Film Review: Strange Days

Strange Days comes from the minds of then couple Director Kathryn Bigelow and Writer James Cameron.

Strange Days sees Lenny (Ralph Fiennes with a sometimes terrible American accent) selling a police technology to the citizens of Los Angeles in 1999. Which when the film was released (1995) was the not to distant future. The technology Lenny is selling is called SQUID, which manipulates the users senses so he/she believe they are in a certain scenario and in te body of someone else. This is achieved by wiring someone up so that their cerebal cortex is recording everything that is happening. Still following?

Lenny is your basic city rat type character, what he has is illegal in his hands but all he wants to do is sell it on and make a bit of money. Things take a slight turn for the worst as Iris (Brigitte Bako), A friend of Lenny's is killed whilst wearing a wire. Iris trys to warn Lenny of the conspiracy surrounding the act of "Playback" and fallen rapper Jeriko One (Glenn Plummer) but fails to do so as those involved get to Iris quicker than she thinks.

Before her demise, Iris told Lenny to inform Faith (Juliette Lewis) that "they" are coming for her and she's in trouble. Faith is Lenny's ex girlfriend who doesn't take to kindly to Lenny attempting to help her. The film moves at a sometimes slow pace but introduces characters we can relate to like Angela Bassett's Mace and characters we love to hate; Michael Wincott's Philo Gant.

Strange Days is an effective and thoughtout Science Fiction film and has alot of similarities with Blade Runner and it's clear to say it inspired Minority Report. Ralph Fiennes as Lenny works, He's funny and if the situation calls for it can be completely serious. Juliette Lewis began to bug me during the film as I've never really rated her as an actress and think that in parts she spoilt the film.

One thing I have to say is that the hugely underrated William Fichtner has a small role in this film in which he was perfect in. Fichtner deserves alot more credit than he gets for his acting ability.

I'd recommend Strange Days if your a fan of films like Blade Runner but be warned: You can tell it had Cameron involvement as the film is a lengthy 2 Hours and 25 Minutes.

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