Some people may only think of superhero characters when they think of comic books even though several comics have been about characters were weren't superheroes. I sometimes still forget about those comics at times. Some of those comics have been turned into movies over the years. Some, like Men in Black and Men in Black II, have been very successful. Others, like Judge Dredd, didn't do as well.
More than 100 years in the future, Earth was mostly a desert area referred to as the Cursed Earth and people lived in mega cities. The cities had huge populations and crime went out of control. A new justice system was established which created the judges. The street judges had the authority to arrest criminals, decide if they were guilty or not, and impose a sentence. They could even perform executions on the spot if they decided that the criminal deserved the death sentence. There were other judges who no longer patrolled the streets who served on a council and basically ran the city.
Judge Joseph Dredd was a very tough and well known judge in Mega City One. He was very strict with his interpretation of the law and never saw any gray areas. He sentenced Fergie, a man who just returned to the city after serving time for a minor offense, to five years for hiding inside a vending machine droid during a shoot out. Rico, a former judge who had turned bad, managed to escape from prison and return to the city. Shortly after that, Dredd was accused of murdering a reporter and faced a trial with Judge Hershey defending him. Dredd was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. He ended up in the Cursed Earth after the transport he was on was attacked. Dredd managed to return to the city with Fergie’s help and set out to clear his name and stop Rico.
Judge Dredd was based on a character from the British comic book 2000 AD. I’ve never read any of the issues of that comic. I’ve never even seen it and I’m not sure if it is available outside of England. After I recently watched the movie again, I did some research on the character and the comic. It did seem like several aspects of the comic ended up in the movie while certain things were changed.
The movie and the comic were both set in a future in which the justice system was dramatically different. Most of the world turned into a desert and people live in crime ridden over populated cities. The new system was established to deal with the crime. Once someone became a judge, they would face danger on the job constantly and many would die in the line of duty. The ones who actually survived until retirement then faced going on what was called the long walk. The retired judge had to leave the city and go out into the Cursed Earth to try to bring law and order to the people living there. That was not a good retirement plan or way to repay someone for years of service. The idea that one person could not only arrest someone, but act as a judge and sentence them, including carrying out a death sentence, was scary. The movie really didn’t explore that aspect even though one reporter was briefly shown to be working on a story about the judges.
There were several action scenes throughout Judge Dredd. Most of them involved Dredd fighting with someone. There really wasn’t non stop action in the movie, but it was enough to help keep things interesting. The special effects were done well and looked fine. Most of the scenes that included action also included violence. Some of the fights did involve guns and several characters ended up injured or dead. The violence wasn’t as graphic as I’ve seen in many other movies. The violence could be too graphic for some viewers and I don’t think this is a movie for children to see. This was one of the few movies based on a comic book to be rated R. Fergie did help to lighten the mood in some scenes with something he said or did. During one scene, he did an imitation of Dredd that was hilarious.
Dredd was obviously the main character. He was a mostly flat character, which can happen with characters from comic books. He seemed to live only to strictly enforce the law and had no personal life. He didn’t even have any friends and believed that a judge had to isolate themselves from other people and not feel emotion. Dredd did evolve a bit as the movie progressed, seeming to become friends with Fergie and getting closer to Judge Hershey. I’m not exactly sure what I think of Sylvester Stallone’s performance as Dredd. He did seem a bit stiff, but I’m not sure if that was because the character was intended to be stiff or if it was just bad acting on Stallone’s part. The way he kept repeating the line “I am the law” did get old. Stallone was also in another futuristic movie, Demolition Man.
Judge Hershey hadn’t been a judge for that long and she wasn’t as jaded about the job as Dredd was. She saw areas of gray in the law and had a life outside of her job. She tried her best in defending Dredd and even kept trying to figure out a few things after he was convicted. I did think that Diane Lane did a good job with the part. Chief Justice Fargo was the highest ranking judge in the city who had been like a father to Dredd over the years. Fargo wasn’t in too many scenes, so Max von Sydow really didn’t have a lot to do.
Fergie had been sent to prison for several months for a relatively minor offense. Unfortunately, right after he got back to the city, he was in the wrong place and ended up in the middle of a shoot out. He wasn’t happy with Dredd, but he eventually ended up working with him to get back to the city. Rob Schneider was good in the part and was able to add humor to several scenes. He can be irritating, but I didn’t think he was in this movie.
Rico had been a judge before he started breaking the laws he was supposed to enforce. He managed to break out of prison and made his way back to the city where he started trying to carry out his plan. He wouldn’t hesitate to kill anyone that got in his way. Armand Assante was terrible as Rico. He wasn’t too bad in his first few scenes, but was the movie progressed, he slipped further into overacting until Rico seemed to be crazed. He ended up yelling entirely too often when there was no reason for it.
Main Cast
Armand Assante - Rico Diane Lane - Judge Hershey Rob Schneider - Fergie Sylvester Stallone - Judge Joseph Dredd Max von Sydow - Chief Justice Fargo
Danny Cannon - Director
Judge Dredd is available on DVD. When I first saw the movie years ago, I rented the VHS, so I don’t know what sort of extras, if any, are on the DVD. When I recently watched the movie again, it was on one of the movie channels that I get.
Judge Dredd had some problems and definitely wasn’t one of the best movies that I’ve seen. Despite that, I was able to enjoy the movie for the most part when I watched it again. The movie can be enjoyed if expectations aren’t too high.
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