Does Judge Dredd Objectively Suck?

*Spoiler Alert* Yep, I spoil a 20 year old Stallone movie in this article. If that's the kind of thing you really find important, stop reading and seek psychological help.*Spoiler Alert*

Disclaimer: I am actually going to open with a few disclaimers. First and foremost, I am critiquing Judge Dredd the movie. I am not looking at the comic book or the remake. I am strictly looking at Judge Dredd for the movie that it is, because art should never be judged based on it's source material one way or the other. The second disclaimer is that I am not coming into this movie with an unbiased mind. I adore Judge Dredd. It's one of my favorite movies and I watch it probably every six months or so. However I am willing and able to recognize that many of the things I like about it may be the bad things. It's cheesey, it's mindless, it's over the top... but does it suck?


Synopsis

Judge Dredd is set deep in the future, where the country has been split into several mega cities. Our setting is Megacity 1, where the population has outgrown the limitations, leading to violence and lawlessness taking over. Because of this, the old judicial system has fallen away, replaced instead by "Judges" who hunt down, sentence, and punish criminals all without the pesky nuisance of a trial. Our main character is Judge Joseph Dredd, a street Judge with seemingly no other motivation but to make sure the law is enforced, even at the expense of logic and compassion. His world is torn apart when he is framed for murder, and banished from the city he loves. From there it is a fight to survive the outside world, get back to Megacity 1, hunt down the real criminals, and clear his good name.


Cast

The first thing I will say about the actors in this movie is that it is incredibly difficult to act around the shitty, shitty dialogue in this movie. Some of them do it well, while others not so much, but for the record they all start with a handicap. Let's start at the top with Oscar nominated, Razzie award winner, Sylvester Stallone. Let me get this out of the way before I even start. I love Sylvester Stallone. I feel like he catches a lot of flack, and deserves far more credit for his acting ability than he gets. This movie... is another story. That is not to say he's bad, but there are definitely scenes where he could have done a much better job at selling the emotion involved in this characters story. Like the scene where he realizes that the law has failed him. We get something from Stallone, but it comes off as less "My world is shattered" and more "I'm bored". Then at points where he probably shouldn't, he has classic Stallone outbursts. I love them, but I can definitely understand how they hurt the film. He does an ok job, but I definitely expected more from him.

The supporting cast around him more than makes up for his shortcomings. Max Von Sydow is intelligent and dignified in his role as Chief Justice Fargo, and serves his purpose perfectly. Diane Lane does a great job of making Judge Hershey a strong willed, smart but flawed person, and even pulls off the bad ass action heroine very well. There are scenes where she can be a bit hammy, but that's bound to happen with the dialogue she's been given. Jurgen Prochnow is good as the sinister Judge Griffin, but there were points I felt like he was meant to take a more subdued, dignified tone, and he ended up coming off as more sniveling and panicky. That may have been the director's fault more than the actor's though.

I saved room for two very important pieces to the casting puzzle. One bad, one awesome... let's start with the bad... and I mean bad. Rob Schneider is in this movie, and yes he plays Rob Schneider. He's the comic relief, and he is incredibly annoying. I like Rob Schneider, and even I'm tired of him by the end of this thing, and even though he plays an important part in the climax he really hurts the movie. The other person I want to talk about is Armand Assante as the deranged, power hungry Rico. His performance in this movie is over the top and bombastic in all the right ways. He does a perfect job of portraying the insane ex-judge whose genetic imperative to thirst for justice mutated into an unquenchable lust for power. If you don't like anything else in this movie, it's worth sitting through for his performance alone.

Writing

There is no way around it,. The writing in this movie is a giant knock against it. The very worst of the problems being the dialogue. I understand it's supposed to be in a post apocalyptic future, but then why do half of the characters talk like C-3PO and half of them talk like normal people? The most glaring example of the bad writing is in a scene where Chief Justice Fargo is dying, and he reveals long held secrets to Judge Dredd. This should be an emotional, touching scene, but thanks to the ham handed writing, all we get is crappy exposition, followed by generic action movie tough guy dialogue swearing vengeance.

Ok, it's not as bad as I make it sound. The dialogue is terrible, but as far as pacing and the non verbal storytelling, this movie actually does a good job. Another bright spot is Judge Hershey. If you're someone who finds themselves thirsting for well written, strong action movie heroines, Judge Hershey is done very well. When she's defending Judge Dredd in the courtroom, it's not because she's in love with his rippling muscles. It's because she genuinely believes he is innocent, and wants to see justice done. When she does her detective work after the trial, it's not because she needs Dredd in her life, it's because she has a burning desire to know the truth. In fact, she even ends up not trusting Dredd for a little while. She's tough but inexperienced, determined but unsure. A very well written female in my humble opinion. There is a romantic connection between her and the male lead, but it isn't even addressed until the last fifteen minutes of the movie, and even then it's mostly downplayed. She does end up being the damsel in distress at the end, but not because she was a sitting duck target, it's because she was out front helping Dredd, and even then she ends up saving him in the end instead of the other way around. So the one small bright spot is the female lead... the rest of the writing goes from atrocious to meh.


Effects

This is one category I'm on the fence about. There are very very good, and very very bad things about the effects in this movie. Let's start with the bad. The scenes where they're on speeder bikes, moving through the city sort of remind me of Blade Runner, which would be great except for the fact that Blade Runner came out in 1982, and Judge Dredd came out in 1995. During those scenes I was thinking to myself "This isn't AWFUL for an 80's action flick." and then I had to keep reminding myself that it's a mid-90's action flick. Those scenes have dated visuals, bad green screen effects, and really could have benefited from more effort, or better technology or... something.

The good comes in the practical effects done by this team, which is more of the movie than the crappy green screen. A lot of the explosions, crashes, and other effects were done without the use of CGI, and that is where it really shines. I don't mean to over sell it, but the practical effects in this film are well shot, and beautifully executed. The team who made this movie can not possibly get enough credit for how awesome the sets look, how cool the practical explosions were, and how unique the designs of (most of) the vehicles were. Bottom line, the practical effects in this movie: gold. The computer effects in this movie, as dated and sloppy as it gets. Overall, not a category I would consider a strike against it, but probably not something I'm willing to shove into the plus column either.

 Action

Up until the last twenty minutes, there's not as much action as you might expect out of a Sylvester Stallone action flick. It focuses a lot more on the characters and the set up. That ends up being a big credit to the movie because almost every on screen death ends up meaning something. There's weight to it, it matters. It's not just mindless violence and action to fill time. Of course if you're somebody who watches these movies for wanton destruction, fighting and explosions, then you're in luck too! The last twenty minutes of this movie pack in all the action the rest of it didn't have. The only problem is the ham handed dialogue and action movie one liners, but they definitely fit better in the action sequences than they do the rest of the film. Overall, I think as far as action goes, and making it mean something, this is actually one of Stallone's better movies. First Blood excluded of course.

Story

 Here is one category where I am torn. On one hand, I love the story and how it's presented. I think it's an interesting intricate story, and while we've seen the fall from grace storyline before, it's not as tired as a lot of routes they could have gone. On the other hand, I can definitely see how people would look at this movie and find the story contrived, and needlessly complicated.

As far as overarching themes, I really like watching them explore the ideas of what happens when crime starts to over run society, and how far is it alright for the judicial system to go in order to ensure safety. Most of the characters struggle with the question in one way or another, as does the society at large. Now, some people saw these themes as heavy handed and dumbed down, which I can also understand, but some of the best sci-fi movies in the world are not known for their subtlety, so I'm willing to give it a pass. I guess this one all comes down to how you look at movies and science fiction. Like I said, I like it, but I can definitely understand if you don't.

Fun factor

This is an important category to me. I often say that a movie can be a lot of things, but the one thing it can not be is boring. As far as fun factor, Judge Dredd totally delivers. There's awesome overacting from Stallone, awesome overacting from Armand Assante, great action movie one liners, plenty of action, and a fast moving story full of colorful characters, with a satisfying payoff. Some may say this is a terrible movie, but the one thing I don't think anyone can dispute is that at the end of the day this movie is great at delivering pure, stupid fun.



So... does it suck?

No. I'll probably get some angry messages over this, but this movie does not objectively suck. It's not one of the great classic films of the twentieth century, but it was never meant to be. It was meant to be an interesting, fun Sylvester Stallone action flick. In that capacity, it delivers everything it promises. If you hate action movies and Sylvester Stallone, this movie isn't going to change your mind. If you're like me, and you're willing to indulge every cheesey, poorly written second, you can certainly do a lot worse than Judge Dredd.