Review of Judgment Night (1993) by Sajit M — 31 Oct 2013

Great film for guys- A coming of age story based over a single night. A group of fairly middle class gentlemen go on a trip to see a boxing match, but things quickly go wrong, after they take a wrong turn and witness a murder. They are soon perused by criminals and eventually are forced to fight for their lives, which leads them to question what is important to them and how 'tough' they are compared to some local gangsters they come across.

One of the characters is a young hot head who wants to take on the world, however he soon realises the best muscle he can use is his brain and not his fists. This theme runs throughout the film where all the characters have decide whether physical force or smarts is the best way to outwit the criminals who are after them, mostly concluding that they can outsmart the bad guys but will eventually have to kill or be killed. Excellent star cast; Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr and Dennis Lerrey all excel in their perspective characters.

The most interesting theme I took from the film was that- when we are young we are more eager to settle arguments with physical force, however as we get older we mellow out and learn to control ourselves in the face of provocation and that our brain is the biggest asset to escape danger.