Synopsis:

This edit attempts to take 1995's 'Judge Dredd' closer to what might have been if Director Danny Cannon had been given total creative freedom. Without the interference from his producers and his mega-star Slyvester Stallone, could we have got a real Dredd movie that reflected the tone of the source material? Could it have been more like 2012's awesome 'Dredd'? Let's find out!

Intentions:

My intention was: 1. To cut Stallone's performance as Dredd in a way that brings him inline with the Dredd from the comics. Almost every shot showing any emotion beyond anger is gone, his silly catchphrase is gone and of course his romance with Hershey is entirely removed. 2. To cut Rob Schneider's character down a minimum since he essentially destroys any tention that the film is building. He constantly makes light of what are supposed to be life-threatening situations, he is generally loud and annoying, he pulls stupid faces and waves his arms around... in short, he is the Jar-Jar Binks of this movie. 3. To restore Manic Street Preachers' 'Judge Yr'self' to it's proper place as the finale music for the film. 4. To generally make the tone more serious while still keeping the action fun.

Change List:

General Cutlist: - Slightly de-saturated, darkened and increased the contrast of the image throughout. The look is now more gritty and sombre while the Judge's costumes look less like blue-spandex - Removed almost every shot of Stallone's face that showed internal conflict, sadness, happiness or any emotion other than barely suppressed anger - Removed Hershey/love subplot, they're like Cop partners... that's it (NO KISS!) - Removed as much Rob Schneider as I believe is possible without causing continuity/narrative problems. However, I have retained many instances when he says something annoying and then Dredd gets angry with him (Dredd getting angry is good for the movie!) - Removed all footage of Rob Schneider making light of the supposedly dangerous situations he is in. Including being shot, burned alive, murdered, eaten by cannibals and worst of all, joking around while he's critically inured from a gunshot wound to the stomach. Schneider's antics destroy the tension in all those moments. - Stallone's heavily repeated "I knew you'd do/say that" catchphrase removed (He now says those words once only) Total 130 major changes Cuts and Additions: Detailed Cutlist: 00.00.oo TM2YC ident added 00.00.10 Added brief pre-movie introduction to the edit featuring Danny Cannon's own artwork 00.01.34 Removed 'Hollywood Pictures' and 'Cinergi' idents (Still name checked seconds later anyway) so we start straight into the 'Judge Dredd Comic Gallery' titles 00.02.04 Removed Stallone's excessively large name check and replaced it with a re-coloured red 'Judge Dredd' logo (Timed to the same music sting) 00.02.11 Replaced blurry backing shot for James Earl Jones' spoken introduction with a montage of Colin MacNeil's Dredd artwork from the early 90s timed to illustrate the words 00.03.10 Entire 'Fergie back from Aspen' sequence removed (Up to riot) 00.03.13 'Council of Five' crisis meeting brought forward (To open the movie) 00.04.39 Block Riot sequence re-cut to remove cab landing, titles and Fergie 00.04.44 Taxi "Take caution..." alert dubbed over the riot like an omnipresent yet ironically ineffectual broadcast by Justice Department 00.04.53 Corridor shot shortened to remove all credits except Danny Cannon's (Plus distant sounds of the riot dubbed on) 00.05.22 Fergie's "This guy... he's funny" line removed 00.05.27 Fergie's "Maybe I should go to a hotel" line removed 00.05.30 Punk's "No way man" line removed 00.06.40 Cheesy slowmo shot of Dredd riding through fire removed 00.06.53 Brisco's "Holy Crud" line and footage brought forward to cover Dredd Codpiece closeup 00.07.33 Fergie's "Why don't I run down there and surrender... bad idea" line removed 00.07.40 Dredd's "I knew they'd do that" line removed 00.10.09 First shot of Punk reaching for a gun cropped out 00.10.13 Second shot of Punk reaching for a gun cropped out 00.10.15 Third shot of Punk reaching for a gun cropped out 00.10.19 Punk screaming and going to shoot Dredd removed so Dredd just executes him in cold blood 00.12.26 Hershey's "I knew you'd say that" line removed 00.12.27 'Halls of Justice' establishing shot added (Re-used, Re-coloured, flipped and cropped shot from meeting scene) 00.12.31 First shot of TV report removed so we cut straight to Dredd 00.14.29 Establishing shot of Aspen cropped to remove ugly on screen text 00.18.09 Malfunctioning flying Lawmaster sequence removed 00.19.56 Hershey's "No I don't think that's right... no one is supposed to be alone all the time. I mean has that really what it's been like for you" line removed (Plus footage of Dredd listening) 00.20.20 Very slightly trimmed the look Dredd gives Hershey 00.24.33 Shortened the gap between Vardis saying the words "Judge" and "Dredd" so it actually sounds like one sentence (As was obviously intended originally) 00.24.39 Removed two shots of Rico leaving the Vardis apartment so it is less obviously a frame 00.25.50 Dredd's "How do you plead?" and "I knew you'd say that" catchphrase exchange removed 00.25.53 Shot of Perp's fourth-wall breaking scream of "Nooooooooo!!" removed 00.29.29 Olmeyer shouting "Yes!" and three shots relating to it removed 00.29.35 Dredd's smirk and sarcastic "Very" line removed 00.29.36 Hershey's "You Owe me" line, Dredd's reaction and McGruder's "Very Well" line removed 00.31.04 Reaction shot of Fargo brought forward a few seconds 00.31.05 Dredd's infamous "It's impossible, I never broke the law, I am the law!" line removed 00.31.06 Shot of Fargo holding his head in his hands removed 00.34.52 Hershey's "I let you down" line removed and Griffen dubbed over the top 00.34.53 Shot of Dredd looking at Hershey and "You did your best Hershey, thank you" line removed 00.34.54 Reaction shot of Hershey removed and shot of Dredd looking at Griffen brought forward 00.40.23 Fergie's sniggering removed 00.40.49 Three shots showing Dredd's dawning realisation of the error of his ways and Fergie mocking Dredd removed 00.42.10 Fergie's "Dredd what's happening?!" line and excessive squealing removed 00.43.22 Footage of Judge Hunter murdering Pilot removed 00.43.38 Fergie's "Am I dead? Am I dead? I'm dead" line removed 00.44.48 Fergie's "Excuse me, we're not together" line and Angel Gang cackling removed 00.44.58 Fergie's first "Hi!" line removed 00.45.00 Fergie's second "Hi!" line removed 00.45.27 Dredd's "And of course... scumbags" and Fergie's "Oh that'll win 'em over" lines removed 00.46.11 Fergie's "Go tell it on the mountain" and Dredd's "Fergie" lines removed 00.46.24 Fergie sniggering removed 00.46.40 Fergie's "No wait you can't eat me, I've got eczema, I've got warts, I've had Gonorrhea, eat Dredd, he works out" line removed 00.47.07 Dredd's bizarre off camera call of "Guilty" removed 00.47.12 Fergie's reaction to Dredd shooting Link removed 00.47.21 Three shots of the ridiculous Pa Angel charge removed or trimmed 00.47.25 Another Fergie reaction shot removed 00.47.31 Shot of Fergie panicking removed 00.47.50 Close up emphasising the ridiculous size of Dredd's gun and another Fergie reaction shot removed 00.47.55 Shot of Fergie dusting himself down removed 00.47.57 Fergie's "Dredd look out!" line brought forward and re-dubbed 00.47.58 Fergie and Dredd's super annoying exchange about crying entirely removed 00.48.27 Fergie's "Not again" line removed 00.48.41 Brief shot of Dredd hitting Mean and Fergie's reaction removed 00.48.42 First few frames of Dredd's hit given a "Camera Shake" to emphasise the impact 00.49.07 Dredd's "I knew you'd say that" line removed 00.49.49 Very minor trim to picture analysis shot 00.52.31 Dredd's "My whole life is a lie" line removed 00.54.03 Fergie's "Whata we do?" and Dredd's "Find Rico" lines removed 00.56.54 Fergie's "We can't just knock on the wall and say, hello Cursed Earth pizza" (Contender for worst line) 00.57.17 Shot of Fergie's stupid gurning face removed 00.57.18 Fergie's "Maybe we should consider other theories... Dredd!" line removed 00.59.10 Fergie's and Dredd arguing outside the wall scene stripped down the bare frames essential 00.59.17 Dredd saying sorry to Fergie dialogue removed 01.01.02 Fergie's "I'm lost, is this the bathroom" line and Judge's double-take removed 01.01.01 Fergie's "Hey, hey, why are you taking off his clothes? We don't have time for this" line removed 01.01.10 Shot of Dredd giving Fergie an angry look re-dubbed with Fergie dialogue 01.01.36 Fergie giving away Dredd's identity removed 01.02.25 Dredd's "Cover your ears" line removed 01.03.02 Fergie's "Dredd tell them I'm innnocent" line and paniced closeup removed 01.03.19 Fergie's "Your alot of fun to be with Dredd, d'you know that?" line removed 01.03.20 Additional music mixed in to cover a brief gap in the score 01.03.29 Dredd's "Hope it works" line removed 01.03.31 Fergie's "What is wrong with this piece of shit, ahhhhhh, shiiiiit" line removed 01.03.32 All footage of Lawmaster failing to start removed 01.03.38 Footage of Lawmaster free falling removed so the bike flies straight out 01.03.39 Fergie's "Dredd, make it work, ahhhh, Dreeeedd" line removed 01.03.43 Fergie's "Dredd you may want to wash this seat after we get off the bike... sorry" line removed 01.03.47 Footage of Fergie looking alarmed to see them being followed removed 01.04.03 The whole 'Fergie trying to Ride shotgun' sequence removed 01.04.28 Fergie's "Dredd you can drop me off here" line and some of the over sped-up chase footage removed 01.04.39 Terribly slow shot of Lawmaster crashing and exploding removed 01.05.15 Two shots of Fergie screaming removed 01.05.21 Botched FX shot of Dredd and Fergie being killed in a fireball removed 01.05.35 Fergie's "She's definitely not getting her cleaning deposit back, I mean that's for sure" removed 01.05.40 Dredd's angry reaction to Fergie's "It doesn't pay to be one of your friends Dredd" line cut much closer 01.05.42 Fergie's "Sorry" line dubbed over Dredd's angry look 01.06.26 Dredd's "I would never do anything to hurt you Hershey... you know that" line removed 01.07.24 Added establishing shot of Hershey's apartment (Re-used, Re-coloured, flipped and cropped shot from earlier) 01.07.25 Fergie's "I tried dialing everything I could think of to find this Janus thing, it just isn't in the program, nowhere" line dubbing over establishing shot 01.07.26 Dredd and Hershey getting touchy-feely on the bed scene and Fergie's joke about the microwave removed 01.07.58 Hershey's "Dredd, that's twice you owe me" line and shot of Dredd 'checking Hershey out' removed 01.09.29 Fergie's "Granted you do most of the work but we're still a team" and Dredd's "I can handle it kid" lines removed 01.10.42 Rico's "How romantic" line removed 01.10.56 Dr Hayden's "He looks alot like you", Rico's "He is alot like me" and Dredd's "I'm nothing like you" lines removed 01.11.14 Rico's "Send in the clones" pun removed 01.11.51 Dredd jumping in fear when the clone wakes up removed 01.13.09 Rico's infamous "Laaaawwwwwww" scream removed 01.14.21 Fergie's "Boy is he pissed" line removed 01.15.49 Hershey's "Judge bitch" line removed 01.16.40 Dredd's "I'll be the judge of that" line removed 01.18.15 Hershey's "That's three times now Dredd" line removed 01.18.58 Fergie's sarcastic "Ahhhh I'm dying, I'm too young... 'scuse me" line removed 01.19.19 Hershey kissing Dredd removed 01.19.20 Fergie's "Tell you the truth I'm prob'ly a much better kisser" line removed 01.19.24 2nd half of the kiss and Dredd staring longingly into Hershey's eyes removed 01.19.27 Hershey's "Feels good to be human, don't you think" line removed 01.19.28 Dredd's "I knew you'd say that" line and him holdig hands with Hershey removed 01.20.01 Partial reprise of James Earl Jones' monologue dubbed over the final shot 01.20.10 Added 'Judge Yr-Self' by Manic Street Preachers as the credits role (The song was not included in the original soundtrack due to Richie Edwards sudden disapperance) 01.20.14 Several new credits inserted including a big nod to Dredd's creators John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra. Such was the disrespect that in the original cut their credit appears in small print at the very end 01.20.43 Original credits roll as normal 01.23.01 The cure's 'Dredd Song' plays over the rest of the credits 01.26.28 My own custom made 2000AD ident added to the end

Additional Notes:

My intention was never to remove every frame of Rob Schneider at the expense of continuity. He now serves a purpose and that is to be an irritant for Dredd. If he speaks Dredd shoots him an angry look, this helps make Dredd's character more aggressive. He also ultimately proves useful in the end.

Other Sources:

Judge Dredd Blu-Ray Judge Dredd CD Soundtrack Manic Street Preachers - Lipstick Traces CD Compilation Colin MacNeil comic artwork circa the early 90s

Special Thanks:

Thanks to all those on the DCJD thread who gave their feedback and previewed clips and workprints.