Review of Judge Dredd (1995) by Joe A — 28 Jul 2011
Not knowing anything about the comic on which this film is based, it's not clear how much damage it does to the comic's lore and does it matter. Stallone is horribly miscast as the title character, he just doesn't fit the role of a comic book character despite his larger then life persona and the near cartoon levels he took his Rambo and Rocky characters during the 80s.
Also makes no sense that he was hired to play a masked character and then the script is tailored to keep him out of the costume for 90% of the movie. Maybe Stallone is just too Stallone to play an established character like Dredd.
The rest of the cast is good but, a rambling script and an unknown and untried director make their efforts a waste of time. Dredd's bipolar tone doesn't help either as one minute it's trying to be a serious sci-fi actioneer and the next it's trying to be a campy comic book movie.
It never does make up it's mind. The FX work is good, thought the sets and costumes look like they were stolen directly from Blade Runner and the action, despite being plentiful, never has the energy a film like this needs.
Not quite a mess but, close. Stallone's underrated and fun futuristic action flick Demoltion Man, released 2 years earlier was a lot more on the mark.
This review of Judge Dredd (1995) was written by Joe A on 28 Jul 2011.
Judge Dredd has generally received mixed reviews.
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