Movie Review: Judge Dredd (1995)

Genre: Science Fiction Action Thriller  

Director: Danny Cannon  

Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Diane Lane, Max von Sydow, Rob Schneider, Jurgen Prochnow  

Running Time: 96 minutes  

Synopsis: In a dystopian future, humanity is packed into megacities to shelter from the devastated Cursed Earth. "Judges" act as police officers, juries, and executioners to try and keep the peace. Fearless Judge Joseph Dredd (Sylvester Stallone) is a protege of Chief Justice Fargo (Max von Sydow), whose rival Judge Griffin (Jurgen Prochnow) advocates for a stricter law-and-order agenda. Dredd is framed for murder, Fargo is sidelined, and Dredd's former partner Rico (Armand Assante) is unleashed to cause mayhem. With help from Judge Hershey (Diane Lane), Dredd has to exonerate himself and uncover a conspiracy involving his own past.

What Works Well: This comic book adaptation is packed full of special effects and quirky humour, and provides a sturdy platform for star Sylvester Stallone to deliver plenty of zingers. The plot is a familiar conflict between the light and dark sides of human aspirations, but never takes itself too seriously. Director Danny Cannon inserts action interludes at regular intervals to maintain momentum, with most of Rob Schneider's comic relief contributions landing just on the right side of the line separating entertaining from annoying.

What Does Not Work As Well: The visual style and star salaries appear to have consumed most of the budget, resulting in a short running time and a sense of muddled expediency. Ideas introduced but truncated include the complex relationship between Dredd and Rico, the rupture between Rico and Griffin, the genetic cloning sub-plot, and the role of Dr. Ilsa Hayden (Joan Chen). What remains is more a highlight reel than any attempt at serious world building or character depth.

Key Quote:

Rico (to Dredd): The only difference between us, Joseph, is you destroyed your life to embrace the law. And l destroyed the law to embrace life.

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Movie Review: Das Boot (1981)

A World War Two submarine warfare epic, Das Boot (The Boat) is a grim, claustrophobic and harrowing depiction of survival against aching boredom punctuated by moments of euphoria and terror.

It's 1941, and Germany's U-Boat fleet is starting to suffer significant losses in the Atlantic. Regardless, more boats are pushed into service with inexperienced crews. Lt. Werner (Herbert Grönemeyer) is a reporter assigned to accompany U-96 on her next patrol. The Captain (Jürgen Prochnow) and Chief Mechanic Johann (Erwin Leder) are veterans, but many of the crew members are young men.

After setting sail from La Rochelle in occupied France, days of crushing tedium are endured at sea. The monotony is broken by a minor skirmish with an Allied destroyer, followed by a chance encounter with another U-Boat in rough seas. Eventually U-96 locates a large Allied convoy of merchant ships and engages in warfare. But enemy vessels launch devastating counter strikes, resulting in U-96 enduring a severe beating. The Captain has to navigate back to safety, but further nasty surprises await.

An uncompromising representation of life in a steel tube crush-filled with mariners fulfilling their national duty and based on a German reporter's actual account, Das Boot aims for and achieves an overbearing, physically uncomfortable impact. Deploying frequent long takes, writer and director Wolfgang Petersen elbows his cameras on board the submarine to capture the men in their squished status at close quarters.

Within the harsh confines, the passage of time is a character unto itself. The theatrical cut of Das Boot, at 149 minutes, is already an epic representation of the boredom and mental atrophy that seeps into the sub with days and nights of nothing but choppy seas. Other versions run to miniseries length at close to 300 minutes.

But then unexpected encounters crack the monotony, and a rush of adrenaline sweeps through the vessel. The euphoria of vanquishing an enemy is matched by the absolute dread caused by the grim reaper banging on the walls with depth chargers. The oscillating emotions are exhausting, and it is the Captain's duty to manage his men's mental state, keeping them focused on the most immediate task while ensuring the sub remains functional to survive another day.

Although the film is about the collective more than the individual, Petersen does sufficiently define three characters. The Captain is approaching the resigned state, now far removed from buying into state propaganda and witnessing a future defeat in the raw age of recruits assigned to the U-boats. But he is still in complete command of his commission, capable of making every required decision under extreme duress.

The Chief Mechanic Johann is also a veteran but closer to the edge, and he may have completed more missions than he can mentally handle. His journey features the wildest oscillations, his character tested like never before. And finally the reporter Werner is the outsider's eye, standing apart from the men and witnessing war from within a submarine for the first time. Physically and mentally unprepared, his lack of foreknowledge is sometimes advantageous in shielding him from horrors to come.

Das Boot is at its most intense when U-96 is under unyielding attack from an unseen enemy. Petersen draws out these scenes to the point of unrelenting psychological collapse, finding the corners of men's souls where there is nothing left to do but wait for death. With a submarine under attack offering the expedient opportunity of a mass coffin, young men will either grow old in a hurry or pass into legend.

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Movie Review: The Seventh Sign (1988)

A supernatural thriller, The Seventh Sign imagines the end-of-the-world with a mixture of derived and original ideas.

A series of strange and cataclysmic events occur around the world. All marine life starts to die off the Haitian coast; a town in the Israeli desert is destroyed by a freak ice storm; and many people die in Nicaragua, turning a river red with blood. A brooding stranger (Jürgen Prochnow) breaks a mysterious seal at the location of each apocalyptic event, while Father Lucci (Peter Friedman) investigates the phenomena on the behalf of the Church.

Meanwhile in Venice, California, Abby Quinn (Demi Moore) is pregnant but anxious, having previously miscarried. Her supportive husband Russell (Michael Biehn) is a lawyer trying to save convicted killer Jimmy from the electric chair for murdering his incestuous parents. The stranger, now calling himself David, arrives to rent a carriage house from Abby and Russell. She starts to experience disturbing visions, and finds ancient scrolls in David's possessions leading her to believe he is threat to the unborn child. She reaches out to a rabbi for help, but a young Jewish student is more accommodating and starts to help her interpret Biblical prophecies.

Drawing on elements from Rosemary's Baby, The Omen and The Exorcist, The Seventh Sign feigns a devilish story but then heads in a different direction. Director Carl Schultz and writers Clifford and Ellen Green have a sly agenda in mind, and go searching for more religiously themed interpretation of the end of the world. The film is a combination of a familiar but benign level of spookiness mixed with some clunky execution (perhaps betraying a limited budget) and ending with some nice human-focused touches.

By not conforming to expectations the film both befuddles and surprises, and the wayward oscillations occasionally threaten to hamper enjoyment. The more common components dominate the early scenes and include a likeable but anxious couple, unexplained destructive forces and events, a priest chasing after an explanation, the intermittent intervention of animals seemingly serving a higher purpose, ancient scrolls in impenetrable languages foreshadowing something really bad happening, and the obligatory scenes in creepy churches.

But as The Seventh Sign reveals its real intentions though a slightly jerky left turn, the story becomes less about abominations and more about a here-and-now challenge to Abby, and a more contemplative film emerges.

With a strong assist from Jesus Christ himself, in one of his more unusual and memorable screen appearances, and a game Demi Moore working hard to move past brat pack territory, Schultz lands The Seventh Sign with a tolerable amount of damage. It's always a good sign when the film's better moments arrive late, and by the time the fifth and sixth signs are out of the way and humanity's future is at stake on the delivery table, the momentum and emotions are palpable.

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