Judgment Night (film) - Plot

Plot

Frank Wyatt (Emilio Estévez) leaves his wife and baby daughter at home for a night out with his friends to see a professional boxing match in Chicago. Frank is joined by Mike Peterson (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and Ray Cochran (Jeremy Piven), who shows up in a lavish RV he is "testing out" for his "business". When another friend of the guys cancels Frank invites his brother John (Stephen Dorff), and they all head to the city for the boxing match.

Stuck in a traffic jam en-route, John gets into a fight with another driver. Frustrated by the delay, Ray (nicknamed "Razor"), decides to save time by getting off the crowded expressway and searching for a shortcut through a poor residential neighborhood. The four friends are alarmed when they hit something. John, Mike, and Frank get out to investigate, and find a man named Teddy (Michael DeLorenzo) lying in the street hurt, and they take him into the RV. Ray gathers up all the liquor and empty beer bottles and tosses them to erase any evidence that the guys had been drinking. Upon examining Teddy for injuries they find that he has been shot, and that he has a paper bag filled with money. Mike hears a police car, which the group sees drive through the intersection ahead a few seconds later. Frank jumps into the driver's seat and begins pursuing the squad car.

They are unable to catch up to the police, and their RV is suddenly side-swiped by a Cadillac. The impact forces them into a narrow alleyway, leaving the RV damaged, stuck between two brick walls and unable to start. Moments after the crash three unknown men shatter the back window and drag Teddy out of the RV. The leader of the gang, Fallon (Denis Leary), arrives in the Cadillac that struck them. Still inside the RV the four friends watch the gang talking about their suspicions that Teddy had stolen money from Fallon. Fallon shoots and kills Teddy and reminds the rest of the gang that they have a policy to leave no witnesses. As the group of criminals approaches the RV, Mike breaks the windshield as Frank sets the RV on fire, and all four escape through the front window and run.

The film continues with the four friends hiding and trying to outrun the gang until they think they have gotten away. They head to a railyard and hide aboard an empty train. Fallon and his gang search the yard and trains for the guys. While hiding inside the car of an old train Frank and his friends are frightened by some homeless people who were aboard the train. One of the homeless men blackmails them by threatening to alert their pursuers to their location unless they pay them for their silence. Ray gives up his watch, Frank gives up his wallet, while John gives up his pocket change and Mike gives up his gold chain necklace. A mentally retarded member of the homeless men aboard the train, named Buck, shows interest in Mike's Purdue jacket, by repeating that he is a college graduate. When Mike refuses to give up his jacket the homeless man becomes angry and gets loud. Fallon and his gang are leaving the railyard when they hear the shouting coming from the railcar. As they open the car everyone aboard jumps off and starts running. Fallon shoots a guy wearing the Purdue jacket and it turned out to be Buck, the homeless guy who was wearing Mike's jacket. The homeless guy was also in possession of Frank's wallet. Fallon recovers the wallet and now knows who Frank is, his family, and where he lives. Frank and the guys continue to outrun Fallon and his gang until they eventually find an apartment building with an open door, and Frank and the guys all run inside. A kid on a swing outside sees them and tells his friends, who are then approached by Fallon and his gang, and Fallon pays one of them to find out from the kid which building Frank and his friends ran into. While inside the building, Frank and his friends begin knocking on the doors of the tenants trying to find help. They then hold up in the apartment of two women, mothers Clarissa and Rita, and call the police minutes before the gang catch up with them. Determined to get Frank and his friends, Fallon and his gang terrorize the building's tenants. Hearing them terrorize the tenants the enraged women demand that Frank and his friends leave. One of the women, Rita, suggests that they head to the roof of the building to escape Fallon. They flee to the rooftop and Mike, John, and Frank manage to cross over to the neighboring building's roof with the use of a ladder bridge. Because of Ray's fear of heights, he decides to knock the ladder off and stay behind to try negotiating with Fallon, convinced that Fallon will spare their lives if he buys him off. However, Fallon pushes Ray off the roof and he falls to his death.

Escaping into the sewers, Mike suggests that they fight back against their pursuers and Frank and John agree. Sykes (Peter Greene), Fallon's best friend and right-hand man, catches up with them, and after a brief confrontation has his weapon wrestled away and he is shot and killed by Mike. Frank chooses not to risk their lives anymore, so they escape from the sewer and decide to keep running. Within the sewer, the remaining members of Fallon's gang find the body of Sykes. A comment made by one of the gang members annoys Fallon and he drowns him.

While hiding once more in an abandoned building, the three remaining friends see a bus and try to flag the driver down. The driver sees them but, thinking they are trouble, decides to drive off leaving them behind. Searching for help, the guys find a swap meet and Mike breaks a window in the hopes it will trigger the alarm and bring the police. Shortly afterwards, they realize that Fallon has found them once more. The last remaining member of Fallon's gang, Rhodes (Everlast) is shot dead by Mike, but in the process Mike is shot in the stomach. John goes to help Mike but Fallon shoots him in the leg. Frank leads the wounded Mike and John to a bathroom closet where they hide. Frank gets to the security office and activates a silent alarm. Knowing that the three can run no longer, Frank draws out Fallon, leading him away from the wounded Mike and John. After a struggle between the two, Frank pushes Fallon off the stairs, causing him to fall to his death. Afterwards the police arrive, and Frank takes them to where his friends are. The movie ends with Mike and John being wheeled away by the medics, the police investigating the scene, and Frank's wallet being recovered by an officer, who then informs Frank that his wife is outside.