JUDGE DREDD (1995)

MORGAN'S RATING

In a standard comic book dystopian near-future Americans are ensconced in mega-cities which protect them from the desolation of the world outside, and the peace is kept by the Judges. This elite group who upholds "The Law" is police, jury and executioner all in one. Judge Dredd, the most formidable and revered of the Street Judges, is convicted of the murder of a snooping reporter. With the help of a prisoner who he himself convincted, Dredd sets out to clear his name while leaving a trail of destruction, snappy catch-phrases, and dazzling special effects in his wake.

Sylvester Stallone (Judge Dredd), Armand Assante (Rico), Rob Schneider (Herman Ferguson Fergie), Jurgen Proch-now (Judge Griffin), Max von Sydow (Chief Justice Fargo), Diane Lane (Judge Hershey), Joanna Miles (McGruder), Joan Chen (Ilsa), Balthazar Getty (Olmeyer), Maurice Roeves (Warden Miller), Ian Dury (Geiger), Christopher Adamson (Mean Machine), Ewan Bremner (Judge Angel), Peter Markinker (Judge Esposito), Angus MacInnes (Judge Silver), Louise Delamere (Locker Judge), Mitch Ryan (Hammond), James Earl Jones (Narrator, uncredited), James Remar (Block Warlord, uncredited), Scott Wilson (Pa Angel, uncredited).

IN THE FUTURE, ONE MAN IS JUDGE, JURY AND EXECUTIONER!

PRODUCTION INFORMATION

DIRECTOR: Danny Cannon.

WRITERS: Michael DeLuca, William Wisher Jr., Steven E. De Souza and John Fasano (uncredited).

PRODUCERS: Charles Lippincott and Beau Marks.

ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS: Tony Munafo and Susan Nicoletti.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Edward R. Pressman and Andrew G. Vajna.

ORIGINAL MUSIC: Alan Silvestri.

DISTRIBUTOR: Hollywood Pictures.

QUOTES

Judge Dredd: Emotions...there ought to be a law against them.

Judge Dredd: I am the law!

Rico: You wanted a new beginning? I am the new beginning!

Warden Miller: So tell me Rico, what is the meaning of life? Rico: It ends.

FACTS

RELEASE DATES: June 30th, 1995 (USA)

BOX OFFICE OPENING: $12.2 million (USA)

CRITICAL COMMENTS

BOX OFFICE RESULT: $34.6 million (USA)

"Loud, ugly adaptation of the comic book...some interesting plotting is lost in a sea of hard-edge violence, video game-like special effects, and overripe acting." -- Leonard Maltin

BUDGET: $90 million (USA)

- Director Danny Cannon was so disheartened over his constant creative disputes with Sylvester Stallone that he swore he would never again work with another big-name actor. He also claimed that the final version was completely different from the script, due to the changes Stallone demanded.

"Judge Dredd never slows down enough to make much sense; it's a Blade Runner for audiences with Attention Deficit Disorder. Stallone survives it, but his supporting cast, also including an uninvolved Joan Chen and a tremendously intense Jurgen Prochnow, isn't well used." -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

- The flying bike scenes features three seconds where Dredd is a computer generated image. This is the part where he swoops down low over a crowd of punks.

"Bombastic, plastic and spastic, Judge Dredd is guilty of squandering a rich opportunity to make a wild-and-woolly sature...never has a such a big, dumb movie seemd so small, as it shrinks from Blade Runner sharp to Jetsonian junky." -- Susan Wloszczyna, USA Today

- Nominated for one 1996 Razzie Award for Worst Actor.

"By now Stallone has become a symbol for all that is goofy and grandiloquent in Hollywood's live-action summer cartoons. The harmone that courses through this movie veins could be called preposterone." -- Richard Corliss, TIME Magazine

"Aside from the affable Schneider and the able Lane, the cast seems to be in deep shock. Um, make that Dredd lock." -- Rita Kempley, Washington Post