"Cheer up. The world's about to end in ten minutes anyway."

Movie: Strange Days 
Year: 1995
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: James Cameron and Jay Cocks
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Michael Wincott, Vincent D'Onofrio, William Fichtner.
Running time: 145 min


Despite being alive at the time, I don't really remember the huge event that was the turn of the millennium. Well, yeah, I was four years old at the time and I was probably more worried about reading books (apparently I was good at that). All I actually remember of this 2000 event was this magnet on the fridge explaining everything that we needed just in case 'Y2K' had a devastating effect on our lives. Oh, and this song that we had to sing at school about it in 2004. But it would seem that 2000 was a pretty big deal, so much so that there was a movie made about it in 1995. With Kathryn 'First woman to win Best Director' Bigelow directing and her ex-husband James 'King of the World' Cameron writing, the two managed to make a sci-fi/action movie, pretty much set within the architecture of the mind, against the paranoia surrounding 2000. Oh yeah, it's pretty awesome.

Strange Days takes a look into a world that isn't so realistic any more; it's all about the 'playback'. What is this? Well, ex-cop Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) is now enjoying a career dealing 'SQUID' tapes, which are basically like video tapes that don't record stuff of the TV, but they record real life. This is a pretty good life, until Lenny comes across a tape which shows a prostitute being raped and murdered. Suddenly, Lenny, along with his two best friends, bodyguard Mace (Angela Bassett) and private investigator Max (Tom Sizemore) are brought into a web of murder and blackmail, all through these recordings. All the while, the world is about to end and Lenny is still pining for his ex-girlfriend Faith (Juliette Lewis).

Unfortunately, Strange Days was a commercial failure back in 1995, as it only scored back just under $8,000,000 of its $42,000,000 budget during its theatrical release. These 1995 peeps don't know what they were missing out on (actually, I'm sorry that I didn't see it. I was about two months old then and I didn't like movies back then, but I would have paid money to see it in cinemas!) Strange Days is freaking badass. You know what makes it even more badass? The fact that it was directed by a woman. Bigelow, the ageless woman who has basically inspired me to make movies, directs this movie like any other man would, but only better. The POV shots - and believe me, there are a lot of them - are pretty awesome. It's easy to get drawn into the world that these 'SQUID' things have made, as the POV shots aren't the corny kind that go all over the place faster than a normal head could move. While the film still has all of the nooks and crannies that you expect from a 90s flick, it has aged a lot better than some of the other 90s movies I have seen. Mainly because it is quite a timely and very fitting portrayal of 2000...because you know how rapidly the world changes these days.

There are so many things which set Strange Days apart from other science fiction blockbusters. The gritty and relentless look at a street-hustlers life in LA doesn't really shy away from much. It's an ultra-violent ride which basically has a bit of everything in it, and it fortunately doesn't forget to have smart and witty dialogue. Another thing it doesn't forget to do is give us complex characters, with equally complex performances. Now, we all know that Ralph Fiennes is a bloody good actor. Strange Days came two years after his breakthrough (and my favourite of all time) performance as a ruthless Nazi in Schindler's List, and he is completely different here. Okay, so his character isn't the overtly good guy, but he's smooth-talking and lovable, and not to mention extremely sexy with his long hair and rather interesting designer outfits. Angela Bassett is a real stand-out here, though. James Cameron is known for creating strong female action characters, and Bassett's Mace is nothing short of awesome. While she is an ass-kicking bodyguard who is probably a lot stronger than Lenny, she's still human because of her easy-to-relate-to vulnerability and her unrequited love towards Lenny. The rest of the cast is great, with the small exception of Juliette Lewis who, quite frankly, really pissed me off.

The film is a little longer than it needs to be, which is understandable because it has a lot of ground to cover and a few things to explain. I have to say, I found this film to be pretty damn awesome. No, that's not just because I have a huge crush on Ralph Fiennes. It's a film that promises "an extreme taste of reality", and we get exactly that. It's unadulterated fun that wears its R18 sticker proudly. Most of all, it's a fully satisfying ride that is more complex than some of the other films of its kind. And can I just remind you again that it's directed by a woman? Kathryn Bigelow, I think I actually love you.

What I got: