Judgment Day (1999 Video) User Reviews

This movie was probably made for USA Network

[slshusker · 5/10 · 18 May 2007]

I stumbled on this movie after SportsCenter. It was on FX, so I stayed a few minutes. The cast was full of recognizable faces, including Ice-T and Mario Van Peebles, the king of B-Movies.

This was definitely a B-Movie.

I called up IMDb to figure out who the director was and he is an actor/director. That was obvious from the movie.

The plot was predictable and it was a combo of David Koresh and Armageddon, filmed on a low budget. The movie was enjoyable and Ice-T's grimace always gives me a smile, along with his silly bad-ass lines.

I don't know why Suzy Amis is attempting to act any more, since she's married to James Cameron-Titanic. She can do whatever she wants.

Plenty of the actors give you the 'I know that dude' feeling. I saw a guy from the Young and Restless, another was a character actor in every military movie.

Judgment Day was released in 1999, so it was probably filmed in 1998, when the Armageddon themed movies were still a hot commodity. That's the likely reason this movie was made. Still, it's an OK watch, though I did vacuum the carpet during the movie and didn't seem to miss anything.

Any movie that somehow brings Chicken and Waffles into the script can't be all bad.

This is definitely a late night movie watch.

(Like 90% of the actors that made it big in the 1985-1992 area, Suzy Amis appeared in a bad Miami Vice episode-Heart of Darkness. It's terrible that I just saw this on TV as I was writing this review.)

Mundane disaster/cult thriller

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 9 August 2016]

A bizarre amalgamation of disaster and blaxploitation thrillers which never really gels, this uneven adventure story unsurprisingly went straight to video on first release. As a science fiction disaster movie, it offers little of interest; the story behind the asteroid is barely explained and the threat itself limited to some mega-cheesy computer effects of bits of it hitting the earth and destroying various towns. Instead the plot focuses on the hunt for the cult leader by the buddy-buddy teaming of Ice-T and Suzy Amis, keeping things so small scale that the cult consists of about two people - yes, it's got that low a budget. The action sequences are few and far between, which is rather good because they always verge on silliness (this is one of those films where bad guys open fire with a dozen sub machine-guns and still fail to hit the good guys) and are still somehow routinely played out.

Playing the role of an unpleasant and violent criminal, Ice-T fits into the role like a glove in a part he seems to have been born to play. His acting is good, if you can call this real acting. Suzy Amis is colourless as the FBI agent and her part largely unwritten; an aimless void at the centre of the movie. The only really good performance is from Mario Van Peebles as the mild-mannered but ruthless cult leader who believes that the asteroid is a message from God, putting in a nicely underplayed turn when he could have easily just been over the top (I'm thinking Basil Wallace as Screwface in MARKED FOR DEATH here). The scientist is played by Linden Ashby - whoever thought of that casting needs to be shot - with slightly less woodenness than your average pine tree. JUDGMENT DAY is a good example of the cheaply-made and unimaginative television-style movies pouring out of America these days; it offers a few minor thrills and interests here and there but fails as a whole through being just too mundane.

Entertaining Despite Terrible Direction

[sfumatosprocket · 4/10 · 6 July 2021]

Decent script, relevant ideological warning of well armed lunatics posing as 'End of Times' self-dubbed 'Chosen Ones'... Not a terrible cast.

Clearly terrible acting to weave gun panti relevance in implausible situations and ridiculous shootouts not necessary to the story at all.

Another Brink In The Wall to normalize gun violence, it is fully gratuitous to the script, added by mentally lazy imbeciles.

But probably good to watch to get our priorities straight given the chance to turn the page in 2021.

Behold your savior...

[fmarkland32 · 3/10 · 20 December 2006]

Ice-T and Suzy Amis star as two cops who team up to rescue a scientist, Linden Ashby (!) who has been kidnapped by religious fanatics led by Mario Van Peebles (!) among the group of fanatics include Coolio (!) and Tiny Lister Jr (!!) and the reason they kidnap Ashby is because it is only him that can prevent a meteor from destroying earth, with his expertise. They want to end the world for mainly religious reasons although they are easily thwarted by the "cop-killer" himself. One of the great ironies in showbiz is just how Ice-T gained fame singing a (admittedly catchy)rap song which expressed his overall unhappiness with the men in blue, now Ice-T makes his living playing a cop on Law and Order:SVU! Hilarious. However given his choice of terrible movies (Johnny Mnemonic,Surviving The Game,Tank Girl,Ticker,Gangland and Ablaze) and this is believe it or not one of the Iceman's better efforts. It's still a badly made rip off of Armageddon (Which also sucked) with some extremely awkward acting from Van Peebles, Lister and (especially) Ashby. Indeed the casting director had to have been drunk to cast Ashby as a scientist, also Van Peebles as a religious fanatic? This alone guarantees a couple of chuckles, however the special effects are so terrible that the embarrassing stock footage causes more surreal amazement than genuine hilarity. Still for fans of Ice-T, this is a must see.

*1/2 out of 4-(Poor)

My judgment is that this movie is terrible!

[Green-Irish-Eyes · 1/10 · 9 February 2020]

Bad acting + bad direction + a mish-mosh of a plot adds up to one terrible movie. I was lucky to have caught it on Hulu, because I'd be really upset if I'd paid to watch this dreck.

Don't waste your time.

Not good, fun at times

[wvdput · 14 August 2004]

(slight spoilers) Judgment Day is not a memorable movie. I like Ice-T, the cult leader is also convincing, the rest of the actors are passable. The well-worn plot (meteor wooshing toward earth, 4 days to rescue the planet, idiots trying to prevent this) offers no surprises, the characters are cardboard, the special effects sparse and not very special. The plot is rather unlikely; apparently an isolated cult leader has information about this meteor before anyone with the exception of the US government (of course); a laid-off scientist is needed in person to turn some switch to launch a totally untested weapon of mass destruction from an abandoned project. Even for an action/disaster movie it is weak. Still some nice action....4/10

illogical

[because-of-him · 1/10 · 6 July 2017]

The opening of the movie is so illogical that it may actually explain why wrong thinking is so prevalent. Ice-T makes a good point: Do poor communities (of any race) build guns, or grow poppy plants (the basics of hard drugs)? Of course not. Ice-T then makes a bad point: He blames the white man. What? I grew up in the slums of NYC until I left at age 17 and never looked back. Our neighborhood was a mix of blacks and Puerto Ricans. Many times, as a teen, I had to step over drug addicts and bums who camped overnight on the inner steps to the 3 story building. Sometimes, I saw needles dangling down an arm. HERE is the false logic: NO one FORCED us to take drugs or murder others. And, the only way drugs become popular is if there are buying customers. No blacks or whites are FORCED to buy or to use drugs. No one is forced to pull a trigger without a legal reason. So, because the initial logic is false, the rest of the movie fails. You cannot build a home upon lies, or a good movie upon bad logic.

Mostly good enough for Direct To Video - except for the writing

[I_Ailurophile · 4/10 · 17 February 2023]

There's a lot going on here. The cast do a pretty good job, I think, and so does director John Terlesky, making what they can of a wildly flummoxing screenplay by Fred Olen Ray. How did this script get approved? How did stars like Ice-T and Mario Van Peebles get roped into it, among others? What, exactly, is the history of this production, from start to finish? I'd be very curious to know. It's not that there's no story in 'Judgment Day,' but rather that the story is assembled something like a custom car built from with every piece stolen from a completely different make and model - bits and pieces cut from different sources, and welded together in a form that sounds like it might work in theory so long as you don't spend a single moment thinking about it.

Thus do we have elements cobbled together of a charismatic black preacher, speaking truth to power, going full Doomsday Cult; unaligned streetwise black characters who know everything about what's going on here, there, and everywhere; two competing "space defense" projects, one favored above the other with a key inexplicably being held by a former intelligence official now working as a college instructor; a felon whose past links with the preacher in ways that the screenplay cannot convincingly connect; threatening celestial objects a la Michael Bay's 'Armageddon'; and more. Early dialogue tries to have earnest, cheeky fun with matters like race relations or LGBTQ topics, but lacks the intelligence and delicate touch to make the cracks stick, so instead it just comes off as weakly borderline racist, homophobic, or transphobic. The smarter the writing tries to be (heavy verbiage delineating the past of character Matthew Reese; attempted kernels of wisdom from preacher Payne), the flimsier it is. Reese and co-lead Tyrell have dynamics that don't quite fit together, and while both have character arcs of a sort, on the crunched timeline in this film, they just seem forced. And so on, and so on, from start to finish.

I'm not even sure that the plot, as written, meaningfully connects together in terms of how the leading characters move from A to B. For what it's worth, stunts and effects look decent, and any CGI. Terlesky shows suitable capability as a director, and the cast make a sincere effort to inject something real and believable into the proceedings. The crew put in good work all around, and the climax that is mostly just an action sequence is probably the single strongest part of the feature. Truthfully, 'Judgment Day' is fairly well made for a late 90s "direct to video" release, and it's not altogether bad. It's passably enjoyable. It's enjoyable, however, provided that one just tries to accept the movie at face value, and leave it at that. If you can do so then this is still less than perfect or essential, but it's decent enough for a lazy day. If you can't, then you might be better off just passing on it altogether.

OK action movie with some reservations

[klingon-attack · 7/10 · 2 December 2006]

OK, maybe I'm missing something here....but I rather think I'm not. Let me get this straight; this is a nice action/disaster movie on the surface. As other commentators have put it, well-worn plot with meteorites about to hit earth and only a couple of days to save civilisation. I am not American, mind, but for an American movie I do see some racial stereotypes repeated over and over here. What we see is a black fanatic church leader making a point of racism in the U.S. So far so good. Further, we see the stereotypical black criminal played by Ice-T. Of course they hate each other because one killed the other's family, but in the end you have what the white audience expects: Two black guys trying to kill each other. Of course the ones that are really concerned with saving earth are the white U.S. military, the white scientist and the white, blonde, female FBI agent. Reese is portrayed as more or less only being concerned with his vengeance. The mole in the military is a white assistant to the general and, everyone else save one in the military staff being white, there's one black guy whom we are supposed to suspect.

OK, maybe I'm taking that too seriously for a cheapie video production but I think you don't have to make it THAT obvious. On a superficial level I did enjoy this movie. There was some OK action although the special effects creating the asteroid hitting San Francisco (at least they spared New York this time which was probably already destroyed a dozen times) can probably be reproduced on a home PC. When I thought about it further the above mentioned reservations spoiled it a bit for me.

ice-t @ his best best. d-t-v movie yet

[icetpimp1 · 10/10 · 23 February 2001]

great flick especially for direct to video. i think this could have made money in the theatres it was well writen and a good cast and the best performance i seen by ice-t in awhile since probaly new jack city. but i always was a big ice fan. good cast, mario van peebles , suzy amis, coolio, tony'tiny' listson. rent u wont be disapointed. rent u wont be disapointed. rent u wont be disapointed. rent u wont be disapointed. rent u wont be disapointed peace

Better than Deep Impact and Armageddon... a lot better

[VicDawg · 7/10 · 30 November 1999]

A direct to video blockbuster involving meteors destroying the planet. Thats where the similarities between Not So Deep Impact, Yawnageddon, and this movie end and actual entertainment begins. The movie moves at an impressive pace with some amiable performances by all (except for an offensively lifeless performance by Amis). And the script actually serves up enough twists to keep the noodle somewhat active. It kind of treats your brain like a computer, occasionally nudging the mouse to get rid of the screen-saver. Mario Van-Peebles is in top form as a religious cult leader welcoming the end of the world.

Well worth a rent.

I DISAGREE WITH THAT MAN

[afijamesy2k · 5 July 2000]

This Direct to video nonsense, features Boring performances, Awful special effects and Laughable screenplay and lots of boring action, surely one of the worst movies since Fair Game Not a good movie to rent.

Chicken & Waffles, Bible Quoting, Evil vs. Good !

[whpratt1 · 7/10 · 4 October 2005]

It was very hard to sit and view this film, but I decided to see what this Judgement Day film was all about. Poor Ice-T,"Up in Harlem",'04, has to make a living and had no choice but play the role of Matthew Reese, a convict who is given a second chance by Suzy Amis,(Jeanine Tyrell),"Firestorm",'98 who played the role of an FBI Agent. Suzy had no make up, looked very bad in close ups and wore her hair in a pig tail and appeared skinny as a bean pole through out the entire picture; I forgot, she did let her hair down, but not for sex. There was lots of quotations from the Bible, and especially the Book of Revelations, where the earth is suppose to be set on fire and the end of the world occurs. Lots of time wasted on talking about eating in a food joint called the Chicken & Waffles. The entire film was a big waste of time, but if you want to waste time, this is the film for you!

Ice-T in a Disaster Flick?????

[H5O · 5 December 1999]

Ice-T stars as a federal prisoner that is doing a deed for the FBI, where a scientist is kidnapped by an extremist group, with Mario Van Peebles as the leader. An asteroid threatens the earth (a la Armageddon), and the top scientist is kidnapped, and hope lies with both Ice-T and Suzy Amis (Titanic) as an FBI agent.

Ice-T might be portraying another stereotypical role as a convict, as well as the villain, like his previous films, but his vulgar overtones might sound like one of his rap songs. Check out a cameo by Coolio as a street hustler, and this film marks the third appearance of Tiny Lister (Trespass, Jackie Brown) with Ice-T.

The scene where Amis cuffs Ice-T to the steering wheel of the car has been repeated several times, in films like Rush Hour. 48 HRS. was the first film to feature such a scene, and every fan of the film might view this scene as homage to a timeless classic.

Why Mario Van Peebles as the black David Koresh? Ice-T might have lynched his ass in this film, since the two first met in New Jack City.

Alright movie

[jacklordii · 16 October 2003]

This movie is alright! I've seen it a number of times. It's one of those movies that you can see a number of times and not get bored of it.

Mario van Peebles and tommy Lister jr. gave good performances in my opinion. I like the idea of a religious activist believing that God had decided the world's fate and that it should be interfered with. Good special effects.

I don't know why this movie didn't come out at the cinema because I like the movie. Good story. Coolio's gangster character was a brief but interesting part of the film. A few things could have been done a little better, but a good movie on the whole. Worth watching.

now this movie was great

[deafskorpianking · 13 March 2003]

spoilers....now this was a great movie. forget armageddon and deep impact and those other crappy movies. you got a meteorite coming to earth, bigger than the one in armageddon i'll add, and there's only one way to destroy it, a special nuclear weapon made by a scientist. this scientist is the only one with the password to unlock it but there's a religious fanatic (mario van peebles) who feels it's god's will for the meteorite to destroy us all and he kidnaps the scientist, also shows tiny lister junior in a great role as the guard. you got this one female cop who's the best in the field and he gets a former criminal who she arrested out of jail for help to find the fanatic and than get the scientist to save the planet. i won't ruin it by telling the ending but this was such a good movie. the only thing that actually seemed out of place is the fact that the scientist is the only one who created such a powerful weapon and the only one with the key, he's such an important man yet he's just a college professor. but hey it'z all in good fun it's only one minor detail the movie was awesome