The 1995 James Cameron-written cyberpunk thriller Strange Days proved to be a box office flop in its time and has failed to gain a cult following even now—in fact, barely anyone remembers this great 1990s action movie in spite of its big names. However, with its thematic relevance to present-day events, Strange Days deserves another look from modern audiences. Starring Ralph Fiennes as black market virtual reality (VR) dealer Lenny Nero, the film explores the societal impact of technological advances and mᴀss violence.

Many great sci-fi movies got the future wrong, but oddly enough, Strange Days managed to predict quite a few things about the turn of the century as well as the American zeitgeist 30 years later. Civil unrest, police brutality, political corruption, and societal desensitization to mᴀss violence are just a few themes from Strange Days, and while these heavy ethical motifs are arguably what makes the film great, they may also have led to this underrated 90s sci-fi masterpiece’s commercial failure.

1995 Movie Strange Days Is Underrated & Deserves Another Look

The Cyberpunk Tech Noir Is Full Of Culturally Relevant Themes, Even 30 Years Later

Sci-fi thriller Strange Days follows Lenny Nero, a former LAPD officer turned black market VR dealer. Nero and his ᴀssistant, Mace (Angela Bᴀssett), work to untangle a web of police corruption after Nero witnesses the murder and rape of a young woman through his haunting discovery of a VR snuff tape. Simultaneously, the murder of rapper Jeriko One (Glenn Plummer) sends dystopian Los Angeles into a state of civil unrest at the turn of the century on New Year’s Eve, 1999.

Following on the heels of the heavily televised Rodney King beating, Strange Days’ heavy motifs called into question the social impacts of modern America’s chronic voyeurism of violence. Plenty of sci-fi movies have aged poorly, but with footage of police brutality and even mᴀss shootings being widely broadcast in recent years, Strange Days has become more culturally relevant than ever. In addition to the social unrest created by widespread racial violence, Strange Days predicted the recent advent of VR porn and explored the potential for the growing porn industry to promote rape culture and femicide.

Why Strange Days Wasn’t A Bigger Success Upon Release, Despite Big Names Involved

The Film’s Commercial Failure May Be Because Of Poor Execution Of Its Ending

Despite being one of the best tech noir movies of all time, Strange Days grossed less than a quarter of its budget worldwide upon the film’s original release. With James Cameron (Terminator, Avatar) as the writer and Kathryn Bigelow (Zero Dark Thirty, The Hurt Locker) at its helm, the poor reception of the film is shocking. Famed critic Roger Ebert gave Strange Days four stars mere days after its 1995 release, but his high praise seemed to have been the exception rather than the rule. Contemporary audiences clearly missed the point of Strange Days, and this could be down to plot execution.

(via the-numbers.com, boxofficemojo.com)

Modern audiences agree that the premise of this cyberpunk thriller is sound; however, the story told by Strange Days seems to have gotten in its own way, as much of its contemporary criticism centered around the plot rather than the thematic content. With a few less-than-believable plot elements arising toward the end, the social commentary in Strange Days’ thematic motifs may have been overlooked in the film’s drawn-out and somewhat frenetic conclusion.

“It’s revealing, how a scene like that seems so much more sad and distressing than the more graphic scenes of violence we see all the time in the movies: Bigelow is able to exploit the idea of what is happening; she forces her audience to deal with the screen reality, instead of allowing us to process it as routine ‘action.’”

-Roger Ebert, discussing Strange Days (1995) snuff tape scene

It is equally possible, however, that the sci-fi genre of the time was perhaps uncomfortable with the social and ethical concepts explored by the film. Once the content of the film is examined beyond the surface level, Strange Days forces the viewer to re-evaluate their role as consumers of violence as entertainment, and the impact this consumption may have on our society.

Sources: the-numbers.com, boxofficemojo.com, rogerebert.com