Strange Days (1995)

Kathryn Bigelow is some director. It could well be argued that no film maker has captured the Iraq war so nail bitingly (The Hurt Locker [2008]) the hunt for Osama Bin Laden so honestly (Zero Dark Thirty [2012]) or perfected the extreme sports thriller so brilliantly (Point Break, [1991]). I haven't yet seen Near Dark (1987) so I can't comment on her take on the vampire genre, but I did see her dystopian sci-fi thriller Strange Days this week, which I've barely seen mentioned anywhere. Although it is too long, Strange Days' world building, premise, and execution is enormously impressive. There are clear influences from Blade Runner for example, but Strange Days lays down its own; it's obvious that Charlie Brooker has delved into this for Black Mirror, Duncan Jones' Mute (2018) nods to it as well, amongst many others. Ralph Fiennes is brilliant, of course, in the main role of Lenny Nero, an ex-cop who is now in the trade of selling of virtual reality recordings that allows the buyer to experience the past memories of others. After he receives a recording showing a murder, he enlists the help of a friend and a bodyguard to track down the killer. As I said, the world building is exceptional, and setting it on the eve of the millennium celebrations adds a layer of technological edge to it, with people throughout the film referring to the end of the world and the millennium bug. This is well worth your time, if you can track it down. 7.4/10