Judgment Night

Plot synopsis:
Frank Wyatt (Emilio Estevez) leaves his wife and baby daughter at home for a night out with his friends to see a professional boxing match in modern Chicago. Frank is joined by Mike Peterson (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Ray Cochran (Jeremy Piven) who shows up in a lavish RV Ray is "testing out" for his business. When another friend of the guys cancels Frank invites his brother John (Stephen Dorff), and they all head to the city for the boxing match.Stuck in a traffic jam en-route, John gets into a fight with another driver. Frustrated by the delay, Ray decides to save time by getting off the crowded expressway and search for a shortcut through a poor, residential neighborhood. The four friends are alarmed when they run over something. John, Mike and Frank get out to investigate, and find a man named Teddy (Michael DeLorenzo) lying in the street hurt, and they take him back into the RV. Ray gathers up all the liquor and empty liquor bottles and tosses them to erase any evidence that the guys had been drinking. Upon examining Teddy for injuries they found that he had been shot, and with a paperbag of money in his possession. Mike hears a police car, which the group sees drive through the intersection ahead a few seconds later. Frank jumps into the driver's seat and begins pursuing the squad car.Unable to catch up to the police, their vehicle is suddenly struck by a car. The impact forces them into a narrow alleyway, leaving the RV damaged, stuck between two brick walls, and unable to start. Moments after the crash three unknown men drag Teddy out of the RV through the back window. The psychotic and ruthless leader of the gang, Fallon (Denis Leary), arrives in the vehicle that struck them. Still inside the RV the four friends overhear the group talking about their suspicions that Teddy had stolen money from Fallon. Fallon shoots and kills Teddy and reminds the rest of the gang that they have a policy to leave no witnesses. As the group of criminals approaches the RV, Mike breaks the windshield as Frank sets the RV on fire, and all four escape through the front window and run.The film continues with the four friends hiding and trying to outrun the gang until they think they've gotten away. They head to a railyard and hide aboard an empty train. Fallon and his gang search the yard and trains for the guys. While hiding inside the car of a old train Frank and his friends are frightened by some sleazy homeless people who were aboard the train already. The homeless ringleader blackmails them to alert Fallon's gang to their location unless they pay them for their silence. Ray gives up his watch, Frank gives up his wallet, while John gives up his pocket change and Mike gives up his gold chain necklace. A mentally retarded member of the other homeless men aboard the train, Buck, shows interest in Mike's (Purdue) jacket by stating and repeating that he is a college graduate. When Mike refuses to give up his jacket the homeless man becomes angry and gets loud. Fallon and his gang were leaving the railyard when they heard the shouting coming from the railcar. As they open the car everyone aboard jumps off and starts running. Fallon shoots a guy wearing the (Purdue) jacket and it turned out to be Buck, the homeless guy who was wearing Mike's jacket. The homeless guy is in possession of Frank's wallet when he is killed by Fallon. Fallon recovers the wallet and now knows who Frank is, his family, and where he lives. Frank and the guys continue to outrun Fallon and his gang until they eventually find an apartment building. With an open door Frank and the guys all run inside. They hole up in the apartment of two overprotective women, mothers Clarissa and Rita, and call the police minutes before the criminals catch up with them. Determined to get Frank and his friends, Fallon and his gang terrorize the building's tenants. Hearing them terrorize the tenants the enraged women demand that Frank and his friends leave. One of the women, Rita, suggests that they head to the roof of the building to escape Fallon. They flee to the rooftop and Mike, John, and Frank manage to cross over to the neighboring building's roof with the use a ladder. Because of Ray's fear of heights, he decides to knock the ladder off and stay behind and try to negotiate with Fallon, convinced that Fallon will spare their lives. However, Fallon pushes Ray off the roof and Ray falls to his death.Escaping into the sewers, Mike suggests that they fight back against their pursuers and Frank and John agree. Sykes, Fallon's righthand man and best friend, catches up with them, and after a brief confrontation has his gun wrestled away and he is shot and killed by Mike. Frank chooses not to risk their lives anymore, so they escape the sewer and decide to keep running. Within the sewer, the remaining members of Fallon's gang find the body of Sykes. A comment made by one of the gang members annoys Fallon and he drowns him.While hiding once more in an abandonded building, the three remaining friends see a bus and try to flag the driver down. The driver sees them but, thinking they're other gang members, decides to drive off leaving them behind. Searching for help, Mike breaks the window of a closed grocery store, in the hopes it will trigger the alarm and bring the police. Shortly afterwards, they realize that Fallon has found them once more. The last remaining member of Fallon's gang is shot dead by Mike, but in the process Mike is shot in the stomach. John goes to help Mike and Fallon shoots him in the leg. Frank leads the wounded Mike and John to a bathroom where they hide. Frank gets to the security office and activates the silent alarm. Knowing that the three can run no longer, Frank draws out Fallon, leading him away from the wounded Mike and John. After a struggle between the two, Frank pushes Fallon off the stairs, killing him. The movie ends with the police investigating the crime scene and Frank's wallet is recovered by the police. It is suggested that Mike and John's wounds might not be fatal as they are wheeled away by the medics.

Tags: violence, neo noir, murder

Review:
take a wrong turn.just one wrong turn.and end up on the bad side of some not so savory characters.from there we get chase after chase as theses guys try to stay ahead of the bad guys and stay alive.this is a really exciting action packed movie.it had me on the edge of my seat a few times.and the acting,the acting was top notch.Jeremy Piven,Cuba Gooding Jr.Stephen Dorrf,Erik Schrody,Michael Wiseman are all really good.incidentally,Schrody is/was a member of once popular rap group House of Pain.he later released a solo album under the name Everlast,called Whitey Ford Sings the blues.anyway...everyone one i just mentioned did excellent work in this film.but for me,Emile Estevez and Peter Greene(Under Siege 2,The Usual Suspects,Permanent Midnight)were standouts.the movie itself is high octane excitement that doesn't let up until the end.it's a movie better watched late at night,with the lights off.for me,the verdict on Judgment Night is a 9/10.
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..
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
A bunch of buddies--Frank (Emilio Estevez), his brother John (Stephen Dorff), Mike (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Ray (Jeremy Piven)--are going to a boxing match in Chicago.
As it's directed by Stephen Hopkins, who made PREDATOR 2 and THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, it has potential to be good, but sadly it comes a cropper before long and never lives up to that early promise.The problem with the film is the story, or lack of it.
Sadly, the lethargic and badly-handled action sequences, involving shoot-outs and fist-fights, are nowhere near good enough to make up for the lack of a decent narrative, making this an entirely forgettable movie when it comes down to it.One of the most interesting things about the production is the cast, half of whom would go on to greater glory.
Much better is the entirely underrated Peter Greene (PULP FICTION), who SHOULD have been the main bad guy because he's excellently slimy, as ever, and indeed the best thing in the whole movie..
Judgment Night gets its fuel from its cast with most the cast which were given likeable characters and a very plausible villain in Denis Leary, his goons do good for the little screen time they get.
Or you may end up in a bad action movie like Judgment Night.Four middle class would be bad boys take a wrong exit on the freeway and end up in the Super Bad part of town.
I am reviewing a 16 year old film that sold approximately zero tickets starring a bunch of guys that would probably be happier if this wasn't on their resume.The plot itself is quite a basic formula, a bunch of old friends plan a dude's night out to a boxing match, but as they are running late they take a shortcut through what the media would call an "urban area" and things don't go according to plan from there.What I enjoyed about the set up is where the party bus gets stuck in the mother of all traffic jams, eight lanes in both directions completely at a standstill, and the characters have enough time get into a road rage incident and then have a leisurely chat afterwards before getting back on the bus and cruising onwards.The four characters: Frank – Former hellraiser turned family man.
One dialogue scene between the gang plays exactly like a music video and stands out primarily for how different it is to the rest of the film.It's a pretty run of the mill action pic, and would be OK only as a late night brain-turned-off flick.
After they witness a murder by Fallon, a sinister drug lord very well-played by Denis Leary, a long, tense, violent urban odyssey follows.Though somewhat dated by its 20 years, JUDGMENT NIGHT is everything a thriller-seeker desires.
The four friends--one who turns out to be the big hero, one who keeps mucking everything up for everybody else, and two who are kind of in the middle--are a rather cookie-cutter set, but good acting and even better filming keep this film alive.Interesting to see the young Stephen Dorff in an atypical role as the younger brother of the hero played by Emilio Estevez..
It stars Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Dorff, Jeremy Piven and Denis Leary.
Music is scored by Alan Silvestri and cinematography by Peter Levy.Two brothers and two pals set out for a blokey night out at a boxing match but take an ill fated short cut and end up on the run from a vicious gang.93 was a very good year for the action movie fan, with double Stallone, Van Damme teaming up with Woo, an Arnie picture, a Bruce Lee homage, a fugitive Ford, dinosaur frenzy and some minor pulse raisers that garnered a small but loyal following.
Judgement Night falls into the last category, it's pretty light on plotting and sensible scripting, but none the less contains a ream of action set-pieces that whilst not exactly brilliantly constructed, they still have impact and entertain the action faithful.Suffice to say, it's not hard to see why it was frowned upon by the critics, it is basically an excuse to string a bunch of drama sequences around a thin narrative that sees the protagonists do the all too usual dumb action movie staples.
Leary is having a great time playing the main villain, ice cold stare and caustic delivery in place, he nails it as a bad ass and becomes the main reason to seek the film out for a viewing.Elsewhere, Hopkins's (Predator 2) direction is formulaic, but he does have a good eye for scene staging, with two sequences set at a rail line and a derelict building proving to be visual niceties.
It's a brilliant score, but you just can't help thinking about Arnie and the Dreadlocked Alien and that is something that doesn't help Judgement Night at all.A decent time waster for the action fan, especially if you dig Leary, but outside of those boxes it's pretty standard stuff.
Although by no means a dull work,"Judgment night" does not really delivers the good:the very title promised great things.And what we finally have is one of these endless chases where the good guys are up to scratch when it comes to fight against the tough ones.There's no real surprise after the meeting between Estevez and his pals and Leary and his gang of baddies.What follows is predictable and the script writers have not the talent,the originality ,not to mention the sense of humor we find in Scorcese's minor but entertaining "after hours" .On the plus side ,the director takes advantage of the scenery and takes us to various places,which somewhat sustains the interest : a sinister block of flats ,sewers,the roofs,a bridge ,..Best scene takes place on the roof when one of the youngsters tries to deal with Leary and his pack:this is the one moment where things seem to reach another level;but they soon peter out afterwards.Good for one watch,but nothing more..
Emilio estevez is a fantastic underrated actor & screen presence,here he's perfectly cast as the lead a sensible & weary newly father & family man Frank Wyatt & lives an ordinary life the safe & leafy suburbs but one night he heads out to see a boxing match with 2 of his friends & his younger bro & end up taking a wrong turn into an abandoned & derelict Chicago ghetto & witness a murder by a vicious gang & from there it's an exciting chase through the dangerous Chicago projects to try & survive the night.
This is a BRILLIANTLY made suspense Thriller that uses it's scary urban setting to really creep you out & you so want these guys to find away home to safety.Estevez gives his best performance here in my opinion & the others are all great including Jeremy piven,Cuba gooding jr,stephen dorff & the scary violent gang leader Dennis Leary in also a career best performance as a truly menacing villain Fallon,he's never been better.
Four friends on their way to a boxing match get caught in heavy traffic, so they take a shortcut in order to get there faster, unfortunately it leads to them witnessing a murder which leaves them running for their lives.Perhaps not the greatest thriller, this was a prime example of what an ensemble cast could be in the early 1990s.
Emilio Estevez plays a family man who decides to take his hapless brother (Stephen Dorff), his buddy Cuba Gooding Jr., and their letcherous lawyer friend (Jeremy Piven), for a night out in the big city to, see the basketball game, in his giant obnoxious Winnebago.
Judgment Night is an excellent,suspenseful and underrated Action-Thriller that combines terrific direction,a great cast,intense Action and a fantastic score and soundtrack.
All of those elements make Judgment Night an entertaining film and one of the better Action-Thrillers of the 1990s.Set in Chicago,Illinois,Judgment Night tells the story of Frank Wyatt(Emilio Estevez)who along with his best friends Mike(Cuba Gooding Jr.),Ray(Jeremy Piven)and little brother John(Stephen Dorff)are on their way to a Boxing match.
With Frank and his friends now being hunted and chased by Fallon and his crew Frank and his buddies have to escape and stay alive.Released in 1993,Judgment Night is a terrific and memorable Action-Thriller that unfortunately was overlooked by audiences and was very much a critical and Box Office failure at the time.
Judgment Night is a great movie that is a thrill ride from start to finish a film that is done with white hot nail biting suspense and intensity as well as gripping and just grabs viewers by the throat and never letting go and is a movie that is amazing from start to finish.
Judgment Night is a film that is just like classics such as John Carpenter's Escape From New York(1981),Walter Hill's The Warriors(1979)and Southern Comfort,John Boorman's Deliverance and the intense,overlooked Walter Hill movie Trespass(1992,another great,underrated Action-Thriller that would make a fun double bill with this movie)whether it's movies that are set in big cities or in the woods where main characters are being hunted by dark forces and are trying to escape and where it's not just about good or bad but about survival and staying alive at all costs and where you can either live or die.
I love Action movies about survival as well as cat and mouse chase films and Judgment Night is in the same vain because when the chase starts it just never stops.
The plot: A group of yuppies get stuck in the bad part of town, become witnesses to a murder, and are relentlessly hunted down by a gangster who doesn't want any witnesses.Judgment Night is the sort of stereotypical, clichéd 1990s thriller that was quite popular: gritty, urban, dark, and starring a young, recognizable cast that seemed well on their way to the A-list.
Four snobby guys from a nice, wholesome neighbourhood taking a wrong turn and being chased by a gang of psychopathic street punks led by (of all people) Denis Leary, how I miss the times when movies were this simple.
Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr, Dennis Leary, Stephen Dorff, Jeremy Piven and Michael DeLorenzo all turn in fantastic roles in a very underrated film.
This is one of those movies where you ask yourself "why wasn't this a huge hit?" Looking at the other films out at the time I can't say there was a blockbuster that really got in the way unless if you count Demolition Man as a blockbuster.I remember seeing a behind-the-scenes look (on Entertainment Tonight) at a rooftop stunt that amazed me.
Even though the Entertainment Tonight clip didn't show great angles the stunt was impressive and looked much better in the film itself.Outside of the Young Gun movies, Men At Work and Stakeout this is one of my all-time favorite Emilio Estevez films.
Dennis Leary plays a great villain that is believable given some of the outrageous circumstances.The film has it all for action-thriller-adventure fans.
All gave 100% in this film.The film is about Frank, Ray, Mike, and John (Estevez, Piven, Gooding, and Dorff) who are traveling to a boxing match in Chicago.
Emilio Estevez is great to see again, and Jeremy Piven and Cuba Gooding Jr. do not disappoint as well.Judgment Night is a lot like Joy Ride.
It still serves today as an underrated action piece.Starring: Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr, Jeremy Piven, Stephen Dorff, and Denis Leary.
Frank (Emilio Estevez), his two best friends:Mike (Oscar-Winner:Cuba Gooding Jr.) & Ray (Jemery Piven) and his brother John (Stephen Dorff) are leaving the suburbans of Chicago to go see an boxing match.
When four friends are trying to get to a boxing match, they end up in the wrong part of town facing off against a gang of hoodlums.Emilio Estevez and Cuba Gooding Junior are entirely believable as friends, and Gooding's character Mike is delightfully three-dimensional for an action film.
Dennis Leary, as always, is more fun than fright, but is still convincing as the film's hoodlum antagonist.Judgment Night is, in its essence, a classic action movie and can therefore border on predictable.
For starters Emilo And Cuba Gooding Jr gave out great performances in their roles, And Denis Leary as the bad guy.
Frank Wyatt (Emilio Estevez) and Mike Peterson (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) are going out to a boxing match with Ray Cochran (Jeremy Piven) testing out his new RV.
estevez shines as ray and leary sizzles as fallon the baddest bad guy ever put on screen, easily the best thing anyone on this project has done.rent it watch it steal itget your hands on this bad boy's only movie IT ROCKS!!!!!.
The plot is about Frank(Emilio Esteves) his brother John(Stephen Dorff) and a couple of his pals, Mike and Ray(Cuba Gooding Jr. and Jeremy Piven) going on a trip to a boxing match when they get caught in traffic and running late.
Performances are good on all sides from Emilio Estevez, Stephen Dorff, weasely Jeremy Piven, and pre "Show Me The Money" Cuba Goodin Jr. But the real scene stealer is self described "Asshole" Denis Leary.
Good action movie where Emilio Estevez and company take a wrong turn on the way to a boxing match.
It was a film that appeared from under the radar, so to say, and that may have been an advantage because how many times have we seen films get all sorts of attention and beefed up to Hell for it to only be a complete failure.Judgment Night is an enjoyable Action Thriller with a very decent cast of Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., and Denis Leary (who actually does a very good job playing a character you do not want to cross).
I've never been a huge fan of Jeremy Piven, however, so it was very apt that he played the most annoying character, and surely I am not the only one who would have been routing for something to happen to him.Anyway, Judgment Night is a good wee gem of a film that is definitely worth a watch..
There's the high point of this movie."Judgment Night" is a rather poorly made action thriller set on the mean streets of urban Chicago.
A quick outline of the plot: Four buddies Frank (Emilio Estevez) Mike (Cuba Gooding Jr) John (Stephen Dorff) and Ray (Jermey Piven) are on their way to a boxing match and after getting stuck in traffic decide to get off the freeway and find a quicker route.
The film starts off in the suburbs where the neighbourhood is clean, safe, family orientated which lulls you into a false sense of security about how the film will carry on.Four friends Frank Wyatt (Emilio Estevez), John Wyatt (Stephen Dorff), Mike Peterson (Cuba Gooding Jr), Ray Cochran (Jeremy Piven) head off to the city to watch a boxing match but on the way they take a wrong turning and end up in a completely different environment to the one they are used to where there are homeless people, the area is rundown and messed up and gangs rule the streets.