Demolition Man

Stupidity: Dr. Cocteau's choice to unleash an enhanced Simon Phoenix without any way to restrain him is incredibly reckless and stupid. Even if Simon were to kill Eager Friendly, in the best case situation, you'd still have a madman with total computer access, martial arts knowledge, etc., that you would have no way to rein in. Sure, he can't kill Dr. Cocteau, but what would stop him from say, holding the city hostage or something? Why not add in a kill code or something to keep him in check?

Mlp1327

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Suggested correction: Who says he didn't? Cocteau has put in mental conditioning compelling Phoenix to kill Edgar Friendly and make him unable to kill Cocteau. Who says he hasn't put in something that makes him kill himself after the deed is done? Or perhaps paralyze him so he can be put back on ice. It's just that Cocteau didn't count on the fact that his henchmen could kill him. He doesn't care about how dangerous he is, not until he has done the deed.

lionhead

Dr. Cocteau is a narcissistic egomaniac type that would see himself as a king or a god, even. And Simon is making him very angry. He even tells Simon, "you're beginning to be more trouble than you're worth..." Someone with an ego like Cocteau wouldn't stand for Simon's antics for very long. And would happily enjoy putting Simon back in his place by shocking, paralyzing, etc.

Mlp1327

But he first needs him to kill Friendly. Until he does that, he'll let him play. He still sees no danger to himself.

lionhead

Factual error: The display on John Spartan's cryogenic reads, "August 3, 2032," which will fall on a Tuesday. Later that same day, Huxley says to Warden Smithers, "It's a beautiful Monday morning" (00:11:30 - 00:12:15)

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Trivia: The 'particle gun' that Phoenix picks up in the museum is actually a prototype of the real-life Heckler&Koch G11 rifle, the first gun ever to fire caseless ammunition. The gun and its ammo were developed in the Cold War to save the expenses for the cartridge case production. It was tested and modified for field use, but with the collapse of the Soviet state (which ended the Cold War) in 1991, the production program was cancelled. (00:45:30)

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Question: When the building with the hostages gets destroyed, Simon tells the police that he told John where the bodies were, with John responding that he didn't care. Clearly a blatant lie - why would the police actually take the word of a murdering psychopath like Simon considering that he would do or say anything to save himself?

Answer: Spartan didn't have authorization to go in and apprehend Phoenix to begin with. Depending on the time and manner of deaths of the hostages, it may have been impossible for the authorities to determine that they were already dead before Spartan went in guns blazing, so it would be determined that he was criminally negligent in their deaths. Whatever Phoenix had to say on the matter probably didn't even factor into Spartan's trial.

Phaneron

Answer: They didn't. They found the bodies and knowing how badly John wanted to take down Simon, they assumed Simon was telling the truth. I always felt that there was an assumption that Simon also had other planted evidence to frame John but that is never confirmed, just my hunch.

The_Iceman

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