Judges

Sadly IMDb does not allow me to rate Judges lower than 1. What a shame. This ghastly movie is so bad that I actually turned the damned thing off well before the ending. The script had a few bright moments, but the directing, editing, acting, audio quality, and especially timing on line delivery was so abhorrent as make Judges utterly unbearable.

Judges was advertised as being like a modern day comic book style western, but in reality was nothing of the sort. What it is most like is dog poop on the bottom of your shoe. You can try to pretend it is okay, but it just keeps on stinking.

Why video stores think it is okay to carry this kind of crap with constant gaps in the audio and worse than high school drama class acting is beyond me. We rent movies in order to see something better that what is on television. But Judges is worse than the most pathetic SciFi Channel original. I intend to demand my money back from Hollywood Video.

I can see where the film makers were going with this. But they never really reach their destination. It's supposed to be a homage to Spaghetti westerns albeit set in a sort of mythical modern time frame." But unfortunately it fall short in its attempt. It doesn't have that gritty realism that spaghetti westerns are known for. The characters are not vile and desperate enough like their Italian western counterparts. And, failing these two points, it lacks the humor of a successful parody. In fact it looks like they intended to make a serious film, but upon completion realized they had missed the mark so far that it couldn't possibly be taken seriously. Unfortunately, they also missed the humor mark by a mile. A whole lotta bad movie!

I really liked it. Sure, it had problems, but I wasn't expecting a major studio polished offer. Soundtrack was great, most of the acting was at least passable. I thought the location shots added to the tone of the film well. I like spaghetti westerns, especially "Once Upon a Time in the West", and Judges tried hard to capture that (and did an all right job).

For me, the biggest problem was just not enough development of everyone in the film. The 15+ main characters are very well-varied (especially the Afrodeesiac and the Barber), and beg for more screen time and back story, but with a 90 minute film, that's just not possible. Maybe that will be fixed in Judges 2. Looking forward to it . . .

Judges is a very unique film. Mixing in a comic book feel with Western and with an old fashioned story line of good vs evil. The actors were great, I especially liked DJ Perry because he carried a strong presence on screen and he played a suave character. The color schemes used in the film were perfect and it really caught my attention and the western music/the score & background music was just icing on the cake. I strongly suggest seeing this film. It was hard to get a copy at the video store in town as everyone already heard of it and waited to see it before I could grab a copy! Get yours today and check this film out with some new faces and talent that should grab the attn of big entertainment industry directors!

I wasn't sure if I was going to like this film going in. I'm not a huge fan of westerns and don't know that I've ever seen an indie western. But after watching I was pleasantly surprised. A fan of the "bad guy" I really enjoyed the performances of Paul Ricioppo as "Sonny" and especially Terry Jernigan as "the Barber". I thought it was clever having modern day cowboys carrying six shooters and speaking straight out of the 1800's while driving Mustangs and having showdowns in the alley behind a 70's disco club. Makes you wonder, what if justice today was like the Old West. Maybe you challenge the guy to takes too many items through the express lane at Wal-Mart to an old fashioned duel.

This indie was pretty good for a straight-to-DVD movie that are usually reserved for horror films starring an actor no one really cares to see anymore. Instead, there were some refreshing new faces (Sean Doherty and DJ Perry) in a well crafted film. It didn't have to hide its lack of budget in dark shadows or flash gratuitous nudity to get people to say, "well at least that chick got nekkid".

Listen, the story won't blow you away so don't try comparing it to Tombstone or summer blockbusters and yes I think it could have been even better, but it does provide some laughs, a little action and some interesting characters in a movie that is a much needed change from the typical straight-to-DVD garbage that even Hollywood is putting out.