Touchstone Pictures released JUDGE DREDD in 1995. Despite a high profile cast, big budget special effects, and a mega-buck publicity campaign, the film tanked at the box office. The film was directed by inexperienced director Danny Cannon who later went on the helm I STILL KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER (with these two films on his resume it is easy to see why he is such a generic director). William Wisher who had a hand in the writing chores for T2, BROKEN ARROW, ERASER, and THE THIRTEENTH WARRIOR scripted the film. After a series of failed comedic efforts, Sylvester Stallone decided to return to his roots in the no-brainer action genre. Touchstone, who was bringing the bleak, futuristic saga of the underground comic Judge Dredd to the big screen, hired Stallone in the title role. Since the movie bombed, it signaled the beginning of the end for Stallone. Aside from a few mediocre action films (and one decent role in COPLAND) his career has fizzled out.

If the film has one thing going for it, it is the cast. Max Von Sydow plays Fargo, a wise elder judge, and brings some degree of believability to the comic book plot. Ditto for Jurgen (DAS BOOT) Prochnow who plays the corrupt, power hungry Judge Griffin; his performance is enjoyable to behold. Underrated actor Armand (THE MAMBO KINGS) Assante brings a unique personality to his villainous characters Rico (and overacts somewhat) but he steals scenes from Stallone through out the film. Speaking of Stallone, I have not been to fond of his talents since the original Rocky but he is well suited to this emotionless role, and I can’t imagine anyone else as the character (except maybe Swartzeneggar). The excellent Joan (HEAVEN AND EARTH) Chen has a supporting role as the sexy villainess, Ilsa and the foxy Diane (WILD BILL) Lane is a female Judge and Stallone’s love interest. The only black spot here is the presence of Saturday Night’s Live’s Rob Schneider in a comedy relief role as scam artist Ferguson. This character and Schneider’s groveling performance really hurt the film, and the humor is not needed anyway.

In the future world of JUDGE DREDD, crime runs rampant (ala ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK). The government utilizes humans who act as both police officer, and the law system (judge and jury) called The Judges. They hand out justice to the lawbreaker and either incarcerate them or kill them. The judges use all kinds of advanced weaponry and armor to enforce their brand of justice. The most highly regarded Judge in Megacity is Judge Dredd.

Though looked up to by the other Judges, he is considered a menace by the public. When he is framed for the death of a high-ranking officer, he legitly becomes public enemy number one. He is sentenced to life in prison but escapes when his transport shuttle crashes. In the ruins of the crash he teams up with the smarmy Ferguson (Schneider) to escape some mutant rebels.

Dredd learns that he has been set up to take the rap by a genetically altered human named Rico (Assante), and a renegade Judge Griffin (Prochnow). These two villains have a plan to control Megacity, and Dredd and Ferguson must find a way to get back into Megacity, and hunt down and expose his enemies. But it is tough in Megacity to keep a low profile when you are a considered a dangerous escaped criminal. Dredd must fight off his fellow Judges without killing them, but they have no such qualms.

The only area the film excels is action and special effects. The action consists of well-crafted stunt work but it is lazily captured on film. If this film had a great kinetic director like a John Woo, then look out! The stunt work makes up the half of the action with the special effects taking up the other half with sky sled chases, robot battles, and shoot outs with rioting villains. The special effects budget for this film was enough to feed many starving countries, but there a still many CGI scenes that are just way too cartoony. But the big Megacity interiors and exteriors are mighty impressive.

Well, what went wrong. First of all the film took a lot of liberties. The character of Dredd was all wrong. Dredd never removed his helmet in the comics and he never exhibited human emotions, since that future society was so miserable and crime-ridden that there was no reason to smile. Then the producers stripped out the comic’s socio-political commentary and added the sub plot about Dredd having a brother. Stallone’s DEATH RACE 2000 has more interesting social and political ideas than this formula action film. There is a huge amount of villains, mutants, and robots and all these characters are better defined than the good characters such as the Judges. Danny Cannon’s directorial style shows no emotion or atmosphere and relies on high tech effects to carry the narrative. Another big problem is the rating. The film is mindless adolescent fantasy with much violence, so the film gets an R rating. Now kids can’t get in to see it. There goes the new toy line!

SIGHT

Disney DVD releases JUDGE DREDD in its original widescreen aspect ratio of 2.35.1. True to form, Disney reuses their laserdisc master to strike up the DVD transfer. The image quality is generally clean, clear, and sharp and free from artifacts. The black level and shadows are superbly defined with great detail. I did notice some aliasing and some film grain. Some of the rear-screen projection special effects shots looked flawed in the transfer. These small problems with the video quality could have been resolved if the film was enhanced for widescreen TVs. There are no nicks or scratches, colors are rendered very nicely, brightness levels are never lacking and the contrast balance is good. The scenes of the futuristic Mega City look great, but not as good as similar scenes in THE FIFTH ELEMENT. A pleasing, near-perfect transfer.

SOUND

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is one of the highlights of the DVD. The sound placement is not seamless between the various effects channels, but it is crystal clear and the whole range of the sound spectrum is tight and powerful. The bass is awesome. There is no hiss, dropouts, or distortions of any kind on the sound track. There is some demo quality parts here such as the shooting down of the prisoner transport and the tower block gunfight. Alan Sivestri’s symphonic score is powerful and lends some creditability to the goofy film. The score sounds perfect in the mix and comes from all surround speakers.

FEATURES

The only extra is a theatrical trailer.

CONCLUSION

It is amusing to watch JUDGE DREDD because you can’t help pick the film apart and try to list the many reasons why it bombed. Taken as what it is, a mindless summer blockbuster, it can be enjoyed at face value. Just don’t expect the great story and wit of ROBOCOP. Disney does a decent job with the video and a close to reference quality DD 5.1 mix.

JUDGE DREDD is available at DVDEmpire

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