WEIRDO Revisits: Judge Dredd (1995)
I AM THE LAW! *For the hundredth time*
SYNOPSIS:
After Joseph Dredd, a field Judge whose word is literally law, is framed and convicted for murder, he must traverse the future dystopian city of Mega City One and battle someone from his past to clear his name.
CAST:
Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Rob Schneider, Diane Lane, Joan Chen, Max Von Sydow, Jürgen Prochnow
BOX OFFICE:
$34,693,481 (DOM) + $0 (INT) = $34,693,481 (WW)
THE GOOD:
- The suits Street Judges wear, namely Judge Dredd himself, look comic accurate which, if you’re familiar with the source material, are difficult to pull off a live-action version of. Somehow, they made it happen (in the 90’s no less.)
- Mega City One feels like a real, lived-in place. Futuristically fantastic yet convincingly dystopian, the locales and set pieces really drive home that comic book feel and meta-90’s vibe appropriate for a Judge Dredd project.
THE MIXED:
- Although corny and overacted, the movie is simply a dumb-fun good time. I wouldn’t think about the plot too much, but it’s a Stallone flick. Do you really watch his movies for the plot or for the action? Exactly.
- Rob Schneider had no business being in a movie about Judge Dredd. Sure, his character, Fergie, provides some levity and comedic relief, but most of the time he comes off as annoying, helpless, and just unnecessary to Dredd’s exploits. The film is campy as it is; it didn’t require dumb jokes being thrown around whenever possible.
- If it wasn’t already evident from the previous two points, the entire casts’ performances here range from hammy to straight up over the top and laughable, but again, this was a film anchored by the era it was in, and a lot of movies that came out in the 90’s weren’t exactly gems. Armand Assante is unintentionally hilarious as Rico, by the way. “LAWWWWW!”
THE BAD:
- Whereas Judge Dredd opted for a safer, tamer type of violence, 2012’s Dredd delivered the graphic, hyper-violence synonymous with the comic books. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather see blood and people getting split open over green screen pitfalls any day… I promise I’m not a psycho.
- The same issue I had with the Halo series is the same issue I had with Judge Dredd. If something from the source material makes the character what they are — i.e., Master Chief or Dredd never removing their helmets — then are you just changing it because you want to utilize your overpaid actors’ faces as much as possible? I just want to understand. Like, they literally have the material to work off of in front of them. Use it and do it better, dammit!
VERDICT:
While this Stallone classic didn’t exactly revolutionize CBMs, it showed what could happen if you play too loose with the source material. The VFX weren’t super top notch or anything, especially considering the $90 million budget, and it clearly seemed like some of the actors just needed a paycheck. Nevertheless, I can kick this film on, turn my brain off, and just enjoy two hours of Stallone screaming, “I AM THE LAW!” with cannibalistic mutants and oversized robots moving around like marionettes.
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