Judgment Night

A film that takes place over one night. Four friends set out for a boxing match. They travel in a rented motor home; one of them has just become a father, one is his brother, and their friendship is old. When the traffic stops they leave the highway and try a short cut through the city. They enter the wrong neighbourhood. They have an accident. Getting out to help someone who is hurt, they witness a murder. From there the film is a chase across one night. The four are on foot; the men after them know the neighbourhood and they do not. Abandoned buildings, roofs, sewers and empty streets. What the narrative is interested in is not action but decision: the friends keep arguing about what to do, one wants the police, one wants to run, one wants to fight back. Those arguments are the best thing in it. Denis Leary plays the man after them; the leader of the group is talkative and works at persuading the people in front of him. Emilio Estevez, Cuba Gooding Jr., Stephen Dorff and Jeremy Piven are in the cast. What has lasted is the music. The album paired a rap act with a rock band on every track; it was an unusual idea at the time and was discussed more than the film. Stephen Hopkins directed. Who it is for: anyone who likes 1990s thrillers and chases set across a single night. Who it is not for: anyone troubled by how the neighbourhood is drawn; the film builds the poor part of the city as a threat and never questions it.