take a wrong turn.just one wrong turn.and end up on the bad side of some not so savory characters.from there we get chase after chase as theses guys try to stay ahead of the bad guys and stay alive.this is a really exciting action packed movie.it had me on the edge of my seat a few times.and the acting,the acting was top notch.Jeremy Piven,Cuba Gooding Jr.Stephen Dorrf,Erik Schrody,Michael Wiseman are all really good.incidentally,Schrody is/was a member of once popular rap group House of Pain.he later released a solo album under the name Everlast,called Whitey Ford Sings the blues.anyway...everyone one i just mentioned did excellent work in this film.but for me,Emile Estevez and Peter Greene(Under Siege 2,The Usual Suspects,Permanent Midnight)were standouts.the movie itself is high octane excitement that doesn't let up until the end.it's a movie better watched late at night,with the lights off.for me,the verdict on Judgment Night is a 9/10

JUDGMENT NIGHT is a movie featuring an ensemble cast who find themselves enduring a night from hell when they're pursued by a vengeful street gang with murder in mind. As it's directed by Stephen Hopkins, who made PREDATOR 2 and THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS, it has potential to be good, but sadly it comes a cropper before long and never lives up to that early promise.

The problem with the film is the story, or lack of it. Okay, so the setup is halfway decent, but at around the halfway mark things really start to fall apart and it becomes just a straightforward chase flick with an us-vs-them mentality. Sadly, the lethargic and badly-handled action sequences, involving shoot-outs and fist-fights, are nowhere near good enough to make up for the lack of a decent narrative, making this an entirely forgettable movie when it comes down to it.

One of the most interesting things about the production is the cast, half of whom would go on to greater glory. Stephen Dorff and Cuba Gooding Jr. are two of the youthful stars; the former is effectively edgy but the latter's acting is so cheesy that you wonder how he found later fame and fortune. Jeremy Piven is better, but the presence of Emilio Estevez reminds you of why he never made it big; he has zero screen presence.

The bad guys are more interesting, although the characterisation is slimmer. Denis Leary is the charismatic chief villain, but I found his endless threats became pretty routine before long and I was dying to see someone off him. Much better is the entirely underrated Peter Greene (PULP FICTION),who SHOULD have been the main bad guy because he's excellently slimy, as ever, and indeed the best thing in the whole movie.

Four friends on their way to a boxing match get caught in heavy traffic, so they take a shortcut in order to get there faster, unfortunately it leads to them witnessing a murder which leaves them running for their lives.

Perhaps not the greatest thriller, this was a prime example of what an ensemble cast could be in the early 1990s. Stephen Dorff, Cuba Gooding, Jeremy Piven... we have Emilio Estevez at a time when he was probably on his way out, and Denis Leary at the peak of his career (with all due respect to his later TV work).

If this is on TV when you are flipping through channels, check it out. Surely not worth owning, but definitely worth a view or two.