Judgment Night (1993)

27% of critics liked it
(15 reviews)
53% of users liked it
(9,313 ratings)

In Judgment Night, an action-packed thriller directed by Stephen Hopkins, a group of young middle-class men Emilio Estevez Cuba Gooding Jr. Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff on a night out with the boys take a disastrous wrong turn that leads to a run-in with a vicious street gang led by Fallon (Denis… More In Judgment Night, an action-packed thriller directed by Stephen Hopkins, a group of young middle-class men Emilio Estevez Cuba Gooding Jr. Jeremy Piven and Stephen Dorff on a night out with the boys take a disastrous wrong turn that leads to a run-in with a vicious street gang led by Fallon (Denis Leary). A cold, vicious and frightening criminal, Fallon and his band of thugs threaten to permanently silence the foursome after they witness a murder. ~ Linda Rasmussen, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 49 min.
Directed By: Stephen Hopkins
Genres: Drama, Action & Adventure, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Oct 15, 1993 Wide
On DVD: Apr 7, 1998
Studio: MCA Universal Home Video

Critic Reviews

Variety Staff, Variety
This is an exceedingly well directed, cleverly filmed and edited, tension-filled affair. It is also a wholly preposterous, muddled, paranoid view of the inner-city nightmare where the slightest misstep is sure to have a fateful result.
Janet Maslin, New York Times
A tight, energetic sleeper in the action-adventure genre, manages to pack a few anti-machismo sentiments into an otherwise brawny tale.
Richard Harrington, Washington Post
The filmmakers have made a big deal of a soundtrack that features 10 collaborations between rappers and rockers (the theme is performed by De La Soul and Teenage Fan Club), but their casting consciousness is less adventurous.
James Berardinelli, ReelViews
It's refreshing to know that it's not just characters in horror films who are irredeemably dumb.
Desson Thomson, Washington Post
Perhaps the ultimate Judgment comes from Estevez, who observes: 'Nothing about tonight makes sense.'
Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
Excellent soundtrack, appalling acting, especially by Gooding.
Clint Morris, Moviehole
A classy, edge of your seat thriller. Fun all round!
Marc Savlov, Austin Chronicle
Fallon's obsessive quest to eliminate witnesses comes to seem more and more like utter madness -- but then, maybe that's the point. It's hard to tell amidst the layered gunfire and random explosions.
Jeff Vice, Deseret News, Salt Lake City
Pretty tense stuff most of the way.

Read all 9 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Eric S

Denis Leary's portrayal of a deadly gang leader is a perfect example of playing the "oppposite" with his dry sense of humor, and that hard to distinguish smile. Definately someone who deserves much more credit as an actor. The film consists of four friends on their way… More
Denis Leary's portrayal of a deadly gang leader is a perfect example of playing the "oppposite" with his dry sense of humor, and that hard to distinguish smile. Definately someone who deserves much more credit as an actor. The film consists of four friends on their way to a boxing match that get caught in gang-land as they get off the freeway in hope of a quicker route to their destination. All hell breaks loose when they believe they hit a young man who they bring aboard their RV to help, but learn that help is something devoid in this particular area.
Tim S

Often overlooked, this cat-and-mouse thriller, I always thought, was very well executed.
danny d

a ggod flick about guys running around at night
James A

I liked this movie because it envolves scared white people.
Lea L

not bad..
Adam M

Not bad thriller.Emilio Estivez and friends are on their way to a boxing match but get stuck in a traffic jam on the highway.They try and take a short cut but end up witnessing a murder by a bunch of gangsters.They have to go on the run from the gang or die so a "deadly game of… More
Not bad thriller.Emilio Estivez and friends are on their way to a boxing match but get stuck in a traffic jam on the highway.They try and take a short cut but end up witnessing a murder by a bunch of gangsters.They have to go on the run from the gang or die so a "deadly game of cat and mouse ensues"(i read that bit in a review somewhere) and the lads have to keep one step ahead of the gang or they're fucked.Not literally.It's ok, has some good moments of action,tension and stuff and Denis Leary's a pretty good bad guy but overall this is a bit pointless and looks quite dated considering it came out in 1993,it looks very mid-80's.It's only the cult-ish, groundbreaking at the time,rap/metal soundtrack that keeps this film from disappearing into nothingness and i don't know if that a good thing!

Read all 6 featured audience ratings

Cast

            Emilio Estevez as Frank Wyatt

            Cuba Gooding Jr. as Mike Peterson

            Denis Leary as Fallon

            Stephen Dorff as John Wyatt

            Jeremy Piven as Ray Cochran

            Peter Greene as Sykes

            Michael Wiseman as Travis

            Angela Alvarado as Rita

            Lydell M. Cheshier as Shop Owner

            Michael De Lorenzo as Kid

            Nigel Gibbs as Cop 2

            Galyn Gorg as Clarissa

            Christine Harnos as Linda Wyatt

            Mark Phelan as Cop 1

            Doug Wert as Freeway Driver

            Eugene Williams as Buck

            Will Zahrn as Charley

            Stuart M. Abramson as Rent-A Cop 2

            Relioues Webb as Dre

            Lynda Gordon
            
            Judy Taylor
            
            Lauren Robinson as Angie

            Sean O'Grady as Announcer

            David Crowley as Rent-A Cop 1

            Erik Schrody
            
            Michael DeLorenzo
            
See full cast