DREDD

[Azrael]

Saw it a bit late. Much, much better than I expected, the trailer (which I found bland) made me ignore it for a while. Then I saw its high rating on RT (now it's 77%).

Highly recommended to fans of classic 80s sci-fi.



The only "crime" is the music - while the score works fine for the film, the rejected score sounds much more interesting and probably inspired by the likes of John Carpenter and Brad Fiedel.

[Paul (ral)]

I have it here to watch. Hopefully give it a blast tomorrow night.

[Azrael]

No need to warn you of course, this one is definitelly NOT for children! 

[Paul (ral)]

Yeah, that's the reason I haven't been able to watch it yet lol

[Silver Nemesis]

I've got mixed feelings about it. Everyone's raving about how it's a million times better than the 1995 film, but in my opinion neither of them are that great. The 1995 movie is bad, but not quite a bad as people make it out to be. And the new one is good, but a little overrated.

One of the problems with the new film is that they couldn't really afford to bring the Mega City One from the comics to life on screen. The city itself doesn't really look like the one in the comics, nor do the citizens dress like their counterparts on the printed page. Nor are there robots, aliens, or anything else present that might convey a sense of visual consistency with the 22nd century society depicted in the 2000 AD comics. I can forgive this because of the film's comparatively low budget, but there isn't even much use of Mega-Speak in the film's script. Instead the characters swear using contemporary expletives in place of words like "drokk" and "stomm".

I did spot one or two nice references to the comics, like the 'CHOPPER' graffiti (a nod to Marlon 'Chopper' Shakespeare). But overall it felt like an original product inspired by the Dredd comics rather than a story adapted from them. That's not necessarily a bad thing, of course; the same comment could be made regarding Batman Returns. The one thing the movie got 100% right though was Dredd himself. Urban's performance was perfect and physically he looked identical to how Carlos Ezquerra and other artists drew the character in the early stories.

His rigid adherence to following judicial protocol, his tactical use of his Lawgiver and other resources, the way he persisted with Anderson's evaluation even when they were in deadly danger – those things were all spot-on with the Dredd from the comics.

But the plot was pretty weak. It was a generic 'Game of Death' style narrative we've seen a million times before (most recently in the acclaimed Indonesian action movie The Raid) and in many ways felt more like a series of set pieces strung together than a layered narrative. I didn't think any of the characters were particularly interesting either. As far as the soundtrack goes, I thought it was well suited to the tone. I just wish there'd been a memorable Dredd theme to get us fired up whenever he went into battle. I always thought something along the lines of Snake Plissken's theme would be perfect for Judge Dredd.

I also found the lack of humour disappointing. The Dredd comics have always had a satirical sense of irony about them. Not necessarily the Rob Schneider slapstick of the 1995 film, but something subtler. The new film had no humour in it whatsoever. So there was nothing to offset the extreme violence or alleviate the tension. That's one of the movie's greatest weaknesses, but arguably also one of its greatest strengths. It is absorbing, intense and unremittingly bleak. But then so is the average half-decent slasher movie. I wanted something a bit more layered and satirical from Dredd, and the film failed to deliver on that front. Funnily enough, the one movie which really nailed the tone of the 2000 AD comics was RoboCop (1987), and that wasn't even an official adaptation.

For all its faults, the 1995 film had a lot more going for it than people give it credit for. The budget allowed them to accurately translate elements from the comics into live action on a scale the new film simply couldn't match. Stallone was decent in the title role, at least for the first fifteen minutes or so. Unfortunately once he took the helmet off he stopped playing Dredd and started playing his own humanised interpretation of the character. But during those early scenes where he quells the block war he was damn near perfect.

The 1995 film also featured more references to the comics than the 2012 movie. The plot was a mixture of 'The Return of Rico' (Prog #30, September 1977), the 'Oz' storyline (Progs #545-570, 1987-1988), and even elements of 'The Judge Child' arc (Progs #156-181, 1980). The villains were all based on characters from the comics too: Rico Dredd, Judge Griffin, the Angel Gang, and even Hammerstein from the ABC Warriors.

By contrast the new movie doesn't have any villains from the comics. But again, that's not necessarily a bad thing. It all depends on your point of view. But I've read comments from people saying: "The new movie is better than the old one and it's much closer to the comics." Well, it may be a better film. But besides the depiction of Dredd himself, I don't see how it's any closer to the source material.

Overall, I thought it was a good, straightforward action movie. To date there have only been three movies adapted from 2000 AD comics:

•   Hardware (1990)
•   Judge Dredd (1995)
•   Dredd (2012)

This latest film probably is the best of the three, just not by the massive margin some people are claiming. I'd rate it a decent 3/5. I'd like to see a sequel – especially one featuring the Dark Judges – but I'm not sure how realistic that prospect is now. Alex Garland said the first film would have to make at least 50 million in the US alone if the sequels were to get the go ahead. But the movie only made 36 million globally, failing to recoup its 45 million dollar budget. So things don't look too good for the future of the series.

If anyone else enjoyed the recent Dredd film, I'd recommend you also check out Hardware (1990). It was adapted from a short story called 'Shok!' printed in the 1981 Judge Dredd Annual. The original comic was set in the same universe as the Dredd stories, though the movie doesn't make any reference to that for legal reasons. Nevertheless, it has a similarly ultraviolent, dystopian cyberpunk feel as the more recent film.

[HarryCanyon]

Best comic book movie of last year hands down, i saw it when it came here to the US in theaters 3 times and thought it kicked ass. I've been an American fan of Judge Dredd since i was 4 for 28 years when i collected the comics with my first issue and got hooked into them, i even dug the Batman crossovers as well.  The Stallone movie is a guilty pleasure but the new movie is kick-ass.

Oooh Hardware was a good sci-fi movie, i saw that in theaters when i was 8 and thought it was awesome.

[gordonblu]

I thought it was okay, but it was lacking that satirical edge I think Dredd needs, plus it felt like it suffered a little from TDK envy (trying to be more "gritty" and "realistic").
Sly's film might not be perfect, but I found it to be much more enjoyable.

[Paul (ral)]

I thought it was pretty damn good but a bigger budget would have helped it no end.

I did find Urban a little distracting though. It's almost as if he's trying too hard to be a character...much like his Bones in Star Trek. Seemed more like a characature rather than a natural performance.

[gordonblu]

Urban illustrated to me why (even though it was more accurate to the comics) Dredd SHOULD remove his helmet at some point, or at least have a visor that is a little less opaque, so we can connect with his eyes and therefore the character just a little more. Otherwise he was a chin with little expression. As for the performance being a caricature though, the script didn't really give him anywhere to go other than "Grrr, I'm a Judge".

[Azrael]

(These reviews/articles are "wasted" as mere forum posts..)

One of the prime reasons I liked it was that it reminded me of the first Robocop, and this is why I didn't mind the gritty, dirty and low budget Mega City. Even the Lawmasters looked like they were designed and made in the 80s! The film had a definite 80s vibe. The rejected score (not the one heard in the film) even sounds like Carpenter, Fiedel, Tangerine Dream etc and is more memorable.

As for the 1995 film - personally I like it (in a "Batman Forever" kind of way). I even watched it in a theater back then. The production design, the vehicles, the city etc. still hold up IMO., and the score by Alan Silvestri is great. Yes, the moment Sly takes off the helmet it becomes more like a Stallone action vehicle in a futuristic setting than a Dredd movie, and tone-wise it's maybe an "in name only" adaptation, but it's still entertaining and visually one of the decent 90s films based on comics, after Burton's Bat and The Crow.

I liked that the plot and the threat in the 2012 film was very "intimate" - just a day on the job for Dredd. No larger plot to destroy the city, the Justice system or anything, it was only a drug dealer and her thugs in a city block. Maybe the sequel, if they make one, will introduce more iconic villains and larger threats.

As for Urban - I loved his frown, I think it was intentionally funny.