Cuba Libre - La notte del giudizio

This movie was on late one night and I watched it due to the fact that Cuba Gooding Jr., Emilio Esteves and Stephen Dorf was in it. What emerged was a surprisingly good thriller great acting And the plot was quite good. Also Dennis Leary was a standout as the ruthless gangster.

All in all ****1/2 out of *****

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.

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)

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.

This movie is actually pretty decent. I liked all the characters, even Jeremy Piven, who was kind of a dick in this. The story focuses on these four friends who get lost on a way to a game in a bad neighborhood. They happen upon a gang of drug-dealers (led by Denis Leary), and witness something horrible so Leary decides he can't let them escape. From their the movie is pure suspense, with the guys trying to escape the gangsters. Some very good scenes, one which involves them hiding in a train, having to bribe the hobos to keep quiet. A lot of action, some good acting, and constantly keeps moving. I give this movie a solid 6/10, because there were a few things that bothered me, but I won't go into this for the sake of not ruining the film.