One of the best sci-fi films of the 90s is almost impossible to watch via streaming

Kathryn Bigelow Thriller nuclear war film “House of Dynamite” It opened in theaters this week. Since her 2008 Iraq War drama and her Oscar-winning The Hurt Locker, Bigelow has been committed to similar films: see Zero Dark Thirty and Detroit. However, the first half of her career shows that she is capable of achieving more.

Bigelow’s 20th-century CV includes offbeat films like “Near Dark,” a neo-Western vampire-starring film, the surfer-and-bank-robber classic “Point Break,” and the delirious cyberpunk “Strange Days.” Unfortunately, the latter flopped at the box office (earning only $17 million on a $42 million budget) and has since become more widely available. It was briefly added to the HBO Max library in 2023, but has since disappeared back into streaming. 30 years later, “Strange Days” is so popular, it’s worth scouring your local thrift stores to find a DVD copy.

Released in 1995 but set in December 1999, “Strange Days” is a film set for the turn of the millennium. The film follows former LAPD officer turned dealer Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes), but he’s not dealing regular drugs. Lenny’s product, SQUID (Superconducting Quantum Interference Device), is a device that records memories and allows users to experience them vicariously; Not only are you viewing memories, the squid steps into your mind and lets you do so expertise That’s directly. It’s a clear allegory for living in the past, fitting for a film about the 20th century that embraces the future.

Lenny dips into his own stock. He spends his days reminiscing about his ex-girlfriend, rock star Faith Justine (Juliette Lewis), who left him for a music mogul. Lenny is so attached to the past that he doesn’t notice that his friend, limo driver Mace (Angela Bassett), misses him as much as he does for Faith. Lenny gets his chance to reconnect, and much more than he asked for, when Faith’s friend Iris (Brigitte Bacaux) is murdered.

“Strange Days” was co-written by Bigelow’s ex-husband, James Cameron. Based on an idea that first occurred to him in 1985. The near-future sci-fi setting contains plenty of Cameron flourishes. Mace is a strong woman in the same vein as Sarah Connor and Ellen Ripley, and like most of Cameron’s stories, there’s a big love story at the heart of this one.

Ralph Fiennes is known for his wide range of acting, and in the years since Strange Days, he has proven difficult to pin down. He can be scary (Voldemort in “Harry Potter”), funny (M. Gustave in “The Grand Budapest Hotel”), and both at the same time (brusque crime boss Harry in “In Bruges”). However, last year, he said He also had one of the greatest performances of 2025 As an eccentric but kind doctor in “28 Years Later.” Lenny is the kind of character Fiennes doesn’t play very often – a sleazy, bad guy – but he’s still a natural at that.

As Faith, Juliette Lewis plays the rock star so well that she becomes one in real life. They cover one of the greatest alternative girl tunes of the ’90s, PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me.” It’s a song about refusing to give up on your lover, a song that creeps from quiet pleading to screaming, and an appropriate music choice for a movie where our hero associates himself with memories of better days.

The key to understanding “Strange Days” deeper than its fantastic and disturbing atmosphere is that it is a film noir story in a cyberpunk setting, similar to “Blade Runner.” An ex-cop gets drawn into a twisted murder plot involving his ex-girlfriend? Humphrey Bogart could easily fit into those outlines.

However, because of its classic Hollywood story, “Strange Days” has also been praised as an insightful prediction of the coming millennium. The Internet has consumed modern life and addicted us all to voyeurism, just like the people watching SQUID recordings in “Strange Days.” What a cruel irony that the Internet currently offers no legal way to watch this film.