Dredd

[jaykays hat]

Hope Stallone watches this film!! This is how you make a Dredd film. Mega violent, Mega Loud and Mega City one.

Urban was very good as the Judge. The blood spilling didn't let up. Great soundtrack too.



***

Here's a link to Total Film's 3 star Dredd review. Added by Liz. Thanks.

***

[TheGuyver]

Loved it. Worth the ticket price. Glad i went to see it.

[fortunesfool]

Didn't expect this to be as good as it was.

It's a spectacularly violent and intense action movie. Reassuringly British in its approach, there's no hint of pandering to mall dwelling Americans here. The closest Dredd gets to a 'traditional' character arc is a single line which gets cut off. He starts as a serious bad-ass and ends it as a serious bad-ass; as it should be. Urban nails Dredd with just the right amount of stoneyfaced Eastwood-ness and Olivia Thirlby holds her own as Anderson, rescuing what could have been a thankless sidekick role.

Comparisons to The Raid are inevitable (calling it a rip-off is just silly and ill thought out though) and I have to admit to a feeling of deja-vu early on. Where Dredd succeeds though, and The Raid kinda failed, is that it keeps the story fresh by introducing new and unexpected events ("Call 911") and, on more than one occasion, I was generally concerned about how things were going to play out. The Raid, on the other hand was just more of the (admittedly impressive) same, until it ended.

The action scenes are clearly shot, the 3D is unobtrusive (and occasionally effective), the thumping score keeps everything rattling along and, for a rollicking, action packed night out, it ticks all the boxes.

However. And this might just be me. There was very little feeling for the world of Judge Dredd. The film is so stripped back and lean that it feels like a pilot episode for a really good TV show. The satirical, off-beat humour that Dredd plays off of so well in the comic strip is nowhere to be seen, and not even hinted at. Hopefully, if the film is a deserved success, we'll get to see more of this in the (better funded) sequels. The world of Judge Dredd is a wonderful one. It would be a shame to see it reduced to just a series of violent action movies.

Two big thumbs up. More please.

[TheGuyver]

Nice review Fortune. I'm hoping for bigger and better next time around. I hope the trilogy they are talking about gets made. Bring on Judge Death :-)

[fortunesfool]

Sounds like Garland is on it. Fingers crossed -

http://whatculture.com/film/alex-gar...ideas-more.php

[TheGuyver]

Excellent :-)