Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone is very much a movie of its time. That time was the 90's when the world was just becoming accustomed to comic book movies, while at the same time savoring the latest bombastic Arnold Schwarenegger flicker. This movie is blend of both, a comic book movie that does some limited justice to its source but at the same time giving 90's audiences the slick action they'd come to expect.
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Sadly, the limited justice leaves a lot of Judge Dredd the comic on the cutting room floor. The number one complaint is that Sly takes off the helmet way too much. Watching it again, I realized he wore it more than I remember and when it was off the plot was served. It's the fact this is a story in which Dredd is not officially a judge for quite a while.
Armand Assante as the villain "Rico" was wildly over the top yet still compelling. He was turbocharging his performance but still hitting the necessary notes. Max Von Sydow was quite good as a noble elder judge and Jurgen Prochnow gave his typical bad guy performance. Diane Lane was lovely and her bit well enough, but the attempts to link her romantically to Dredd fell flat. Rob Schnieder is pretty good and isn't on screen enough to drag the whole kaboodle down with his comedic touches.
The ending of the movie is horrible, full bluster and nonsense. It does hurt the overall movie since it leaves a bad taste in the viewer's mouth at just the wrong time. As a movie attempting to translate the Judge Dredd comic to the big screen, this one starts well but loses steam steadily throughout. As a typical action film of its time, it performs pretty well. After seeing again after many years it was better overall than I remembered.
Tomorrow the Dojo takes a look at the much better Judge Dredd movie.
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