Judge Dredd (1995)No one is above the law. Judge Dredd (1995) is a sci-fi action movie adapted from the comic book series of the same name and its predecessor, "2000 A.D.". It is a story about the eponymous Judge Joseph Dredd (Sylvester Stallone), a law enforcement official empowered to enforce the law and execute sentencing on site. Judge Dredd is one of many such people that perform the increasingly difficult job of maintaining order in the overcrowded Mega-City One. After a psychotic former judge named Rico (Armand Assante) escapes from a maximum security prison, Dredd is framed for murder, which forces Dredd to reevaluate his perception of the infallibility of the law that he has sworn to uphold.
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Judge Dredd opens with a brief narration describing that the Judges were designed as a more efficient form of justice and maintaining peace. Following an ecological decline, surviving members of society were forced to crowd into Mega-Cities, and the subsequent spike in crime brought down the old order of law; but the Judges role in circumventing due process appears reactionary and even fascistic. Dredd is an exemplar for this ruthless interpretation of justice, although he is also unfeeling, unsympathetic, and even arrogant. Stallone's larger-than-life portrayal of Dredd depicts a man who strides recklessly into the line of fire of rioters and swaggers like a costumed John Wayne. This bravado and his relentless enforcement of the law is one which is ignorant to context or "extenuating circumstances". Dredd's colleague, Judge Hershey (Diane Lane), points this out after he charges a recent ex-con named Fergee (Rob Schneider) with a minor offense, requiring him to go back in the slammer for five years, after having enjoyed less than twenty-four hours since leaving prison. Judge Dredd may be the perfect warrior for the seedy underbelly of Mega-City One, but he is oblivious to larger conspiracies. One such conspiracy concerns his former friend, Rico, who was a part of a secret project dubbed "Janus"--something known only to the upper echelon of the council, including Dredd's mentor, Chief Justice Fargo (Max von Sydow). "Janus", like Rico, represents the dark side of a justice system comfortable with obfuscating and concealing the truth in the interest of maintaining an artificial peace. The existence of such a project is ultimately proof that no justice system is perfect, and deception only makes the problem worse with time. Rico murders a reporter who is unpopular with the Justice Department for asking tough questions about the legitimacy of the Judges' execution of the law while posing as Dredd. Evidence is introduced in the subsequent trial that incriminates Dredd, when it is revealed that his DNA was sequenced into the rounds from his "Lawgiver" variable sidearm, and Judge Hershey--who defends Dredd--claims that neither she nor Dredd had any prior knowledge about this facet of their trusted weapons. And if the powers that be were comfortable to conceal a detail like that from their own trusted enforcers, what other terrible secrets does "Janus" hold for the world?
Released in 1995, Judge Dredd was one of a slew of movies adapted from less mainstream comic book properties--like The Crow--as well as being a sci-fi action vehicle for Stallone. Judge Dredd was released about two years after Demolition Man, another futuristic film about a society with an unorthodox police force starring Stallone; Rob Schneider has a bit part in that film, too. Judge Dredd also shares motifs with The Fifth Element and Blade Runner, with the predominance of flying cars, as well as colorful and outlandish outfits. Although critical reception to Judge Dredd was generally negative, the film lends itself more to a satire of overblown superheroics with themes of martial law and the escalation of force used in favor of order over justice. The outfits the Judges wear look like a cross between a military review and a football uniform. (While the comic book version of Judge Dredd was rarely--if ever--seen without his helmet and uniform, Stallone is only sometimes seen in full regalia.) Judge Dredd is such a scion of the unfeeling enforcement of arbitrary policy through extreme violence, that when he utters one-liners like "I am the law" or "I knew you'd say that", when asking how a "defendant" pleads, it's impossible to believe it is said without irony. The opening credits of Judge Dredd reveals the roots of the protagonist as a comic book character through the assorted covers from issues of his adventures over the years, like in Superman (1978). And also like Superman, it suggests that Judge Dredd is a "Superman" for another time and place, a grimy, cyberpunk world, where both heroes and villains use brutal means to solve problems. There is a message in Judge Dredd buried under all of the explosions and gunfire--justifying the means to an end only gives rise to new, unforeseen problems. Fargo is convinced by Judge Griffin (Jürgen Prochnow) to retire and take his "long walk" into the "Cursed Earth" outside of the city to save his protegee, Dredd, from a death sentence; this "easy out" is something that Fargo should have observed was a resolution that was too good to be true. It is the same for the way the Judges deliver fast-food style judgments in the heat of the moment after a crime--their severe judgments seem punitive and excessive, befitting an authoritarian tyranny. Like the comics, Judge Dredd raises questions about the difference between efficiently versus conveniently executing the law, and the high cost of taking the easy way out.
Recommended for: Fans of a stylized sci-fi action flick which dabbles in the moral quandaries like the diminishing (or even eliminating altogether) value of due process in favor of expediency, and the corrupting influence it can have on a society. Judge Dredd is a largely pedestrian comic book adaptation from the 1990s, but has plenty of explosions, special effects, and colorful settings and characters throughout it.
Released in 1995, Judge Dredd was one of a slew of movies adapted from less mainstream comic book properties--like The Crow--as well as being a sci-fi action vehicle for Stallone. Judge Dredd was released about two years after Demolition Man, another futuristic film about a society with an unorthodox police force starring Stallone; Rob Schneider has a bit part in that film, too. Judge Dredd also shares motifs with The Fifth Element and Blade Runner, with the predominance of flying cars, as well as colorful and outlandish outfits. Although critical reception to Judge Dredd was generally negative, the film lends itself more to a satire of overblown superheroics with themes of martial law and the escalation of force used in favor of order over justice. The outfits the Judges wear look like a cross between a military review and a football uniform. (While the comic book version of Judge Dredd was rarely--if ever--seen without his helmet and uniform, Stallone is only sometimes seen in full regalia.) Judge Dredd is such a scion of the unfeeling enforcement of arbitrary policy through extreme violence, that when he utters one-liners like "I am the law" or "I knew you'd say that", when asking how a "defendant" pleads, it's impossible to believe it is said without irony. The opening credits of Judge Dredd reveals the roots of the protagonist as a comic book character through the assorted covers from issues of his adventures over the years, like in Superman (1978). And also like Superman, it suggests that Judge Dredd is a "Superman" for another time and place, a grimy, cyberpunk world, where both heroes and villains use brutal means to solve problems. There is a message in Judge Dredd buried under all of the explosions and gunfire--justifying the means to an end only gives rise to new, unforeseen problems. Fargo is convinced by Judge Griffin (Jürgen Prochnow) to retire and take his "long walk" into the "Cursed Earth" outside of the city to save his protegee, Dredd, from a death sentence; this "easy out" is something that Fargo should have observed was a resolution that was too good to be true. It is the same for the way the Judges deliver fast-food style judgments in the heat of the moment after a crime--their severe judgments seem punitive and excessive, befitting an authoritarian tyranny. Like the comics, Judge Dredd raises questions about the difference between efficiently versus conveniently executing the law, and the high cost of taking the easy way out.
Recommended for: Fans of a stylized sci-fi action flick which dabbles in the moral quandaries like the diminishing (or even eliminating altogether) value of due process in favor of expediency, and the corrupting influence it can have on a society. Judge Dredd is a largely pedestrian comic book adaptation from the 1990s, but has plenty of explosions, special effects, and colorful settings and characters throughout it.