Judgment Night (1993)

Soundtrack for this movie is one of the first CDs I got and one of the most worn out ones. But it took me more than two decades to finally see the movie too. I suppose I was dodging it because of pretty much bad reviews and, once again, I missed the good movie. OK, it's not masterpiece, but for an action drama it is above average. And music kicks ass!

7/10

Fmovies: Judgment Night was on TV last night, i began watching it and it had to be one of the most gripping movies ive ever seen. The movie starts off with 4 friends in their 20's taking a luxury van out to watch a boxing match, them being stuck in traffic decide to take a turn into a bad,bad neighbourhood.After this, the movie is in non stop suspence for one whole hour,with terrific acting and a very good script, Judgment night had to me one of my all time favourite action movies of all time. Although predictable at times, that didnt leave this film from being a top notch action/thriller. Although some of the scenes simply arent believable you just cant help notice how great the whole casts acting is,especially a top performance by Emilio Esetevez and Cuba Gooding, Jr. A Glitch with this movie is it starts to get downhill pretty much from an hour into the movie, the plot gets less believable and it just turns into too much.The ending was pretty simple. Cinematography was awesome in this flick, great camera angles and dark scenes. I simply ask for you to watch this, many says it copies many other films, i couldnt care less, Judgment night had to be one of the greatest action sequences ive ever seen, i definantley reccomend you watch it despite its predictibility,unbelievable scenes and stretched out plot. Here are my ratings for JUDGMENT NIGHT

out of 5 stars (*)= half a star.

Acting - ****(*)

Actors - ****

Cinema - ****(*)

Suspence-****(*)

Script- ****

Sound- **** (*)

Overall- ****(*) (4 and a half out of 5 stars)

Very interesting and compelling premise (four friends lost amidst a dangerous Chicago suburb who are being stalked after witnessing a murder). The pace of the film never slows a bit. Great performances by all actors, specially Leary. Highly recommended

Judgment Night fmovies. I've heard this film dissed by so many, and I cannot for the love of god understand why. It has excitement, terrific actors and a totally awesome soundtrack.

Sorry, but to me a film with Emilio Estevez, Denis Leary, Cuba Gooding and Stephen Dorff cannot fail, nomadder HOW lame it is. It just so happens that this film is NOT lame in anyway. You're in suspence from the start to the end.

OK, so there ARE a couple of cliches under the way - this I cannot deny, but honestly, name me ONE film that totally avoids cliches in any way, share or form and I'll glady admit to have been wrong.

This movie rocks, although it is about ten years old now. But I first saw it back when it came out, and to this day I still get carried away in it!

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.

This film is awesome, and Emilio Estevez and Dennis Leary excel as the two lead roles in the film, but one can not help but notice how many times this movie has been done before. However, this is a much better entry in the "running and hiding to save your life" subgenre of thrillers. Basically, if you liked "Run", "The Warriors", or "The Running Man" you'll probably enjoy this one too.