve to follow through with the boldness of vision and logical/thematic implications of the world, values, and characters that precede it, not to mention the undeniable reality of race and police brutality in the US.
To recap: A popular, outspoken hip-hop star is making waves by articulating the rage of 1990s Black Americans against systemic white oppression. At the dawn of the new millennium, some fear a race war, while others are drooling for it. This zeitgeist reaches a boiling point when the rapper is murdered by police. For most of the film, we are led to believe that this is the tip of a vast, deep network of systemic racism in the NYC police department.
This is interesting, valid sociopolitical commentary – but, as the best dramatic screenwriting does, it *also* challenges the protagonists by revealing and deepening their personal fault lines: Lenny (Fiennes), a white former cop, maintains broad faith in the system and its ability/willingness to self-correct, while Mace (Angela Bassett), a shrewd Black single mother, chastises him for his naïvety. They’re friends, she says, and she loves him, but there are things he just doesn’t get, *can’t* get, and can’t ask her to do. It’s a brave, intelligent, sensitive articulation of the blind spots of privilege even the best-intentioned allies inevitably have, voiced by a fantastic Black actress at a time when the US was still reeling from the assault of Rodney King and would fail to learn from it 30 years later and counting.
Great. A masterpiece of political science fiction. So where does *Strange Days* carry this setup?
Lenny tells Mace thanks, but she’s wrong. He dismisses her views of the police, reassuring her that their best hope is to trust their outlandishly saintly commissioner and the majority of good cops under him. She goes along with it despite her great reluctance, mostly because… she has a crush on him.
And guess what? He’s 100% right. There’s no systemic racism. There are just two bad cops, thwarted bravely by their noble colleagues and their hero boss at the climax to rescue Mace, the damsel in distress. Everyone in the crowd of every race is on her side. The loony idea of a conspiracy was cooked up as a red herring by Lenny’s rival, some obscure, personally-motivated nerd (who is concurrently defeated not by any means relevant to the theme or tech but in a woefully conventional fistfight culminating in a corny and borderline-plagiarized *Die Hard* death). It’s fine as a plot twist in a detective story, but it’s a 180 from everything else the film had seemed to try to say. And what happens after the credits roll? Everything is fine, I guess! Happy new year! and the nice, friendly cops escort the protagonists safely to the police station to make a report. The system is well-meaning and working as intended. It’s not even really ambiguous: a hallmark not only of the best political fiction but also of the best neo-noir.
Again: If this were a bog standard hardboiled sci fi about cool characters solving a mystery and stopping the villain, I could accept a boring, uncritical ending where the police help out and all the practical and moral problems disappear by shooting the bad guys. *Strange Days* is so disappointing because it’s so much smarter and better than that – right up until the point when it isn’t.
31 Comments
Loved it.
This, Nirvana and Nemesis are the holy trinity.
So ahead of its time, people didn’t appreciate it on release. As years go by it’s getting the respect it deserves
Amazing movie with an even better soundtrack.
One of the finest Bigelow films, and that’s saying a lot, given her body of work.
Easily one of the best cyberpunk films ever made.
I try to watch every year on new years eve.
Edit: wanted to add I’m old enough that I saw it in theaters on release day.
Love this movie, it’s a classic. I rewatch it constantly. I’m yearning for something new like this. Any suggestions?
great movie. underrated back in it’s day.
The synopsis is basically a dude getting caught up with selling illegal braindances. I’m watching this ASAP!
Very underrated. Still skip through the rape scene though
great movie has aged so well and is such a slept on piece of the genre
It is a really good film that was ahead of its time.
One of the best cyberpunk movies. It’s plot pretty obviously inspired some of the braindance sections of Cyberpunk 2077.
When I started a pack of my friends on a Cyberpunk 2020 campaign (they were hyped about 2077, and wanted to get to know the world, and I’ve played 2020 since the early 90s) This is one of the three movies I watched with them to give them the feel for my game. Strange Days, Johnny Mnemonic, and Split Second
An amazing film!
One of my all-time favorite films. The themes of race, politics, and policing are even more resonant and important today than 30 years ago. The technology themes have aged well. Amazing actors and performances, too.
Watching cops act like actual cops but with consequences *chef’s kiss*
One of my favorite movies
It’s cyberpunk in themes but not much in aesthetic
I don’t remember seeing too many Japanese letters or neon billboards but the rest of the vibe is there
I have memory of really enjoying it when it first came out
It’s been a long time
I recall of feeling disturbed by it …
Anyone got a link to watch it?
Can’t find it on any apps to stream in the UK
Favorite movie. Hands down.
It’s the only movie to really create a Cyberpunk world I can believe 100% without any need to suspend disbelief.
Love it. One of my favourite movies and a great soundtrack to boot.
The characters in strange days are almost 1:1 the jobs from the o.g. pen and paper cyberpunk rpg.
Lennie is a fixer. Mace is a solo. Max is a cop. Grace is a rockerboy. Tweak is a techie. Philo is a corporate.
They dont have cyberspace, so no net runner and no nomad. But, yeah, 100% one of the all time great pieces of cyber punk media.
I watched this as a kid so can only really remember the brain dance aspect of it and nothing else.
I just rewatched this a couple months ago. Holds up. The casting from top to bottom is exquisite. Lenny still begs for you to hate him in the beginning
The cyberpunk is fascinating. The politics are garbage. Here’s the full ~~rant~~ review I wrote after watching it:
___
I was awed by much of *Strange Days*. Kathryn Bigelow is (or was…) a truly innovative filmmaker – it’s a feat to pull off a scene that leaves you wondering mouth agape “How the fuck did they do that?” while still being totally immersed due to how that breathtaking craft complements the story. The fantastical technology explored in the film is as interesting as the real technology its makers invented to realize it, achieving the holy tetrad (quaternity?) most/lesser sci fi fails to: 1) is fascinating and cool by itself, 2) explores contemporary anxieties, 3) eerily prescient, and 4) is about human nature more than gadgets. And (cancel me) I’m a bit of a Ralph Fiennes skeptic, but here he and everyone else shines, guided by masterful direction and tight, savvy writing.
Unfortunately, the racial politics of this film are an utter mess and finally amount to a huge whiff.
Understand: I do not demand that every story [align with my own political views](https://i.imgur.com/oqAdWRL.jpeg). *Strange Days* falls flat on its face at the finish line because co-writers Jay Cocks and James Cameron are too cowardly or naïve to follow through with the boldness of vision and logical/thematic implications of the world, values, and characters that precede it, not to mention the undeniable reality of race and police brutality in the US.
To recap: A popular, outspoken hip-hop star is making waves by articulating the rage of 1990s Black Americans against systemic white oppression. At the dawn of the new millennium, some fear a race war, while others are drooling for it. This zeitgeist reaches a boiling point when the rapper is murdered by police. For most of the film, we are led to believe that this is the tip of a vast, deep network of systemic racism in the NYC police department.
This is interesting, valid sociopolitical commentary – but, as the best dramatic screenwriting does, it *also* challenges the protagonists by revealing and deepening their personal fault lines: Lenny (Fiennes), a white former cop, maintains broad faith in the system and its ability/willingness to self-correct, while Mace (Angela Bassett), a shrewd Black single mother, chastises him for his naïvety. They’re friends, she says, and she loves him, but there are things he just doesn’t get, *can’t* get, and can’t ask her to do. It’s a brave, intelligent, sensitive articulation of the blind spots of privilege even the best-intentioned allies inevitably have, voiced by a fantastic Black actress at a time when the US was still reeling from the assault of Rodney King and would fail to learn from it 30 years later and counting.
Great. A masterpiece of political science fiction. So where does *Strange Days* carry this setup?
Lenny tells Mace thanks, but she’s wrong. He dismisses her views of the police, reassuring her that their best hope is to trust their outlandishly saintly commissioner and the majority of good cops under him. She goes along with it despite her great reluctance, mostly because… she has a crush on him.
And guess what? He’s 100% right. There’s no systemic racism. There are just two bad cops, thwarted bravely by their noble colleagues and their hero boss at the climax to rescue Mace, the damsel in distress. Everyone in the crowd of every race is on her side. The loony idea of a conspiracy was cooked up as a red herring by Lenny’s rival, some obscure, personally-motivated nerd (who is concurrently defeated not by any means relevant to the theme or tech but in a woefully conventional fistfight culminating in a corny and borderline-plagiarized *Die Hard* death). It’s fine as a plot twist in a detective story, but it’s a 180 from everything else the film had seemed to try to say. And what happens after the credits roll? Everything is fine, I guess! Happy new year! and the nice, friendly cops escort the protagonists safely to the police station to make a report. The system is well-meaning and working as intended. It’s not even really ambiguous: a hallmark not only of the best political fiction but also of the best neo-noir.
Again: If this were a bog standard hardboiled sci fi about cool characters solving a mystery and stopping the villain, I could accept a boring, uncritical ending where the police help out and all the practical and moral problems disappear by shooting the bad guys. *Strange Days* is so disappointing because it’s so much smarter and better than that – right up until the point when it isn’t.
It’s brilliant.
Not great. But some interesting stuff I guess.
In my top 3 CP movies
Easily one of the best cyberpunk films ever made.
Adlgj
It’s started a lifelong crush on Juliette lewis.