Rocky II

Year of Release:  1979
Director:  Sylvester Stallone
Screenplay:  Sylvester Stallone
Starring:  Sylvester Stallone, Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Burgess Meredith 
Running Time:  119 minutes
Genre:  Drama, sports

Sequels are sometimes seen as shameless attempts to grab more cash from the fans of an already successful film, and while plenty are like that, there are many sequels which are as good, if not better, than the original. Rocky II is certainly as good as it's predecessor, and in some ways it is better.  It picks up straight from where the first film ends, with boxers Rocky Balboa (Stallone) and Apollo Creed (Weathers) recovering from their championship fight.  Despite having technically won the fight, Apollo has lost face due to how close the match was, and is determined to have a rematch with Rocky to salvage his pride.  However, Rocky has retired from boxing, and having married his girlfriend Adrian (Shire), and with a large payday from the fight, newfound fame and sponsorship and endorsement deals, the future is looking pretty rosy.  However, Rocky is not very good with money, and soon fritters it all away, and his fame and endorsement deals soon dry up.  With a growing family to support, Apollo's insistent demands for a rematch become hard to ignore.

The film retains all the things that fans of the first film enjoyed, including the triumphant training montage and climatic boxing match, which is bigger and better this time round.  It also retains the gritty, working class feel of the first film, even if it lacks some of it's edge.  Stallone is good as ever as Rocky, the tough bruiser with a gentle heart, Talia Shire is good, if underused as Rocky's new wife Adrian, and Burgess Meredith is great as Mickey, the broken down old pug who trains Rocky.  Carl Weathers is good as ever as Apollo Creed, and it's a pity that the film doesn't have more of him.  The character has an edge that he didn't have in the first film, now that he has something to prove.  While the film has it's soap opera elements, it has a lot of heart and humour.  We care what happens to these people.  It also works as a sequel, because it continues and expands on the story of the first film.

Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) and Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) duke it out in Rocky II     

Judge Dredd

Year: 1995
Director: Danny Cannon
Screenplay: William Wisher, Jr. and Steven E. de Souza, from a story by Michael De Luca and William Wisher, Jr. and based on characters created by Pat Mills, John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra
Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Armand Assante, Diane Lane, Rob Schneider, Max von Sydow and Jurgen Prochnow
Running Time: 96 minutes
Genre: Science-fiction, action, adventure, thrller, crime

Summary: In the third millennium, the Earth has become a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Most of the inhabitants live in vastly overpopulated Mega-Cities, seperated by huge expanses of largely uninhabitable desolation known as "Cursed Earth", populated by small bands of brutal, cannibalistic outlaws. Law and order in the crime-ridden Mega-Cities is enforced by heavily armoured Street Judges who have the authorisation not only to enforce the law but to act as judge, jury and executioner, with the power to hand down a variety of sentences such as heavy on the spot fines, imprisonment in remote penal colonies or summary execution.
In Mega-City One, which occupies the east coast of the USA, the top Street Judge is Judge Joseph Dredd (Stallone). However, when a murderous ex-Judge (Assante) escapes from a penal colony and returns to Mega-City One, Judge Dredd finds himself accused and convicted of a murder he didn't commit. With the help of fellow Judge Hershey (Lane), and a cowardly computer hacker (Schneider), Dredd attempts to prove his innocence and uncover corruption that reaches to the top of the Justice Department.

Opinions: Judge Dredd first appeared in 1977 in the pages of British science-fiction comic-book 2000 AD and remains one of the most popular comic-book characters ever produced in the UK. It is fair to say that the film is only very loosely based on the comic-book, and the movie did have a very bad reaction from fans, most notably because of the fact that Dredd spends most of the film without his trademark helmet, in the comic Dredd very rarely removes his helmet and even when he does, his face is never shown. Also the movie ignores several important elements from the comic series, for example there is a kind of romantic element between Dredd and Hershey when in the comic romantic attachments between Judges (or between Judges and anyone else) is strictly forbidden. The movie also lacks a lot of the quirkiness of the comic.
Despite the fact that the film was mostly panned by critics and fans of the comic, the movie itself really isn't that bad. It is a mid-'90s science-fiction action movie no better and certainly no worse than many that were released at the same time. The special effects while they obviously look dated by today's standards are still pretty impressive, and there are some great effects in the film such as the Mega-City itself and the look of the deadly ABC Warrior Robot. Sylvester Stallone does what he does best providing gravel-voiced one-liners and muscle-bound action-man heroics. Max von Sydow lends the film some dignity and gravitas as Dredd's mentor. However on the negative side Rob Schneider drags the film down with misplaced comedy-relief. It makes it hard to maintain much drama, tension, suspense or excitement when they pop in Schneider to make a bad joke and drain away the drama like water when the plug is pulled from the sink. It also suffers from Armand Assante over-acting like a pantomime villain, really the only think he didn't have was a moustache to twirl.
It's a fun movie, it looks good, there are some fun action scenes and it is often entertaining, but it has been done better elsewhere. It's a pity really, because it is something of a missed opportunity. There could be a great movie made from Judge Dredd, but this isn't it.

"I never broke the law... I AM THE LAW!"
-Sylvester Stallone in Judge Dredd (1995)



Sylvester Stallone lays down the law in Judge Dredd