“Staff Picks” is a deeper look into movies that we love here at Video CULTure. Each edition of this column will focus on a single film that we think you should check out, either for the first time or for a long-overdue revisit.
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By Patrick Bartlett (Twitter: @alleywaykrew)
The ’90s were kind of a weird time for genre film. The ’80s were arguably the heyday of action, horror, etc. but by the ’90s, studios didn’t seem to know what audiences wanted anymore. The majority of films that were crossing over and massively proliferating the mainstream of pop culture were indies or indie filmmakers trying their hand at studio fare. The blatant grasping at straws by studios trying to find an audience sometimes ended up producing interesting work, even if it was ostensibly by accident. One such film is Stephen Hopkins’ “Judgment Night” from 1993. I grew up with this film. I truly love it. I have no idea why it exists.
If you’ve never heard of “Judgment Night”, I don’t blame you. I think I can count on one hand the number of people I’ve met in my life that have even seen it. It’s honestly most famous for its soundtrack, which was one of the first major mainstream rap/rock releases… knowing what came in its wake might not be a fact that anyone involved really wants to stand behind… but at the time, an album of rappers and rock (mostly metal) bands was really interesting. One of the artists on the soundtrack is “House of Pain” (because 1993) and the frontman of said group even ended up with a role in the film. Why not? He’s not even the weirdest casting choice. The leader of the antagonists (I hesitate to use the word “gang” to describe a group of grown-ass white guys) is “Fallon”, played by Denis Leary. Yes. Denis Leary is the primary villain of this film. On top of that, he’s actually not bad in the role. Granted, there’s the customary moments from every film Leary starred in during the ’90s where the movie essentially stops or at least slows down substantially for him to do his “Denis Leary” schtick. Having said that, he has enough gravitas and charisma that he manages to not feel incredibly miscast if you don’t give it a lot of thought. His second-in-command is Peter Greene (probably most famous as Redfoot from “The Usual Suspects”), who kind of does what he always does but since he’s so good at playing the role that you don’t mind a bit. There’s also a fourth henchman played by Michael Wiseman who I don’t think I’d seen before or since. He’s basically a fourth nondescript white guy to act as cannon fodder for the heroes to take out at some point. He has a cool shotgun though.
The main character of the aforementioned heroes is “Frank Wyatt”, played by Emilio Estevez. The Mighty Duck man himself. Literally. The year after family comedy extravaganza “The Mighty Ducks”, you had Emilio Estevez as the lead in a major studio action movie. Maybe even more surprising is that he somehow manages to pull it off. Frank Wyatt’s supposed to be a regular dude going out with his friends to see a boxing match and Emilio Estevez, fittingly, doesn’t feel like a movie star in the role. He feels incredibly normal, which is apparently not what the studio wanted at all. The studio wanted someone like Tom Cruise or another action star of Cruise’s caliber. I love Tom Cruise but when I think “regular guy”, he is not who springs to mind. The “average Joe” quality that Estevez brings to the movie is what I feel like grounds everything when scenery is being gloriously chewed left and right by the majority of the cast. The other heroes are “Mike”, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., who was ubiquitous in the ’90s. In the last year, I’ve watched three movies from the same period and have audibly said “Cuba Gooding Jr. is in this too?” You also have Jeremy Piven as the fast-talking, semi-charming “Ray” (playing fast-talking, semi-charming assholes is Piven’s bread and butter and the character of Ray is definitely no exception). Rounding out the group is Stephen Dorff, who plays “John”, Frank’s little brother. His tough-guy posturing is an example of what their group of friends were in their glory days. The character is everything Gooding’s character seems to wish he still could be and everything that Estevez’s character is trying to get away from.
You have these two groups, Fallon’s gang and Frank’s pals, unknowingly on a collision course. As I mentioned earlier, Frank’s group is trying to get to a boxing match in an RV that Ray has borrowed for the evening. In an attempt to escape traffic, they get off the Chicago Expressway and head into the inner city of the south side. They get lost and while trying to find their way, accidentally hit a guy in the street. They bring him into the RV and try to get him to help, completely unaware that this guy has stolen from Leary’s character, Fallon. Fallon’s crew ends up running into them on the road, grabs the thief, and guns him down in the middle of the street. Not wanting any witnesses to the crime, they plan to immediately execute our heroes as well. However, Frank’s group manages to set the RV ablaze and escape. The rest of the night is less a chase than an incredibly tense cat and mouse game with Fallon’s group pursuing these poor guys.
It might seem silly to have an action film/thriller with this cast, this soundtrack, etc… but it all works because of Stephen Hopkins. Despite the fact that he made my least favorite “Nightmare On Elm Street”, I will die on the hill that his career was worthwhile if for no other reason than for the existence of this film and “Predator 2”, which directly preceded it. As far as ’90s action thrillers go, you can’t do much better. “Judgment Night” is almost 2 hours long and is incredibly tense for almost every second of it. The pacing is perfect and the film looks appropriately gritty while being simultaneously beautifully photographed. I once heard Hopkins say when discussing his career that he “couldn’t get anything [he] wanted to do… [because he] didn’t realize the ‘Hollywood trick’. In American action movies, people get shot to death and their arms are blown off, and they get up and they’re fine.” He continued, “These films are supposed to be fun things that people can laugh at. I always thought, ‘That’s wrong, that’s not what violence is like.’ I took these films too seriously and tried to add profound depths, and that’s not what’s wanted.” It may not be what everyone wants but it’s that approach that sets this film apart from its ilk and is why I think it’s stuck with me since seeing it as a kid. What could have been a simple lark just a few years earlier had real stakes and palpable tension that most genre movies earnestly attempt but rarely achieve.
Going back to my statement earlier, I don’t know why “Judgment Night” exists. Everything about it, whether it be the heroes, the villains, the soundtrack, etc… it shouldn’t work. All of the elements present seem like they should add up to a late-night curiosity at best. “Judgment Night” is more than that though. It’s actually worthwhile. This is a movie that I was excited to see show up at the video store and something that I revisit with regularity for the same reason that I still throw the soundtrack on once in a while: it’s insane that it exists but it’s just so much fun to take in. The disparate pieces not necessarily coming together neatly is part of the charm of “Judgment Night”. Granted, the myriad risks taken didn’t amount to a commercially successful film. No one saw it then and not many have seen it since. The people I know that have do generally share a legitimate fondness for it though and that says something. You can throw on “Judgment Night” if you’re looking for a weird ’90s time capsule or if you’re looking for a tense thriller/action film and end up equally satisfied. You could also just watch it for a climactic fight between the frontman of “House Of Pain”, Cuba Gooding Jr., Denis Leary, and Emilio Estevez too. I can’t see you being disappointed either way.”
To find out where this film is available to stream, click here: Just Watch