Dredd

[Joker]

Anybody else seen this film yet? The '95 Stallone film was pretty much a mess - don't get me wrong, I enjoy it, but it was about as far removed from what a Judge Dredd movie *should* be as I could imagine.

This, on the other hand? Personally, I consider it as good a Judge Dredd movie as could have possibly been made. Karl Urban plays the role excellently and, unlike Stallone, really embodies the character. In my opinion, his performance actually really evoked early Clint Eastwood, which coming from me is a pretty huge compliment. You never see Dredd's face, during the entire movie, which I felt was a nice touch.
The film itself has a wonderfully crafted setting, which (while isn't true to the source material in every way) is one Hell of an entertaining crapsack future. There's very, very little in the way of either character development or actual storyline, though, which actually works in its favour - at the end, you get the impression that all you've really done is watch one day in the life of a Judge - and this gives massive potential for sequels. Personally, I'd be happy for another couple.

It's pretty early here, so I might review this properly later, when I'm a bit more awake. Anyways, I'd urge you all to go see it, cos it's really good.

[adamchabbi6]

I saw it the first day it came out at the cinema and found it surprisingly really good. Great action sequences. I have not seen the one with Sylvester Stallone, which I'm ashamed to say but I heard it was not that good anyways.

[Mi-CroMartie]

I admit I was never fond of the franchise but I like the idea of a character playing both a bad-ass cop and judge with no trial or jury to convict bad guys.. Even though the costume on them looks a bit awkward and feel like a Power Rangers hero. :p

But I have the other reason to see this: LENA HEADEY!!!! aka Sarah Connor from the Terminator TV series.. I developed a crush on her when she first was in 300.



So, basically, the drug lord has a drug called, SLO-MO.. Hah.. Lots of people are comparing this to Raid Redemption minus the kung fu MMA fight stuff. :p

I first saw Stallone version on HBO tv waayy back, but I quickly lost interest in about 5 mins...

[Celebrity Killing Spree]

I enjoyed this film.

To me it wasn't redefining the genre or anything, instead it felt like a throwback to action films from the 80's. Movies that didn't shy away from an R rating, violence or grit. I felt like I did watching Robocop for the first time.

It wasn't the best thing to ever happen to cinema or anything but it was entertaining and a refreshing change from all of this PG-13 nonsense.

[Mi-CroMartie]

Question: is it just me or Lena's Ma-Ma character is channeling Ledger's Joker scars? Instead of the lips, she has it on her cheeks? That got me thinking, "What is the backstory of how she got those scars?"

[Celebrity Killing Spree]

Yep. Everyone with scars is stealing from the Joker. Especially Gymplaine in Victor Hugo's The Man Who Laughs.

[Hazekiah]

Good old SOLIDLY EXECUTED R-rated '80s action movie badassery is pretty much what I was thinking the whole way through, yeah.

Wasn't QUITE on par with the original RoboCop, but then RoboCop is pretty much THE PERFECT MOVIE so it set the bar high and Dredd still came pretty fucking close. I almost stood up and fucking CHEERED when Dredd told the perps "You have twenty seconds to comply," lol. NICE! Wish they would've matched the gore of Murphy's arm-stump better but that was still a pretty nice callback, too.

Slo-Mo was also a great idea and just GLORIOUS in 3D. Echoing the real world with the drones overhead and giving them eagle-esque shapes to tie them in with the Hall of Justice eagle was pretty inspired, too...wish they would've done more with that.

And was anyone else expecting Judge Lex (the leader of the "back-up") to turn out to be a batch-clone of Dredd? It was fine without that tangent, but I still thought for sure they were going that way for a bit. Would've been a cool way to reference one of the few half-decent things about the '90s movie and to maybe even give us a by-proxy peek at Dredd beneath his helmet.

Which, now that I mention it, was the only really awkward thing in the movie. That helmet just wasn't quite right. Always seemed like it was sitting way too high on his head except for a couple scenes. All the more a shame considering how EXQUISITE the Judge's uniforms all were otherwise. Oh, well, the Curse of Magneto's Helmet-That-Won't-Die strikes again, lol. Although these were nowhere NEAR as bad as his, of course. Pretty decent, actually...it just irked me a little now and then.

Urban was great and had the attitude and grimace down just about flawlessly though so the helmet was easy to overlook. Glad they kept Anderson out of hers, too. Olivia Thirlby is just GORGEOUS and I could watch her slink around in leather armor ALL DAY LONG. Damn.

Speaking of this movie's hotties and the X-Men films, btw...Lena Heady NEEDS to play Callisto someday! I couldn't get that pipe dream out of my mind every time she was onscreen. Just sayin'.

(And they clearly explained the backstory of Mama's scars in the film, btw.)

The ONLY thing I think they REALLY fucked up on was NOT snagging Manson's "Slo-Mo-Tion" for the soundtrack. WHAT-THE-HOLY-FUCK. It's even the band's current single at the EXACT same time as the movie's release, someone should have MADE that happen. Would've been a perfect fit for SO MANY reasons.

Still, the point is GO SEE THIS MOVIE.

And take a friend or three, ballsy movies with this much integrity and awesomeness need all the help they can get these days, ffs.

Even if you've already seen it then why are you still reading this?

GO SEE THIS MOVIE AGAIN.

NOW.

:)

[Bryson18]

I work at a movie theater and I saw Dredd in 3D. If you haven't yet, GO SEE IT! You get some cool Dredd 3D glasses too.

[[psycho]logical]

I echo pretty much everything Haze said. I feared the worst when I saw trailers earlier in the year, but these were happily blown away within the first 10 minutes. I've only read 2000AD on and off over the years, but what I know of the Dredd universe I thought was translated well to screen. This was probably the first film I thought that actually benefited from being in 3D. The majority of it I'd have happily watched without it, but the cinematography of Slo-Mo scenes were beautiful and looked all the better with some depth to them. This is a dystopian Dirty Harry in a post-apocalyptic future with the feeling of late 70s/early 80s grittiness, and drokk me it's good.

From what I've seen this hasn't fared too well at the box office yet (especially in America) but if it doesn't pick up I'm hoping it'll do better when it's available to buy or rent. This film needs a sequel.

On a related note, anyone that likes Judge Dredd should look out for a fan film called Judge Minty later this year. I think they've actually nailed the costumes better than Dredd did! (Especially the helmet. :-p)