Ralph Fiennes is a dealer. No he doesn't deal in drugs. He deals in something better -- memories. Experiences that other people have had, and -- for the right price -- you can have them to.

"Wanna rob a store with a .357 Magnum in your hand, and feel the adrenaline pumping through your veins." He's a pusher for people who aren't up to doing the real thing for themselves. And he lives at a time when just about everything seems to be going haywire.

Date: December 30th, 1999... Two days before the big 2K; and all of Los Angeles is volcanic. "Strange Days" has the apocalyptic feel of "Blade Runner" combined with a disappointing murder scheme.

There is far more plot to this story than can be revealed in this short review, but what this film lacks is a streamlined attack. There are so many subplots, conflicting messages and themes being thrown out at once they get tangled together making it difficult - if not impossible - to sort through them. Throw on top of this the film's bleak pessimism and you become disorientated, frustrated, and finally bored with it. It's a case of information overload. Whether it was a good or bad idea for the screenwriters to add certain elements to the film seems irrelevant - it's in there.

"Strange Days" gets high marks for it's editing, art direction, and competent acting from Fiennes and Basset; but fails in focus, and a few other performances, namely Juliette Lewis.

Copyright (c) 1995 Tony Zidek