nickboldrini I read an interview with the director, who complained that one of the early script treatments seemed to be a standard sci-fi with elements of Judge Dredd crafted on top - and that still seems to be true of the final version. The comic relief actually fits in with the comic style, and this captures well the look and feel of the Judges, Mega City One, and the Cursed earth - with good costumes, props and special effects for the bikes, weapons, robots and so on. But the story is only very weakly set in the Judge Dredd universe, and is the weakest element of the whole. Essentially this fails to capture the spirit of Judge Dredd from the comic, whilst getting the look.

Scott LeBrun Big budget, major studio adaptation of a beloved cult sci-fi comic book takes place in a Dystopian future, where populations are crowded into massive "Mega Cities" and the main form of law enforcement consists of "Judges" - bike riding officers who are empowered to act as judge, jury, *and* executioner, all in one. The most feared and legendary of them all is Judge Joseph Dredd (Sly Stallone), who ends up framed for the murder of a crusading reporter (top character actor Mitchell Ryan). Dredd is able to escape transport to prison, uniting with a goofy low rent criminal named Fergie (Rob Schneider) and heading for an inevitable confrontation with a megalomaniac named Rico (Armand Assante, hamming it up like there's no tomorrow).It's understandable that purists will take some exception to this adaptation and greatly prefer the 2012 feature film version (starring Karl Urban as Dredd). But the 1995 "Judge Dredd" does attempt to give people their money's worth. There's lots of hard-edged action, a non-stop assortment of razzle-dazzle futuristic images (utilizing what was then cutting-edge CGI), an ominous music score by Alan Silvestri, some entertaining characters, and great costumes. The plot is nothing special, but is not hard to follow, as it centers on a conspiracy where a ruling Council tried to play God, and ended up with a mess on their hands.Sly doesn't have to stretch himself here, getting to play a rough and tough and VERY stoic man of action who thinks that having emotions is key to getting a person killed. Adding the humanity is lovely Diane Lane as a fellow Judge who proves to be completely loyal. Schneiders' comedy relief may be a matter of personal taste; although not generally appreciated, this viewer found him to be at least mildly funny and not unlikeable.The excellent supporting cast includes such luminaries as Max von Sydow, Jurgen Prochnow, Joan Chen (who's under-utilized), and Joanna Miles, with ever-wonderful von Sydow coming off the best. Other familiar faces like Ewen Bremner and Angus MacInnes turn up. Making uncredited contributions are James Earl Jones (who reads the opening narration), James Remar (as a block warlord), and 'The Walking Dead's' Scott Wilson as Pa Angel. (And that's one thing that this viewer did appreciate about this film version: the presence of the desert-dwelling, degenerate Angel family.)Overall, colourful entertainment that may indeed play like a video game, but it's certainly never boring.Six out of 10.

amesmonde When Judge Dredd's past catches up with him and a former Judge reappears he's framed for a crime he didn't commit and Mega City is thrown into chaos.The first film adaptation based on the popular British comic book character Judge Dredd, director Danny Cannon (The Young Americans) delivers a visual treat complemented by Adrian Biddle's cinematography. While some of the special effects, back projections etc. have aged, many elements, especially the sets, practical effects and makeup still hold up nicely. The costumes designed by Gianni Versace are a mixed bag and Sylvester Stallone as Judge Dredd is wise to discard the clunker unpractical 2000 A.D. costume pieces at every opportunity. At times it feels choppy, especially in the last act. What's seems evident as you watch Cannon's offering is that it's uneven, this apparently is due to studio interference, creative disputes and script changes. The other thing which takes the edge off the mix of Blade Runner and Bravestarr inspired aesthetics, aside from it feeling lighter than it's comic source material is it's similarities to Stallone's Demolition Man (1993) which came out two years earlier. They're both police films set in the future; feature comic relief Rob Schneider, the main character is framed, there's corrupt officials - the list goes on and you can't help feel a slight case of déjà vu.Despite Dredd nontraditional removing his helmet Stallone does a good job as the shamed Judge, John Spartan, er I mean Judge Joseph Dredd, sentenced to life imprisonment. Again Stallone's Dredd works best when he's playing it straight, training cadets, sentencing and offering emotion with his mentor Chief Justice Fargo played by the excellent Max von Sydow. The comedy throughout is humorous – but it just doesn't fit Dredd's tone and would have been better placed in an action movie that doesn't take itself too seriously like Demolition Man. Judge Dredd for some reason tries to be both a violent action and one-liner Schneider buddy movie. The cast are on form and the characters are fleshed out. Notable is Diane Lane as Judge Hershey. Jürgen Prochnow's Judge Griffin the the rest of the cast are effective in their respective roles, right down to a small bit part by Ian Dury.The mystery story is fleshed out and plays out quite well with reactivated projects, faked evidence and doctored photos. There's some stand out scenes which include Dredd fighting psychotic Rico Dredd played wonderfully by Armand Assante as his clone Judges are awakened. With some great makeup there's the Angel Gang, a family of cannibalistic scavengers. There's Rico escaping from prison and reactivating a giant ABC Warrior robot. And a part where Schneider's Fergee and Dredd must run through a tunnel in 30 seconds or be burnt alive.With Alan Silvestri's score adding weight, Cannon pacts in a lot of story threads which gives it scale. And to his credit Judge Dredd has plenty of visuals and some interesting darker sci-fi elements.While its 2012 attempt fairs better, Judge Dredd remains a scifi action worth checking out.

AlienatorX First question a lot of you are asking; who or what is Judge Dredd? Well in answer Judge Dredd is a British comic book series. In a dystopian future all of mankind has been wiped out except for one gigantic city. In this city crime is out of control so the people in charge introduce the Judges; Law enforcement officers who can serve as judge, jury and executioner, of these Judges the most feared is Judge Dredd whose unshakable sense of justice make him a force to be reckoned with. Now this is a great concept, especially in the 80s and 90s which were the best age for action movies in my opinion, Sadly this movie had a bit of a rocky production; Director Danny Cannon was in fact a fan of Judge Dredd and wanted to make an adaptation that had the same gritty edge and dark sense of humour as the original comics. As a result the first cut Mr Cannon submitted to the MPAA was NC-17 and had to be tossed back and forth between the two of them to finally get and R rating. On top of that Stallone (who was playing Judge Dredd) and the studio decided they wanted to make the movie into a PG-13 action comedy and the film got hacked up even more. Danny Cannon was so unhappy with the finished result that he hasn't worked with a big name actor since. After all that this movie was a commercial and critical failure, falling quickly into obscurity until certain critics on the internet resurrected it with the reputation as one of the worst comic book movies of all time. And yet…It's not all that bad. This movie could have been awesome; the cast aren't half bad, the production design is great, and the score is cheesy but fun. Unfortunately this movie also has its fair share of bad-in-a-good-way points and just plain bad points. I Love Sylvester Stallone but in this movie his portrayal of Judge Dredd reminds me of Buzz Lightyear done as a live action 80s action movie, which is fun but a misrepresentation of the source material. A lot of the acting in this movie is cheesy, not helped by dialogue that is both clunky and awkward. The scene with the Angel family is weirdly entertaining in this The Hills Have Eyes 2000 kinda way and of course there's Rob Schneider's character. This was a bad idea. Rob Schneider plays a bumbling thief who ends up unintentionally partnering with Dredd. This character is annoying, superfluous, and reeks of studio interference. Bottom line if you're looking for fun cheese you'll like this movie but for fans of either 80s action films or superhero movies this is a miss. Which is a shame because thee are times Cannon's original idea rears its head above all the garbage and you wish you were watching that movie.