Judge Dredd (1995) [5261 AS]The Movie:
What can be said about Judge Dredd that hasn't been said already? It's cheesy, it has some absolutely deplorable writing and acting, and to many it is one of the worst films ever made. It's hated equally by critics and fans of the original comics, but does that mean it is without merit? Absolutely not, at least from this film enthusiast.
What it lacks in character depth and creativity, it makes up by being so ridiculous that every time I end up viewing it I have a massive grin on my face.
The story it attempts to convey is that of the future where martial law is always in effect. In the 23rd Century, the streets are governed by Judges, who are capable of arresting and sentencing on the spot for all sorts of crime. The most famous of all of these Judges is Judge Dredd, acted out by the always lovely Sylvester Stallone. After sentencing Rob Schneider to five years in prison for tampering with a service droid, Dredd himself is sentenced to life in prison after his brother/clone Rico, played incredibly over the top by Armand Assante, kills a reporter and frames him using his own DNA. Schneider and Stallone are then forced to team up as outlaws to return to their city and stop Rico from derailing the judicial system and destroying law and order. In their travels they fight a large retired war droid, an Asian scientist, a faulty police vehicle, and a family on cannibals.
The film wraps itself up with a battle between Dredd and Rico that ends as expected, full of awful one liners and lots of shouting between the two larger than life personalities that duke it out.
This movie isn't exactly a masterpiece by any means, but for an afternoon time killer, there's certainly much worse movies that you could watch.
Video:
Sporting a THX certified transfer, Judge Dredd has a generally excellent look on Laserdisc. Letterboxed into a 2.35:1 aspect ratio, colors tend to pop off the screen more than many Laserdiscs of the time period. The print used for the transfer is in excellent shape, with no noticeable damage of any sort. Video noise that seems to have plagued many discs in the mid 90s is only barely visible and is for the most part negligible. Overall, this is one of the more proficient THX releases on the 90s.
Audio:
Sporting a Dolby Surround stereo track on the digital tracks, and an AC-3 encoded surround track, Judge Dredd comes to life with an excellent sound encode. For this review I listened to the film using a 3.0 setup to listen to the AC-3 track, as my setup is currently in the middle of being recreated. Dialogue is represented well through the center channel, with nothing getting lost between all of the whirring bullets and roaring explosions. Even without a subwoofer present, explosions and the major crash scene in the middle of the film still pack a punch. The audio on my copy did dropout once at 27.52 on the second side, but I can only assume that this is an isolated incident and does not occur on all copies of the film. Overall, the audio, like the Judge Dredd himself, is a flawed, but proficient encode.
Final Word:
This film is THE LAW. With a cast of excellent B list actors, some absolutely fantastic one liners(such as "that's Judge b**ch!") and excellent special effects and sound design, as long as you're not one of those glass half empty sort of people, you can still enjoy Judge Dredd. I know I can, and to this day it's one of my favorite guilty pleasure 90's cheese fest movies.
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