5.8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.3 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.3 |
In The Future...One Man Is Judge, Jury and Executioner! In a time when all-powerful and coldly efficient "Judges" act with the supreme authority of both the police force and legal system, Judge Dredd is the most feared law enforcer of them all. But when a former judge hatches a sinister plot to overthrow the government and eliminate the Judges, Dredd is framed for murder!
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Rob Schneider, Jürgen Prochnow, Max von SydowAction | 100% |
Sci-Fi | 43% |
Thriller | 37% |
Comic book | 21% |
Crime | 2% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 2.0 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Plagued by production delays and reported feuds between its star and director, Judge Dredd fizzled at the U.S. box office in the summer of 1995, though it did much better abroad, where Sylvester Stallone was still selling tickets. In his own backyard, Stallone's performance was mocked by critics, who also attacked the film's futuristic design as derivative (not without reason) and its effects as cheesy, which some of them were, due to time constraints. Stallone was nominated for a Razzie as worst actor, but he deservedly lost to Pauly Shore for Jury Duty. Time has been kind to Judge Dredd, vindicating those who enjoyed it sitting in the theater that summer (yes, I was one of them) and fans who have discovered it since on home video. By today's CGI standards, all of its effects look cheesy and dated, which is to say, they're largely practical or based on miniatures. After sitting through one cutting-edge computer-generated environment after another, filled with actors who seem increasingly detached from their surroundings, these kinds of productions have acquired new appeal. As for the film's derivative elements, who among us can keep count of the dystopian futurist tales to which we've been exposed in the last two decades? At some point, they all begin to look the same, and anything with a coherent story and a memorable character stands apart from the pack. Judge Dredd has both, and a lot more. The character originated in a 1977 comic series first published in the British anthology 2000 A.D. Director Danny Cannon, who was in his early twenties and had only made one previous film when he was tapped to direct, grew up reading the Dredd comics and had definite ideas about how the character should appear on film. Unfortunately, Stallone was the star, and he too had ideas, which included showing his face, unlike the graphic character, who never did. Entire books were written about the production battles, but that's too big a subject for this review.
Judge Dredd was shot by the late Adrian Biddle (whose last film before his untimely death of a heart attack at age 52 was V for Vendetta). Even at the time, in the pre-digital intermediate era, the film was striking for the clarity of its imagery and the intensity of its blues. Disney's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray ranks in the upper tier of their recent round of catalog releases, reproducing Biddle's shimmering images with a touch less "pop" than I'd like to see (and it's rare that anyone will hear me say that), but with an appropriately saturated palette that fully differentiates between the steely blue and gray world of the Judges and the more colorful cacophony of the rest of Mega-city (not to mention the sickly yellow of the Cursed Earth). Detail is sufficiently well rendered that you can easily tell, as you could with a good film print in 1995, which effects shots were rushed at the last minute. Black levels and shadow detail are good, and there is no evidence of detail filtering or artificial sharpening. The film's grain structure is visible, but it's extremely fine. Nothing in the way of compression artifacts presented itself.
There's nothing subtle or restrained about Judge Dredd's DTS-HD MA 5.1 track. It's loud, aggressive and in-your-face, like the title character. None of the weapons sound like ordinary gunfire; they're all ramped-up superguns. The crash of the prison transport in the Cursed Earth is especially impressive, if you like your effects noisy, as is the grand finale in Dr. Hayden's lab. A chase sequence involving airborne police scooters offers some nice panning effects, and Rico's robot is good for a few bass notes. In general, those who enjoy bombastic action tracks can expect a good time. One doesn't watch Judge Dredd for the dialogue, but it's clear and intelligible, even with Stallone and Assante trying to outslur each other. Alan Silvestri's score is frequently drowned out by the effects, but when you hear it, it strikes the appropriately martial tone. (The balance in favor of the effects isn't a fault of the Blu-ray; it's always been mixed like that.)
Of course, the reason for Disney to release Judge Dredd on Blu-ray at this moment is the imminent release of Dredd 3D by Lionsgate in theaters. All signs point to this new film being an entirely different take on the character. For one thing, Karl Urban's Dredd never removes his helmet in the trailer, which is a good sign. Regardless of how the new Dredd turns out, Stallone's version will always be a unique creation. Disney has done a capable job with the Blu-ray. Highly recommended for fans; if you're new to the Judge Dredd experience, you might want to rent first.
2008
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