Dredd Movie Reviews
Not as bad as it seems
Make up your own pun about this dredd-ful movie...'Judge Dredd' is based on a British comic book of a dystopian future where police officers have become 'judges' who are judge, jury and executioner rolled into one. As such it was part of the British disposition towards predicting a fascist future found in works from George Orwell's classic novel '1984' to Alan Moore and David Lloyd comic book mini-series 'V for Vendetta.' For the most part the 'Judge Dredd' comics were highlighted by the distinctive artwork of Brian Bolland more than anything else.
The film presents a future that is so violent, with Megacities engaged in constant battles called Block Wars, that even the Judges, with their authority and power to summarily execute criminals, are considered to be unable to handling the problem. Judge Griffin (Jürgen Prochnow) wants to expand the authority of the Judges so that they can execute more criminals for lesser crimes and in a film like this you know such goals are not idle ideological discourse. There is a conspiracy at work and suddenly Dredd (Stalone) is arrested and convicted for a crime that he did not commit. The deed was perpetrated by Rico (Armand Assante), a former Judge who was sent to prison by Dredd. But, as with all such movie conspiracies, there is much more to the plot than Dredd knows, involving even his father figure, Chief Justice Fargo (Max won Sydow).
Judge Dredd has two decidedly different sidekicks in this film, Judge Hershey (Diane Lane), who tries to defend him in court, and career petty criminal Herman Ferguson (Rob Schneider), who ends up with him on the street trying to stay alive and figure out the conspiracy. They have relatively little to do in the film besides spout dialogue intended to provide exposition, comic relief, and chip away at Dredd's gruff exterior to eventually find a spark of humanity. It is a sad film that wastes the talents of both Diane Lane and Rob Schneider. 'Judge Dredd' works best during its action sequences, when the title character is too busy to speak, because sooner or later he utters the film's wretched punch line, 'I knew you'd say that,' and you have to roll your eyes and wait for the next action sequence to distract you.
In its defense, it should be pointed out that there is a lot of action in the film, which never lets up long enough for you to make the conscious effort to stop watching. The conspiracy is predictable enough that when characters sketch out the details in-between Dredd's rampages it is enough to connect the dots. Just do not try and figure out the film's ideological position on law and order issues in the real world.
A sleek, juicy slice of Ultraviolence, served piping hot!Let me count the ways I love Judge Dredd:
1)It's all Action, all the time---and it Looks so Good! And best of all, it's action done by a competent, experienced crew: Adrian Biddle ("Aliens", "1492", "Thelma & Louise") for cinematography, and set design by Peter Young, who did the look for "Batman" and "Sleepy Hollow".
2)It's got Armand Assante and Jurgen Prochnow as crazed, Machiavellian evil villains (Assante crazed, Prochnow Machiavellian)!
3) It's got veteran uber-actor Max von Sydow as Chief Justice Fargo, and boy the guy looks hip and happening in a trenchcoat with a big super-duper hand cannon!
4) It's got a violent Mega-City where the angry inhabitants don't have backyard barbecues, they have block wars!
5) It's got an angry War Robot designed to control crowds---with extreme prejudice! Oh, it likes to pull peoples' heads off, too.
6) It's got angry unfinished Clones, all of whom are imperfect copies of Assante!
7) Aspen, Colorado is a penal colony! What a great world!
8) It's got starlet action! A villainous Joan Chen in tight leather hotpants! It's got the genetically perfect Diane Lane as the unfortunately named Judge Hershey (I don't know. Don't ask.)!
9) It's got a periodically amusing Rob Schneider and gratuitous Balthazar Getty! It's got a family of inbred religious cannibals who make the family in "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" look like pikers---and the razor-toothed Number 1 Son has what appears to be a minute-timer embedded in his skull!
10) Finally, it's just all around fun: the chase on Lawmasters through the neon heights and aeries of Mega City One has to be seen to be believed, and it is far more enjoyable than anything in the Star Wars prequels. And in addition, it's a pretty fine adaptation of the Judge Dredd graphic novel series.
So get past your need to see 'serious' cinema, sit back, and pop "Judge Dredd" on the hopper. Besides, He's the Law----and failure to appreciate the subtle glories of this film is a Violation, Citizen---Punishment? You don't want to know.
