DREDD - Film Review

Pretty much following a day on the job for Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) this has the eponymous Judge tasked with evaluating rookie Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) as a training day to see if she’s got what it takes to be a street judge. Anderson is also a psychic, one of the reasons the Chief Judge wants to see how she’ll cope ‘in the field’. Dredd takes the rookie out and tells her to choose where they are going. Anderson picks an incident at the megablok Peach Trees, three skinned bodies have been thrown from one of the 200 floors and landed in the main ground floor planade. This is to start a series of events which will see the two Judges locked into the megablok and facing a war against hundreds of criminals tasked with killing them by the ruthless crime lord, Ma-Ma (Lena Headley).


The last time Judge Dredd was ‘attempted’ for a film version we got the beyond terrible Sylvester Stallone version back in 1995. They totally got the character wrong on nearly every level and possibly the most important one is that Dredd’s face is never seen, one of the main points is that he is the ‘faceless’ face of Justice in the futuristic city, Mega City One. Stallone took the helmet off after the first ten minutes and things got progressively worse from there. Joel Schumacher didn’t f**k up Batman as much as Stallone f**Ked up Dredd. Let us never mention that film again.


So fast forward to 2012 and we get a new version, written by lifelong Dredd fan Alex Garland. Thankfully the years have been kind and we have been served up THE Dredd movie. Yes you can quibble about that fact that Mega City One is totally different to its depiction in the comic books. It’s not a massively over the top, giant buildings crowding around each other metropolis, it looks more like a giant city of today with some giant buildings spread out across it. The costumes that the Judges wear are very different to the comic book depiction. There are a couple of reasons for this. One is the film’s budget was $45 million, which for a film of this ilk is really, really low budget. The other is down to the fact that nowadays, especially after the success of Batman Begins and Iron Man it seems setting these comic book movies in a ‘realistic’ world are a bit of the in thing. To be fair this actually works in the movie’s favour, making this world much more accessible to the casual Dredd fan such as myself and the non-Dredd fan that has yet to delve into this world of Judges etc. Oh and the new Judge costume’s kick arse.


Sticking to a very lean and mean plot line this steamrollers along at a terrific pace, building up on elements of this world as we go. The violence is very bloody and nasty, there are people getting shot to bits, blown up and skinned alive. The characters are pretty much spot on as far as I can tell. Thirlby as Anderson is the films heart and soul. She is the rookie Judge who still can feel compassion and regret and is the perfect foil for Urban. Taking away his eyes, for Dredd never, NEVER EVER, takes that helmet off means that his performance relies on the rest of his body. The way he moves, talks, the type of voice he has. And he is Dredd. Totally and unequivocally focused on the letter of the law. He is a near immoveable object. When told that Anderson only just failed and they feel there is a question over whether she should be given another chance Dredd’s response is a terse “She failed”. Despite the fact that you could call Dredd a ‘fascist b*stard’ or even a ‘total c*nt’ which to be fair he kind of is, he’s still a riveting character and the film is never quite as good when he’s off-screen.


This was my first 3D movie since Avatar and I have to say I was really impressed. Okay it’s not 3D fantastic like Avatar but the scenes where the 3D really do improve this movie and make it something special are the scenes involving people taking a new narcotic know as ‘Slo-Mo’. This drug makes the world move at about 1% of its normal speed, allowing for some awesome shots of a person splashing in the bath or in one jaw dropping scene, watching Dredd and Anderson take down a ‘Slo-Mo’ drug den with bullets tearing bodies apart and showering blood in all directions. In slow motion. In 3D. Love it.


I really hope that this film does well so that we can get more movies made. Not only is it pretty much an Independent British film but Urban’s performance as Dredd is so good I just want to see him play this role again and from the sounds of it the film makers plans for sequels sound too good to not see. I would gladly go and see this film again and again at the cinema, not something I’ve thought of doing for quite some years now. It’s not a date movie and it sure is very violent, and gorily violent at that, but for me, this is by far the best comic book adaption since 300.