Judge Dredd (1995)

Only Stallone can say - I am the LAW!
Science fiction is such a wonderful medium in that it affords the creative community to test our concepts that would be impossible to explore in real life.

Judge Dredd is precisely that. A future post-apocalypic Earth (The Cursed Earth) where humanity lives in megacities and where society in order to keep order has established a Police Force with a Judges Power (Police, Judge, Jury, Executioner rolled up into one person - The Judge). These Judges have the power to chase criminals and dispense "Justice" on the spot. A Judge witnesses you jaywalking and he can, on the spot, Judge you guilty and impose a fine. In our society, such a concept is ridiculous and would never work but...suspend disbelief and take a look at what qualities a Judge would have to possess from an Ethics and Justice Perspective. Sometimes these concepts start out in Comics and Judge Dredd is no exception -- Judge Dredd is an award winning and very long running Britsh Comic. I've never read it though fyi.

The Movie is about one Judge -- the baddest and most feared/respected of them all (Judge Joseph Dredd). The movie adaptation follows the formula for many action movies of this time. Rob Schneider plays comic relif (small time thief who happens to be in the wrong time) throughout the movie. Diane Lane is the young new Judgette (sp?) and love interest of Stallone (no romance in the movie though just a bit of URST). Diane is as always lovely and such a wonderful acress. Stallone plays the cold idealistic Ethical Super Judge Dredd. Armand Assante plays a wonderful villain with a very cool bad Robot bodyguard. Max von Sydow and Jürgen Prochnow also play some wonderful supporting characters who deliver some wonderful performances. The acting is first rate and I can say that only Stallone could have played this role -- almost as if it was written for him.

I won't give away much of the plot - suffice it to say that Judge Dredd is accused of a crime he didn't commit, gets shipped off to jail and the bad guys almost take over. As Stallone, Schneider, Lane, and Max von Sydow work to fix things and come back from the edge of oblivion there's plenty of action, humor, big guns, big guns, shooting, big guns etc. Stallone saves the day and kisses the girl.

Genre: SciFi
Type: Action
Category: A (this is not a B movie)
Budget: Summer Blockbuster ($90million)
Actors: First Rate
Acting: Very Good
Special Effects: First Rate (for the time -- still good today)
How'd it do: Half Belly Flop ($100million worldwide)

This was a big budget film which received poor reviews. It was very formulaic and probably the critics were tired of the same formula being used....Big Tough Hero + Comic Relief Funnyman + Gorgeous Girl + Super Bad Guy + Super Tough Odds + Science Fiction Setting = Super Summer Bockbuster.

In fairness, the movie is a bit dated but if you enjoy this genre and want a fun movie to watch on a Sunday Afternoon in the SciFi action category - this is a good candidate. Its not a thinking person's movie. More of a hang your brain at the door and have some fun kindof movie. The underlying concept though is extremely intelligent. I really enjoyed this movie but definitely its an acquired taste - I hope the review helps make a decision.

The Verdict's In
Judge Dredd was one of those big budget action films that was aiming high, but ended up bombing and getting ridiculed, and forgotten quite fast. Movies like The Shadow and The Phantom also fell victim to this. I sometimes have a soft spot for these overblown superhero movies that fail miserably. While Judge Dredd isn't great(I could strangle Rob Schneider), it's kinda fun in that cheesy way. You can say what you want about Stallone, but he played the part cold and lifeless coz I'm assuming that's how the character is. I don't know how accurate an adaptation the film is coz my knowledge of Judge Dredd lore is limited to Anthrax's I Am The law song. I will say Armand Assante makes for a pretty cool villain and the robot is rather impressive. It looks like a cross of cgi and animatronics, which is a combo severely lacking in movies. Storywise, it's rather cliche and predictable(tell me you didn't figure out the villain behind the chaos ten minutes into the film), but what comic-action movie isn't? Judge Dredd may go down in history as a bloated failure for Stallone, director Cannon, and movies in general, but it's all the more fun for it.

There was a comic?!
In all honest I had NO idea there was a comic book of this when Judge Dredd came out. I was only 10 years old when the movie came out and I still remember it to the day that this movie was just hands down fantastic. To me, this movie was like The Fifth Element of its time and I feel as though the aesthetics to The Fifth Element should pay a huge amount of homage to Judge Dredd (as well as Bladerunner but that's a given). Had I knew about the comic then even as a kid, I would've given some props up to the tribute it made but because I didn't, I still acclaim this as an idea all its own and to this day, I still haven't read a single page of Judge Dredd, and I kind of don't want to because I love the stellar performance that Sly puts in with Joseph Dredd.

The movie, despite being a hardcore 90's action movie has elements I overlooked as a kid and now that I'm much older, I've noticed things I never noticed or rememberred and it felt like a brand new movie to me with the reminiscence of it being so much familiar. It has every little bit of action movie I remember being cool back in the day and all that movies today can barely mark up to; some people may hate it, alot of people may love it, a majority may be null about it, but to me this movie is a classic and one of Sylvester Stallone's BEST performances on the big screen.

'I AM THE LAW!!!"