Customer Reviews

Judgment Night

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Since seeing this film I've never been comfortable with Denis Leary as a comedian because he's so damn convincing as the cold-hearted bad guy in this. I think he's a great actor but this is the movie to see him in as it's A. His best performance and B. One of the best villains ever in movies.

Leary plays Fallon, a dangerous criminal from Chicago's bad side. And when four middle class pals from the quiet suburbs cross him and witness a murder a chase across derelict landscapes follows. The spoon-fed quartet are way out of their comfort zone and have no idea how to navigate the ghetto or deal with its dwellers. Peter Greene, an actor always like to see, plays Sykes, one of Fallon's cohorts as well as Everlast from the rap group House of Pain as Rhodes. They sure do make a threatening impression.

Judgment Night kind of comes across as a modern, urban Deliverance. There are many similarities between them but Judgment Night clearly has more excitement. Estevez (who was cast very late after Tom Cruise and Christian Slater turned down the lead role), Gooding Jnr, Piven and Dorff play well off each other and Piven especially seems to really get into the whiny runt of his character. Though the editors really should have cut down the in-fighting and petty bickering between the quartet as it often slows the film down to a complete stop.

Director Stephen Hopkins (who also did Predator 2 and Blown Away) uses creeping camera movements and neo-noir lighting to provoke multiple eerie moments as well as a great deal of tension. Slow-mo and warped sound effects are also used to great effect in the finale. Alan Silvestri's score is also one of his best, alternating between several different moods. His first score (electronic based) was rejected by Hopkins but that difficult decision proved be a good judgment (ha!) as the end result is one of the film's best features.

Judgment Night is certainly an overlooked tour-de-force and is a brilliant action film with fine performances all round, but Leary completely and utterly steals the show.

The DVD by Universal brilliantly presents Judgment Night in it's proper aspect ratio of 2.35:1 with the gothic atmosphere and brooding silhouette photography in all its widescreen glory. The DTS sound design (Judgment Night was one of the first films recorded in this format) sounds brilliant too. The fact that this film has not yet been released on Blu Ray is a gross oversight by Universal. Judgment Night in high-def, those lonely, desolate cityscapes in 1080p would be amazing. We can but wait.

Don't watch this one with real high expectations and you won't be disappointed. The roles are all pretty much two dimensional but still its kind of a fun ride.

Four suburnanite buddies travel into the city to attend a boxing match. They make the trip in an expensive RV that one of the buddies, a car salesmen, has "borrowed" off the lot. Fighting traffic they try and take a different route and end up lost in a very bad part of town.

Okay, stereotype alert. This part of town seems totally abandoned. Newspapers blow down the streets like tumbleweeds in an old western. Unfortunately they are in the wrong place at the wrong time. They witness a gangland slaying and the gang also sees them.

The four crash the RV and now have to flee on foot from the gang. The gang leader is played well over the top by fast talking Dennis Leary. Not the role I think he's best at but he does a decent job.

Emilio Estevez leads the ones who are on the run through this rugged part of town. From there on it's a cat and mouse game as the friends are persued relentlessly.

As you can guess, the friends have to finally make a stand and fight back for their lives.

As said, the movie is pretty predictable but still fun. Full of cliches but not bad.

Not much in the way of DVD extras but a good transfer.

A cat and mouse chase which draws the audience to the edge of its seat.Dennis Leary is brilliant as the bad guy, so is the actor from the sitcom "Ellen" who plays one of panic-stricken good guys.A film with a simple plot but remains one of the most effective films of its type since "Deliverance" because of the fine performances all-round. Watch out for rapper Everlast from House of Pain as one of Leary's Mob.

Dennis Leary makes for a great villain in this movie and there are a lot of cool action scenes but it was released theatrically as 2.35:1 but the DVD is 1.78:1. Why? This ruins it a little.

Frank Wyatt (Emilio Estevez), Mike Peterson (Cuba Gooding Jr.), John Wyatt (Stephen Dorff), and Ray Cochran (Jeremy Piven) are on their way to a boxing match when crowded traffic forces them to make a detour. This leads to one hell of a night for the four, as they accidentially witness a murder of a disloyal henchman by drug lord Fallon (Denis Leary), who has two rules: kill all liars, and leave no witnesses. He and his gang pursue the four through the underbelly of the city, while the four try to get help.

When originally released in October 1993, it bombed for reasons unknown. The performances by the central characters were awesome, with Denis Leary making a great villian. Goodtimes, however, aims to please as they present an excellent movie with a good transfer and widescreen to boot! The sound is great too. The DVD's praise, however, stops there. Aside from production notes, there are no extras on this DVD. I excuse this, however, as Goodtimes has never been known as a quality DVD distributor (No offense). Good try, Goodtimes.

JUDGMENT NIGHT
(1993, R)

Frank Wyatt: Emilio Estevez
Mike Peterson: Cuba Gooding, Jr.
Fallon: Denis Leary
John Wyatt: Stephen Dorff
Ray Cochran: Jeremy Piven
Sykes: Peter Greene

Director: Stephen Hopkins
Writers: Lewis Colick (story and screenplay), Jere Cunningham (story)

MOVIE: 5
VIDEO: 4.5
AUDIO: 4
EXTRAS: 2
MENUS: 3
OVERALL: 4

The full version of the title quote (cut for space constraints):
"Attention, food shoppers. We have a special over at the frozen food department, dead meat!"

I can remember seeing this film about 7 years ago and bugging the local video store for its release so I could buy it. The acting is fantastic with both Emilio Estevez and a young Cuba Gooding Jnr doing a superb job. Stephen Dorf and the guy that plays Ray are also brilliant. The star of the show for me is Dennis Leary who is pure evil with a fantastic sense of humour as well. The DVD is simply BRILLIANT with great surround sound and picture quality. I would recommend this film to anybody. Shut the lights off, get your four pack and pop corn, turn the volume up and enjoy!

I would like to say i thought the movie was AWESOME. The acting on Deni Leary's part with his gang was as real as it gets. AND the preppy guys like (Frank) Emilo and his buddy's were so true to form. The setting of the movie was good to. I lived in the suburbs of Chicago, Il were this movie was shot and let me tell you that there is a part of Chicago just like that. I was sitting at the edge of my seat the whole movie.. The acting and the directing was very good.I would recommend this movie to any one..I bought the movie too.

Dont buy this if you haven't already seen it. Rent it first and then buy it if you like it. So if you have seen it you have probably made up your mind if you are going to add this collection or not already. But here is my 10 cents worth anyway.
The reason I ever saw this movie in the first place was for two reasons. a)the soundtrack which featured the top heavy metal and hip hop acts around at the time and fused them together. And b)Denis Leary, who I liked as a stand up comic and was curious to see him acting in a serious role playing your typical "bad guy" role.
I wasn't disappointed in either case. The music provides a great backdrop to the mood of the whole movie. And Denis was great in the role of Fallon, a drug-dealing no-nonsense bad guy in control of a whole neighbourhood.
So I didn't hesitate to buy this when it was finally released on DVD. It was a good movie back in its day and still is today in my opinion. The all star cast is a bonus as well, although I am not a particular fan of Jeremy Piven, he was quite good in this role. Peter Greene is once again very appealing in his bad guy role as Fallons right hand man.
It definitely wasn't Emilio Esteves' best movie and I think Cuba Gooding Jnr was out of place as his best friend, but still a worthwhile purchase for any fans of theirs.
Special features include a trailer and that's it. Would have been good to get a commentary from the director but overall I give it 3.5 stars and Ill round that up to 4.

A lot of action movies that came out in the early 90's are remembered for stupid one-liners and explosions. Judgment Night is a movie that doesn't have any of that, sure there is a fire in the movie, okay. One fire. The movie is about a do-or-die situation that tests the bounds of a core group of friends... Who will be the one to make a stand? It's a movie shot in Chicago... Back in the early 90's, it was a different place, which makes this a period piece. Dare I say it?
BOTTOM LINE: This movie is a good time, Dennis Leary has many great moments as the bad guy. If you thought the Cubs/Sox feud was intense, imagine a bunch of North-shore dudes facing off against the grime of Leary's Southsiders! The question you should be asking is... does Cuba cry in this movie like he does in ALL of his movies?... This is the Swingers of action movies.

A chilling film. Well done; the late-night inner-city environment is scary. I recommend this disc!