10. Demolition Man (1993)
In a decade when the over-muscled action star was starting to become a thing of the past, Sylvester Stallone embraced the concept with a knowing wink when taking on the role of a brutish law enforcement officer thawed out and struggling to adapt to a future that doesn't seem to have a place for him. After spending 36 years in cryo-stasis, Stallone's John Spartan is released to apprehend his arch-nemesis Simon Phoenix (a wonderfully unhinged Wesley Snipes) after the infamous psychopath escapes from a parole hearing and gets back to his old tricks in the utopian San Angeles of 2032. What follows is a hugely enjoyable series of action set-pieces and one-liners, making great use of the futuristic settings and technology while also keeping an old-school action aesthetic. Demolition Man has a great satirical edge to it, whether it be the ideas of regulating and restricting such simple pleasures as alcohol, profanity and sex under a pacifist regime, the woeful incapability of the law enforcement to deal with Snipes' 20th century criminal, or the more humorous aspects of every restaurant being a Taco Bell or Stallone's meta reaction on hearing about the 'Schwarzenegger Presidential Library'. Snipes is clearly having a ball playing the demented Phoenix, while Sandra Bullock provides comic relief as a self-confessed 20th century obsessive who can't quite get the hang of using the right pay-off line. Despite a fairly convoluted plot involving an underground resistance and corrupt officials, Demolition Man more than makes up for it with large-scale destruction and a great script.