What cinematic value did this add…except seeing gas prices at circa 2003 levels?
You pipple mek my ass twitch
Watched this again last night. The gas prices at the station Mickey Rourke pulls into at the beginning used to say $4.99 a gallon. Now it's been Mandela Effected to show $3.99, a price today would seem fair.
Tell you what…When I send my ex-wife her money…you can lick the stamps.

Good point. I think it's an interesting angle, to be slightly futuristic but not to the point of the "Jetsons." The future here is as believable as anything else in this film, which probably isn't saying much.

It's also a lot easier to set the story in the "future" and still be able to use existing cityscapes, vehicles, etc. when the budget is tight.

I always assumed it was to set up the new drug "Crystal Dream" being on the streets and the fact that Burbank had become an airport. They just needed it a couple years into the future for that to be possible.

Well, I think that it was really about how Harley and Marlboro and their friends were supposed to be sort of the last of a dying breed, but present day 1991 was kinda too soon to portray that as such. '96 may have been too soon for that as well, but whatever

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LOL, iPhone is still an unnecessary toy and it did revolutionize nothing.

I own you.
https://goo.gl/0avZjB

A: If you can't figure out why Strange Days was set in '99, you must have been very young at the time. Everything was about the new "millennium"(Even though it was actually 200-01). Kind of natural to set a futuristic movie then.
B: If we couldn't have had something to "jack into our brains in only 4 years' time", you also must have been very young in '07, which is when the first iPhone came out(As well as the rest of the smartphones). In 7 years' time, phones have gone from "Why would I need a phone that did
that
? I have a perfectly good computer." to "Jesus, what do you MEAN I can't get a "dumb" phone for my kid? He doesn't need a "data plan". Just for reference, the iPad debuted in '10.
In other words, you would be amazed how quickly tech sneaks up on us. 4 years is a l-o-n-g time

I don't think anyone could fathom living beyone the millenium back in the 20th century.
If it aint moving, you can eat it!

Kind of like Strange Days coming out in 1995 or whenever and being set in 1999, a distant future when we would all have digital recording devices that could jack into our brains. Because that could happen in 4 years' time.

You know, I often ask myself the same question. It makes the movie slightly futuristic, I guess. But why?
Maybe the director/writer thought it was cool to do a buddy action-comedy that is set in the near future?? It's still a strange decision though.