Retro Review: JUDGE DREDD – The Movie

Recently I've been on a kick of watching a lot of old comic book movies and television shows (among many other things) since I've been unable to work with a broken ankle. A couple weeks ago I had powered through a majority of the seventy-two episodes of the Swamp Thing television series and found myself thoroughly entertained and wishing to continue on my path of reviewing old comic cinema, next I chose to spend an evening with Danny Cannon's Judge Dredd.  

Before going into the meat of this review, there are a few things that are important to keep in mind while watching the movie that include keeping an open mind, have a good sense of humor and remember that most comic book movies made before the new century didn't have the proper resources or firm grasp in adapting comic books to the silver screen. Furthermore, I choose to watch this film because I enjoy reading the ultra-violent, cyber punk and smart political sci-fi material that is encompassed within the pages of Judge Dredd and has been authored by several of my favorite writers (i.e. Alan Moore and Grant Morrison) at some point or another. So, with all of the aforementioned emotions and preparedness in mind, here is an updated review of Judge Dredd:

The film, released in 1995, was written by William Wisher (Terminator 2, The 13th Warrior) and Steven de Souza (The Running Man, Die Hard), both of which were two hard-hitting action film writers that collaborated to adapted the Dredd arc, "Return of Rico" (1977), to the silver screen where it was directed by Danny Cannon (The Young Americans, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer) and a cast that includes Sylvester Stallone, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Max von Sydow and Armand Assante.

To start, one of the best, and most redeeming, parts of the film is: The first 30 minutes.

As the screen goes black, 2000 AD magazines and Judge Dredd comics begin to fade onto the screen as their pages sweep from one side to another, it then fades into close-up images of the panels (similar to Marvel & DC's production logos seen today) and then the film's title appears. Again, fading in a out of black, James Earl Jones' deep voice is heard as it reads the scrolling introduction explaining how Earth has fallen, climate and nations were in upheaval and mankind was forced into 'Megacities' and law was now ruled by 'Judges'. Finally, we are introduced to city in which the film takes place and the opening credits roll. This was at a time in cinema where they had really started to get a strong grasp on big picture and landscape CGI, but it was still expensive, so it wasn't in every scene of every film (yet). With the CGI, and set/character design, they did a great job of creating this multi-layered city that had dirty cyber punk elements represented in the criminals and lower class citizens and was polarized by the staunch and clean fascist aesthetic found with the wealthy and government officials.  The next big 'wow' came as the opening credits still rolled and Dredd had yet to make an appearance on screen, I saw that the Judge costumes were created by famed fashion designer Gianni Versace and includes a codpiece that could rival David Bowie's in Labyrinth. When Stallone finally appears on screen in the midst of a machine-gun riot, I was still impressed with having heard Jones's voice and learning of the special costume construction. Similar to all Stallone films, he is bigger and tougher than anyone of screen – he doesn't flinch as bullets land near-by, he says a musing one-liner directed at two other Judges and then yells something intimidating at the assailants, culminating in a pretty badass introduction to the film.   
 

The next thirty minutes of the film, the second act, follows a similar structure to most action films of the 90's that feature an infallible protagonist – and that is to make him what he is not. The movie shows the inner corruptness of this seemingly 'effective', and somewhat fascist political and judicial system, the prison escape of the antagonist Rico and the activation of a really big (evil) robot. Without going into the easily predictable plot points of the film, Dredd is framed for murder and sentenced to life in prison – his world turns upside down. Now, Dredd is no longer a judge and on his way to prison, with Schneider's character in tow, the film's narrative is reinvigorated when their prison transport crashes in the nearly-uninhabitable "cursed lands" outside city walls and we are introduced to 'The Angel Family' – one part The Hills Have Eyes, one part religious nut, one part cyborg. The scene with the Angel family not only allows for Dredd to develop as a character, and not an officer, in a lawless land but also display strong make-up effects, as one son has a hair-lip while the other is a brutish cyborg with most of his appendages replaced by hydraulic pieces and a metal skull-top that features a dial to control (or intensify) his rage. As a nice departure from the city, this action packed scene and setting are relatively short lived.

The rest of the film returns to the city, and consists of predictable and monotonous action scenes and dialogue, there are several hidden gems that are tucked into the last act of the film. The first is a cameo role from Twin Peaks star Joan Chen as she embodies a government geneticist turned side-kick to the villainous psychopath Rico. Second was the discovery of the film's theme song, that starts at the end of the film, was written and preformed by The Cure and entitled the track "Dredd Song" (see video below).

In conclusion, the film did not have great commercial success and it was followed by Stallone's negative view of this film which included him saying, "I do look back on Judge Dredd as a real missed opportunity," and "it didn't live up to what it could have been. It probably should have been much more comic, really humorous and fun. What I learned out of that experience was that we shouldn't have tried to make Hamlet, it's more like Hamlet and Eggs." While it would be interesting to see that version of the film, I am still happy with the product they created in 1995, because looking back at the film it does become funnier and less serious, as the discourse of 90's action flicks has been somewhat appropriated by CAMP dialogue and aesthetic. Nonetheless, this flick is definitely worth a watch, especially before the Judge Dredd reboot, titled Dredd, is released late this year. 
 

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Austin Hartman was inspired by this film to create a list of personal one-liners, which includes: "I am the law." The response has been varied, but mostly negative. His witty quips and phrases will be re-drafted, posted and tested on his Twitter account.