The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 31

a A A 22 Friday, October 13, 1995 The Cincinnati Enquirer FILM 'Strange Days' an intriguing look at social turmoil in 1999 BY MARGARET A. McGURK The Cincinnati Enquirer Strange Days is a careening, high-decibel vision of the near future that combines science fiction, murder mystery and social commentary. It is not entirely successful, but it's a worthy effort. The plot owes its key sci-fi conceit to 1983's Brainstorm a technology that records and plays back unfiltered brain activity through a piece of headgear, so the receiving party relives the original experience as if first-hand. Ralph Fiennes (that's pro- "TWO THUMBS UP! A SI DANIO FINCHER BRAD PITT MORGAN FREEMAN' SEVEN" GUY NETH PALTROW JOHN C.

MCGINLET HOPKINS, SMITH BARDED HOWARD SHORE RICHARD FRANCES- ARTHURMAN DARIUS STEPHEN BROWN A HARRIS RICHARD SAPERSTEIN CO GIANT DAY KOLSRUD ANNE KOPELSON ANDREW KEVIN WALKER ARNOLD KOPEISON PHYLLIS CARLYLE ANT DAVID FINCHER SNES LINE GRE SISKEL EBERT FOR THE MOVIE THREE WEEKS IN A ROW! LUST 'SEVEN' GETS A 10!" Joel Siegel, GOOD MORNING AMERICA GREED OF HIGH ORDER!" Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES PRIDE "A NERVE- JANGLING THRILLER!" Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE MAGAZINE ENVY "SEVEN' IS FLAT OUT GREAT!" Amy Taubin, VILLAGE VOICE SLOTH "IT'LL KNOCK YOU OUT OF YOUR Garrett Glaser, NBC-TV, LOS ANGELES WRATH "PREPARE TO BE Rex Reed, THE NEW YORK OBSERVER GLUTTONY BRAD MORGAN PITT HAIL FREEMAN Seven Seven deadly sins. Seven ways to die. NEW LINE CINEMA PRESARS A ARNOLO KOPEL.SON PRO DECIDE Cincinnati, Western Hills shown in: KENWOOD NORTHGATE Springdale, Eastgate ADD Sony Dynamic TOWNE CENTRE CINEMAS Erlanger shown in: Digital Sound. 791-2248 385-5585 SHOWCASE CINEMAS SHOWCASE CINEMAS SHOWCASE CINEMAS SHOWCASE CINEMAS SHOWCASE CINEMAS WESTERN HILLS CINCINNATI SPRINGDALE EASTGATE 574-7777 351-2232 671-6884 342-8866 752-9552 PREVIEW "SEVEN" ON THE INTERNET AT: http://www.filmzone.com/Seven nounced Rafe Fines, by the way) danger plays Lenny Nero, a fired vice cop ment, who deals in the black market for shadowy the experiential clips. The A clip tied to the murder of a Year's fiery rap artist puts Lenny and his Angeles best friend Mace (Angela Bassett) amid and various low-life pals in mortal erupting from the police, governmusic moguls and other bad guys.

story takes place on New Eve 1999 in a crumbling Los on the brink of race war, dazzling show-biz galas and underclass desperation. "ONE OF THE BEST FILMS OF THE YEAR." -Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES "ELECTRIFYING! A DAZZLING VISIONARY TRIUMPH." Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE Graham Fuller, INTERVIEW "A SEXY, KINETIC THRILLER." WOW." -Norman Mark, WMAQ-TV, (NBC) CHICAGO "BRILLIANT." -Paul Wunder, WBAI RADIO STRANGE DAYS burstich cento for a a a mucin a lipton an and fienes angel beset strange fines piete louis Ion stenore niched uncont vincent masc a revel me into pesto nine one a deco forest one tones den mitonica site a howard ace pacin in an con on not aero a is al eat a domain foe laurence on a come jones concO0 cocks onto a james come on an steren-chartes affe RESTRICTED 30 feted by DC ELECTED UNDER 17 PEG ARE UNIL PARENT ON AFRAT QUARRAN http://www.strangedoys.com wet featuring new music by, skunk anansie peter gabriel deep forest lords of acid prong with ray manzarek. STARTS Showcase Western Hills shown in: NORTHGATE TODAY shown Cincinnati, in: I SDD Sony Dynamic CINEMAS NO PASSES Digital 385-5585 Sound. SHOWCASE CINEMAS SHOWCASE CINEMAS SHOWCASE CINEMAS SHOWCASE CINEMAS SHOWCASE CINEMAS WESTERN HILLS CINCINNATI SPRINGDALE ERLANGER EASTGATE 574-7777 351-2232 671-6884 342-8866 752-9552 The script by Terminator creator James Cameron interweaves the murder plot and social upheaval, then assigns Lenny and Mace to forestall the Fiennes twin threats and deliver a surprisingly conventional happy ending. The ultimate resolution is not particularly believable, particularly the stagy, almost operatic climax that puts Mace in the center of a riot that is halted as magically as the parting of the Red Sea.

Another weakness is director Kathryn Bigelow's overuse of a furiously kinetic shooting style. A swooping, jerky camera fits the brain-clip scenes, but makes many other action scenes impossible to follow. Still, Fiennes and Bassett are considerably more interesting than most action-adventure teams, and Strange Days is an intriguing look at what the turn of the century could mean. MOVIE REVIEW Strange Days (R; intense disturbing violence, sexuality and strong language) Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore. 145 minutes.

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