Judge Dredd [DVD] [1995]

This film was almost universally hated, by critics and Dredd fans alike, so I didn't get round to watching it for a long time. Dredd is one of my all time favourite comics and I didn't want to see it ruined by a bad film.

WHAT'S GOOD. Sylvester Stallone is the perfect man to play Dredd. I know not everyone agrees, but just scroll up and look at the picture. The first half hour or so of the film captures the atmoshere of the comics and MegaCity 1 perfectly, and gives anyone a good idea of what the comics are like.

WHAT'S BAD. The story. In short the story was not right for the character. I can understand that the film makers wanted Rico as the villain because it gives a lot of the back story as to where Dredd came from, but the way in which it was done had too many holes in it. Like the fact that Dredd has identical DNA to Fargo as well as Rico, was completely ignored. Dredd shouldn't have been sent to prison in the first place, he should have been chasing Rico round MegaCity 1. Diane Lane was very pretty, but essentially mis-cast as Judge Hershey (who's older in the comics and Dredd's superior) .As for Dredd's comedy sidekick bloke... He really DID deserve to go to prison! He was totally unneccesary - less said about him the better.

The other thing that needs to be mentioned is that in the film Dredd takes his helmet off! This upset many a Dreddhead, since he NEVER takes his helmet off in the comics - even when he's standing around in his underpants. I concede this probably couldn't be easily avoided on film, and it wasn't totally gratuitous but still, on screen Stallone was Dredd until he took off the helmet. Then he was just Stallone.

Overall as a film it isn't bad, it's an entertaining piece of sci-fi. If you like the film, you'll like the comics more. If you like the comics the film will leave you cold.

Danny Cannon's Judge Dredd is an entertaining enough sci-fi action flick, but I can't help wincing whenever I watch it. Cannon claims to be a fan of the original comic strip, which suggests that he didn't have a great deal of creative control, because plenty of liberties are taken here.

I would never have expected the makers of the movie to be 100% faithful to the comic, but some of the changes that were made were superficial and pointless, and that's what irritates me. For one thing it's set in the wrong year, the Chief Judge is inexplicably called Chief Justice, Rico is locked up in Aspen rather than Titan, the heroic Chief Judge Griffin is one of the movie's villains, while in the comic both McGruder and Silver were Chief Judges... and Silver was black! And another thing... if Rico is Dredd's clone, shouldn't they be identical??

As a movie it's okay. The dialogue is pretty awful (e.g. "I knew you'd say that"), and the acting is adequate (Stallone is fairly dire and Rob Schneider is exceptionally annoying as Fergie, but Diane Lane does well as Judge Hershey, Armand Assante is deliciously nasty as Rico and Max von Sydow adds some much-needed professionalism to proceedings). The action scenes also just-about pass muster, although the hover-bike chase fails to convince, and the climactic punch-up in the Statue of Liberty is a bit of a damp squib.

In the end though, it's all fairly entertaining nonsense. It's just a shame that when the producers decide to bring Dredd to the big screen, they didn't have the courage to do it properly - as far as I'm concerned not hiring John Wagner or Alan Grant to work on the script was a crime worthy of life in an Iso-Cube.

I was still collecting 2000Ad and The Judge Dredd Megazine when the movie Judge Dredd came out and was very excited by the trailer and clips I saw on Barry Normans Film 95. Unfortunately the final film didn't quite live up to expectations and that was largely due to the film being far too ambitious.
In 96 minutes the film introduces Mega City 1, The Judges, Judge Dredd, Block Wars, Rico, Fargo,the long Walk, Judge Hershey, cadets, Judge dredd's origins, Cloning, Hammerstein, dredd being set up, The Cursed Earth, The Angel gang, SJS Judges, Fergee, Dredd having to return to the Mega City, Griffin and McGruder. there is so much plot, action and violence that theres no room to breath. The film should have been Dredd on his Lawmaster(motorbike) dispencing justice 'Dirty Harry' style while up against a single main threat. They should have saved the Rico and Cursed Earth elements for later films. But if you stand back and look at the film in parts rather than as a whole theres alot of good stuff. For instance the robot 'Hammerstein' is amazing as is the Angel Gang, although they're not in it enough. Armand Assante is good as Rico and theres a nice cameo by Ian Dury. Diane Keaton also looks good as a judge. Plus having a cast that includes Max Von Sydow and Jurgen Prochnow is fantastic. Now Sylvester Stallone isn't perfect as Dredd but he's O.K. The worst mistake of the film is Rob Scneider's(a funny Deuce Bigelow) character. He plays Fergee, another unneccessary character who should have never been in the movie. Dredd does not need a comic side kick.
I think the first Dredd film should have been set entirely in the city with him giving out some futuristic justice possibaly featuring Robots revolting and a block war. Dredd 2 could then have featured the Cursed Earth and the Angel Gang with maybe mutant Dinosaurs or Judge Child. Dredd 3 could have featured The Dark Judges and specificallly Judge Death along with PSI Cassandra Anderson. Dredd 4 could have told the Rico and cloning story and perhaps featuring Mean Machine Angel going to the Mega City for revenge. Dredd 5 could have had the return of Judge Death and possibaly the Necropolis storyline. Dredd six could have been the world endangering zombieful Judgement Day story. Dredd 7 could of been about the introduction of the Mechanismo Judges and corrupt Judge leadership that could see Dredd stand up to his own superiors including a crazy Chief Judge. Dredd 8 would see him up against the crazy Chief Judge Cal and the Kleggs and would focus strongly on the ideals of totalitarium dictatorship and democoracy. This final film would end with him being offered The Chief Judge role but he declines and decides to take The Long Walk himself to bring Law to the Lawless. During the series of films the first chief Judge Fargo at some point would have to take the Long Walk(probabaly at the end of the first film) and you'd have met Dredd's closest allies Judge Hershey and Giant.
This is what I feel should have been planned for the Judge Dredd movies, instead of trying to cram as much as you can into one film.
As a Judge Dredd fan I'd love to give this 1995 film five stars but can only give it 3.8 out of five.
The DVD is o.k. but I would have expected by now for a character so famous and for such an ambitious film that there would have been a features packed special edition that would include deleted scenes or even better an extended cut. A cut that might have given the film room to breath. This DVD is a good widescreen edition but includes only a featurette and trailer.