Judged Dreddful (Judge Dredd (DVD))

Member Name: 2Quizzy

Product:	Judge Dredd (DVD)
Date:	02/04/04 (198 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It passed a lazy night in front of the TV

Disadvantages: lines are bad and story is weak

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"In the future, one man is the law."

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The story line:

The original Judge Dredd character was created by John Wagner, Pat Mills and Carlos Ezquerra in 1977 under the banner of 2000AD. This British cartoon character was an anti-hero based on his creator's own pessimistic predictions for where the world was headed. In the comics Dredd is a dark hero, this is no Superman out to save the pretty girl stuck on the railway line.

The movie, released in 1995, starts in Megacity One. A huge fortified metropolis that probably started as New York and grew to something more like the cities in "The Fifth Element" and "Blade Runner". This is the third millennium and the world is a tough place to survive. Most of the planet is a war-ravaged wasteland called the "Cursed Earth" where all the freaks and outcasts struggle to survive. The luckier citizens of Earth get to live in the overcrowded towering megacities where crime is rampant. Or "was rampant". The city council introduction the Judges. An armed elite who combine judge, jury and police officer. They not only keep the peace by hunting down the criminals, but also try them on the spot and sentence them, including executions.

Of all the Judges Dredd is the one all the rookies look up to and the bad guys fear. His dedication to the job is total and he sees no compromise or extenuating circumstances ever. Surprisingly this unresponsive dedication seems to be a turn-on for younger Judge Hershey, played by Diane Lane. She follows Dredd around trying to find the man behind the blank visor and equally blank voice. They do their jobs and relative peace reigns.

But things aren't all that they seem in Megacity One..

There are plots brewing. Council Judge Griffin, played by Jurgen Prochnow, wants to force the Council to ta
ke a harder line on crime and he's willing to do whatever it takes to get his way. He's also willing to get rid of anyone who might stand in his way and in this case it's Chief Justice Fargo, played rather nicely by Max von Sydow, and Dredd himself.

Added to this is the mystery of the man in the force field prison cell. The mad bad Rico, played by Armand Assante. Who is he and what is his link to Dredd?

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So what didn't I like about this movie?

Making a comic book cult hero into a movie is always a gamble. Comic book heroes are by their very genre two-dimensional. You run the risk of disappointing the fans and/or boring those who've never followed the printed hero and are oblivious to any references to the comic story line.

Even so there still are times where it works and works well. There's no doubt that the Batman movies did capture a lot of the essence of Gotham city and the most recent X-Men movie was certainly an enjoyable viewing. Judge Dredd, in my opinion, manages neither.

It's not a totally bad movie, but it never seemed to decide what it wanted to be. Is it post-apocalyptic and dark? Is it tongue-in-cheek funny? I'm still not sure. Admittedly this flaw could lie at the feet of Sylvester Stallone who is said to have argued and demanded several script changes during the shooting of the movie. Certainly his acting of the roll leaves a lot to be desired. I gather the idea was to portray Dredd as uncompromisingly tough. A closed-minded relentless hunter down of those that break the law. In Stallone's hands this role becomes decidedly wooden. Arnie did so much better as a similar dark anti-hero in the Terminator that I couldn't help comparing and feeling disappointed.

The lines are dreadful. Now action movie and comic book lines often are, but in this case not even the action and special effects can outweigh clanger
s like Dredd saying in an impassioned yet emotionless monotone: "Emotions... there ought to be a law against them." or " I am the law! Put down your weapons and prepare to be judged."

In the Science-Fiction movie "The Fifth Element" the humour was obvious and Bruce Willis and others hammed it up superbly. In Judge Dredd there are moments of humour, but they're wedged between large chunks of cliché comic-book dialogue and violent action scenes. So just as you're starting to think this could be a funny movie it becomes a dark violent action movie.. or is it just a comic spoof? Personally I prefer a movie that knows what it is and where it's going. I once watched an Italian western at a friend's house and to this day every one of us who viewed it still can't decide if it was meant to be a comedy or not. Judge Dredd left me with a similar feeling.

The best source of humour is the character of Fergie, played by Rob Schneider. He's a small-time crook with the worst luck in the universe and a smart mouth. He becomes Dredd's extremely reluctant side-kick through a course of highly unlikely events. Highly unlikely events make up most of the script. The plot to frame Dredd is well done and the plan to get rid of Justice Fargo is reasonable, but from the time Dredd is banished to the Cursed Earth there the story really plunges into ridiculous.

The whole Cursed Earth section is dreadfully contrived. There's no real plot at all. It's as if the writers sat together and asked, "Hey, how do we patch all our loose ends together and get Dredd to know who the bad guy is?" They do this by putting in a family of Cursed Earth freaks whose only purpose is to be the "patch". Not even the semi-humorous, semi-horrific fight scene between the bizarre "Mean" and Dredd and Fergie is enough to distract your attention from the fact that this is really bad writing.


Otherwise the beginning and end where acceptable as action-packed entertainment. The flying motorbike chase scene was well done and I did enjoy Rico's robot bodyguard who is the only robot I ever saw to grind his teeth menacingly. Rico was less impressive. I found Assante hard to buy as an evil manic killer. Hannibal Lector would have eaten him up for elevenses served with a nice Earl Grey.

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The final verdict:

If you're looking for an average action movie, some mindless entertainment, this one could do the trick. I found it ok for a night's lazing in front of the telly, but it's not a movie I'd want to see again.

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