9. Judge Dredd (1995)
Sylvester Stallone has had his fair share of duds, but
Judge Dredd is one that frequently earns the most ire among film buffs and, indeed, comic book fans. So abhorrent was his butchery of the beloved source material considered here, that it in fact earned him a Razzie nomination, and rightly so. Dredd might just serve as one of those comics that's a challenge to adapt to the screen, or perhaps it's just a question of tone, and one which director Danny Cannon - now deferring to the less-judgemental world of TV directing - failed to adequately answer. Stallone's overly self-serious portrayal of the titular character renders him unintentionally hilarious from minute one, his rowdy utterances of "I am the law!" shouted with the deadpan enthusiasm of a Shakespearian thespian. Dredd had always had a certain dark, cynical humour to it that is completely lost here. Creative changes also upset a lot of viewers, particularly the decision to remove Dredd's mask for large portions of the film, as this was something that rarely occurred in the comics. Also, the use of Rob Schneider as a comedy sidekick can never be a good thing, and does little to boost what is already a sinking ship before he shows up, even with the presences of genuinely talented actors like Diane Lane and Max von Sydow. In researching this film, the best critique I read was "
I truly doubt that a woman could carry a child to term after seeing this failure of a movie".