Dredd
 

This is far better than the stallone version, far more grittier
and closer to the 2000ad comic book judge dredd that we come to know, although rumours of a low budget, its already doing well with a 95% approval rating. i was suprised at first that it was rated 18, but when you see the film you can see why, karl urban plays an exellent dredd , well worth going to see:)

Re: Dredd
 

I have been looking forward to this movie for quite some time. After seeing the awesome trailer, it certainly wet my apettite to see more. But the big question is, 'Did the movie live up to the expectation of the trailer?' And the answer is 'YES'.


The biggest concern was could this movie get rid of the bad taste left in my mouth from the Stallone, and it did more than that, it wiped it from existance!


Dredd takes the rawnees of the character from the comic and puts it straight into the movie. Dredd has little emotion, nothing complex, and to be honest, on paper looks like a terrible idea for a movie with his lack of charcter depth, but he is a complete BAD-ASS. He runs around and blows stuff up and takes out the bad guys. His helmet stays on, and doesn't like to talk to much, he just does the talking with his gun.


The movie takes place in the future in a place called Mega City One. A city not much different to what it is like now, except much, much bigger, and with giant skyscraper buildings scattered around. It doesn't really look to futuristic, more like a broken, post-apocolyptic type setting. But it is very raw, and something we can associate with.


The Judges are the law, and pass out judgement on the streets. Judge Dredd seems to be a well respected Judge, from what we learn about him in the movie, which isn't much, but they have the authority to kill criminals on the spot. Karl Urban does a great job playing the character, and has the perfect voice to match the grittiness of Dredd.


His side kick is rookie Judge, Olivia Thirlby, who is a mutant with psychic abilities. she is a giant contrast to the emotionless Dredd, as she struggles to kill and seems to be lacking in confidence and assurance. BUt she seemed to have the character pretty much nailed down. He vulnerability does begin to fade as the film moves on and she exposed to the harsh realities of being a judge.


Si the story is Judges Dredd and rookie Anderson are called to one of the mega tower blocks to investigate three dead bodies. After they capture one of the culprits, the leader of the gang Ma-Ma locks down the building and says no-one is getting out until the Judges are killed. Dredd and Anderson must fight there way to the top of the building in order to take out Ma-Ma.


Ma-Ma is the sole distributor of a drug called Slo-Mo which slows down time to whoever takes it. This is used to display some awesome visual effects in the movie, especially with the use of 3D. And the 3D in general was great throughout the movie, probably one of the best 3D movies I have seen, particularly the scenes when the glas windows are blown up and shot through and the glass seems to come out of the screen.


This movie is ultra violent, and definately not for the faint of heart, it is quite gory at times and there is alot of blood, so if that is not your thing then it maybe best to avoid.


Overall though, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, it lived up to its hype and definately one I would see again. If action movies are your thing then I can't recommend this enough.


I would describe this as RoboCop meets Die Hard, with a little bit of The Warriors thrown in for good measure.

Re: Dredd
 

Don't forget The Raid

Dredd 3D Review
 

It was 1995 when Sylvester Stallone starred as Judge Dredd in the original film, based on the 2000AD comic book. It didn’t get many good reviews (With a poor 5.1 average rating on IMDB) but can Karl Urban turn things around with Dredd 3D?

Pleasingly, the answer is yes! Judge Dredd (Urban) is teamed up with rookie Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) to tackle crime in Mega City One – a massive city over-run with crime. They head to a crime scene in Peach Trees, a 200 story tower block, and soon find themselves trying to take down gang leader and drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey). Ma-Ma is distributing a drug called Slo-Mo, which makes time appear to pass 100 times slower.

The Slo-Mo drug leads to many slow motion shots, which are executed beautifully. Many involve blood and bullets tearing through flesh, but the detail and the 3D effect work wonderfully well, despite maybe being over-used a bit.

Urban’s chin does a good job as Dredd, although unlike most acting jobs, it involved showing no emotion or personality to fit the character. Psychic rookie Anderson is the opposite of Dredd; Thirlby makes her appear likeable, although the character often doubts her ability to do the job.

The film’s 18 certificate makes sure this one shouldn’t be seen by children. It is full of blood, violence and brutality, but director Pete Travis makes each moment seem worthwhile, it isn’t just violence for the sake of it. Ma-Ma isn’t one for mercy, and doesn’t think twice about the welfare of others as she hunts down Dredd and Anderson.

Although not quite at the level of The Dark Knight Rises, it is close up there in my most enjoyed films of the year so far.

Re: Dredd 3D Review
 

I can't understand why this movie has (according to Den of Geek) tanked, though. It seems to deliver on every level, but isn't pulling the numbers - which is really a shame!

I was shocked when I read how poorly it had performed in the US. Let's hope it picks up, and doesn't affect the chance of a sequel.

Re: Dredd 3D Review
 

Well, they reckon that the sequel is still in the works, but more worrying is that this is the Dredd films "the fans" wanted.

Film fans are always giving the "the studios" a kicking because they produce movies with watered down content, not true to the source, putting a big star in to sell it... all that stuff. Yet these movies (like Resident Evil - I love those films, but I know that "true fans" hate them) make a tonne of money.

Serenity, on the other hand, was a movie that "the fans" wanted. No one went to see it, everyone downloaded it and it tanked. Is the same thing happening with Dredd.... and if so, what message is that giving to the studio. Clearly "let's not bother about "true fans" - the watered down, not true to source stuff makes the cash!"

Cheers

Russ

Re: Dredd 3D Review
 

Don't know about America but I know a lot of people haven't gone to see it because most cinemas here are only offering the 3D version, which is an absolute pain in the arse.

Re: Dredd
 

Saw this today. It's pretty darn good. Really impressed. Would love to see a few sequels. I really admire films that reign in their scope and tell a story exactly the size they're prepared to tell well.

Re: Dredd
 

Recently did a review on this, great film.

I was surprised by how well it was made on what has been called low budget...

Agree with sequels though, even after a poor box office performance it deserves a sequel.

I've heard rumours about a TV series with Urban returning as Dredd. Which would be interesting if they keep the same gritty and gory tone of the film.

As enjoyable as it was, I dunno if I would hold up as TV series. As a series, they'd be compelled to dive deep into Dredd's background and stuff, which would make him less interesting as the film worked because of the simplicity of Dredd himself. He's just an angry, mean, law machine, and it's as simple as that. He's all about order, and it's either his way or the high way.
There isn't a whole lot they could do with that except have him take part in violent confrontations every ep.

I'd imagine a spin off centred around Anderson would make for a more interesting television show just because she's more dimensional character. Urban could pop up with cameo's and the like.

Still, maybe i'm wrong, maybe there is a TV show in there for Dredd. I just like the film doesn't go out of it's way to suggest that it's here to be a big franchise, I found that rather refreshing.

I spotted one thing in the film when Anderson is sensing Dredd and says there's "anger with something behind the control"... reading the comics and reading up on some answers websites I've found out what it possibly is...




But I reckon they'll have to do a sequel or two before a TV series to show the above series of events.

Interesting. Maybe that could work, then. I'm not sure. I'm kind of just enjoying it being a one off for now, but the notion of him doubting The Law, i.e. himself does sound appealing. Just don't remove the helmet.

sorry dude...bad cyberpunk...really

right up there with the anime Genocyber

Re: Dredd
 

Dug up some news... there apparently will be more films...

... two more films that explore the Origins storyline which is basically about a small group of Mutants from The Cursed Earth who form an army of Mutants...

... and the Democracy storyline which is based around the public's hatred of Judges and the realities of Dredd and the Justice Department actually being Fascistic... which may point toward what I said above in the spoiler box in my last post.

The second sequel will apparently feature Judge Death and the Dark Judges (possibly a twist in the story of the Mutants from The Cursed Earth)

Here's my predictions for the next few years of Dredd-dom...

Watched "Dredd" and "The Raid" recently. Both were very good, around the 8-8.5/10 mark imo.

I think Dredd has borrowed heavily from the Raid but it was very much an imporvement on 1995 Dredd.

Looking forward to sequels.

Re: Dredd
 

Watched Dredd and reviewed it myself lately. I thought it was a decent flick! It kept me entertained and that is sometimes hard to do! I wouldn't recommend it to people unless I knew they were into that kind of movie though.

My flatmate, who isn't even into these testosterone fuelled type of action films said he really enjoyed it, which says a lot, I reckon. I'm tempted to get the Blu Ray, just for the sound. I think they use Neo X

Re: Dredd
 

I liked it, but it now has become a serious movie. The fun went with stallone