By Robert Scucci and Joshua Tyler | Published
As streaming providers continue to cut costs to increase profits, and studios stop releasing physical copies due to lack of interest, some of the best sci-fi films ever made are about to be lost forever. In 1995, a sci-fi movie tried to issue a warning about the future, and no one listened. It flopped at the box office, and despite positive reactions from the few who saw it, the film was soon lost in the mists of history. Now, it's hard to find in circulation and it's out of print at all on physical media. But we think it's worth seeing.
That's why Strange Days failed.
One of the hardest things about enjoying dystopian sci-fi is how time keeps moving forward, and suddenly we're looking back to the 1995's. Strange Days in the year 2026, I am well aware that the initial threat of Y2K did not come close to living up to expectations. It's easy to write movies like that Strange Days for this reason alone because we all lived to see another day, despite the many seeds of truth that were scattered throughout the film. It's worth noting, however, that the film isn't nearly as old-fashioned as you might think, as it delves into today's issues like police brutality, government overreach, machine addiction, and a general sense of apathy and apathy driven by technology.
One of the unfortunate facts about Strange Days that it is almost impossible to watch online. However, this is not due to some good Orwellian conspiracy if you look at the numbers. Since it's not easy to watch online, maybe I should explain what kind of movie it is Strange Days is something.
One SQUID To Rule Them All
Strange Days opens with a real bang as we see a Chinese restaurant being held up at gunpoint. It's shot from a first-person perspective, and the heists come out quickly. The building is surrounded by police, there's a frantic chase sequence, and after trying to jump from one rooftop to the next, the man whose head we're sitting on loses his grip and falls to his death, which introduces us to our main character, Lenny Nero, played by Ralph Fiennes.
Lenny was an LAPD officer turned black market trader of an illegal, highly addictive SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device), a form of virtual reality technology that allows its users to live another person's memories as if they were their own. Lenny gets a kick out of looking at the memories, stored on small CD-ROMs, when he downloads them from his link, Thika, before selling them for a profit. He is a drug dealer because people become addicted to the dopamine rush that comes from living through someone else's memories and feeling every emotion as if it were their own.
Amidst his black market business, Lenny often flings memorabilia discs with his rock band in front of ex-girlfriend Faith, played by Juliette Lewis, while downplaying her obsession whenever he's around Angela Bassett's Mace. Mace is a limo driver and security guard who doesn't like how deep into SQUID technology he is getting. He does not want to see him come out because when he was a police officer, he was acting as a father to his young son after the arrest of his abusive boyfriend and Lenny who is a police officer at the scene.
When a SQUID tape showing the murder is dumped on the roof of Lenny's car by a panicked prostitute, Lenny, Mace, and private investigator Max, played by the late Tom Sizemore, try to figure out what's going on. While this initial murder investigation continues, a more sinister plot emerges involving Faith's new boyfriend and the recently murdered rapper and activist he was in charge of.
Put like that, the plot sounds like a collective mess, but in the context of the film, it all fits together. That makes sense given the talent behind it. James Cameron and Kathryn Bigelow are masters of this craft.
Where Cyberpunk And Neo-Noir Aesthetics Collide
As in many dystopian films, everything looks at the same time modern, and the background of LA is very suggestive Strange Days. Indeed, what you need to make a picture is wet streets with a lot of neon, and there is no shortage of it here. Add in the chaos of the police district and a murder mystery that slowly unfolds with SQUID's voyeuristic technology as Lenny finds more discs that point him in the right direction, and you have a strong neo-noir plot where no one can be trusted because everyone is up to something.
Lenny and Mace keep the whole movie focused because they trust each other, but with everyone whispering in their ears, they go off on their own, which is scary considering Lenny's growing reliance on SQUID and Mace's reluctance to watch someone he loves destroy himself.
All about Strange Days it still stands today if you ignore the whole Y2K angle, but in my mind, that just makes it a time capsule from a special time in history. SQUID technology is more effective than ever because it reflects the kind of media addiction we live with today. The Jericho One storyline points to larger systemic issues including racism and the horrors of living in a police state where every cop is corrupt and pushing some kind of secret agenda.
What does Strange Days a truly timeless piece of cinematic art with its absurd beauty, shifting perspective, and willingness to hold back big reveals until absolutely necessary, setting a mystery that rewards multiple viewings. Strange Days it's uncomfortable, addictive, and, at its core, a thrilling mystery that slowly unfolds over 145 minutes without skipping a beat or choosing it over something.
Why Odd Days Failed
James Cameron was right to write the screenplay with director Kathryn Bigelow in mind because she understood the role well. That should have paid off big at the box office, but it didn't.
Many critics, such as Roger Ebert, have offered Strange Days a good rating of four stars, and the film currently only has a 71 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes. 71 percent is good, but not great. Which means a lot of people liked it, but they didn't REALLY like it. That also probably means there wasn't a lot of word of mouth out there pushing people to see it Strange Days he went out. So, Strange Days it was a total box office wipeout.
Kathryn Bigelow's cyberpunk thriller reportedly cost about $42 million to make, but earned nearly $8 million domestically after a wide opening in 1,691 theaters for a weak weekend of $3.7 million. Even allowing for some international money, the movie didn't come close to making back its budget, making it one of the worst sci-fi flops of 1995.
It was an expensive studio movie with the commercial concept of a cult film, and when it was released, most blamed the flop on the film's confusing marketing campaign. The movie was hard to define in one neat hook: it was sci-fi, but not exciting sci-fi; action, but not a simple action movie; political, but wrapped in a lurid techno-thriller. The result was particularly brutal because Strange Days it had outstanding talent behind it, including Bigelow, James Cameron, Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, and Juliette Lewis, but none of those names were big draws in their own right at the time, and the audience just didn't show up.
Why Odd Days Are Hard to Find in Broadcasting
In other words, Strange Daysdespite its modest praise, it still seems red-hot, and when you consider the complex, long-standing rights issues surrounding the film, it's not really the most important IP for streaming platforms to pick up. However, there are a lot of movies that failed to stream, so you would think it would be easy to find there. That's not the case.
After a long hiatus, it appeared briefly on HBO Max in 2023 and then disappeared again. Strange Days currently, it's only recently available on Hulu, and who knows how long that will last.
The best way to watch the film is to track down a used physical copy on Amazon or keep your eyes open the next time you're at a thrift store. Even then, you may have a hard time finding it because it has been out of print for a long time.
It's worth watching if you can't get hold of a copy. If you get one, stick to your physical media version. They don't do much to them.
