Dredd (2012)
A Movie Review by Dave Randal
Genre: Action | CrimeCast: Karl Urban, Rachel Wood, Olivia Thirlby,Director: Pete TravisWriters: John Wagner and Carloz Ezquerra(characters), Alex Garland(screenplay)Studios: DNA Films, IM Global, Reliance EntertainmentDistributed by: Entertainment Film Distributors, LionsgateRelease Date: September 7, 2012Plot: In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.
I was curious when I first heard that they were creating a new Dredd movie. I wasn't all that impressed by the Sylvester Stallone version from the mid-'90s. Once I saw the preview it was still really hard to tell if it would be any good. My first opinion of the trailer was that it looked cool and violent, but if there is no story then it will be very mediocre. It turns out that it's not a bad movie at all.
Dredd is a very dark and violent adaption of the infamous comic book character. The movie is about police officers having the power as judge, jury, and executioner in a dark futuristic and dystopian city. Judge Dredd is monitoring a female Judge trainee named Anderson when they get called over to investigate a murder in a giant 200 story building that is basically a ghetto and somewhere Judges rarely go to. Once inside the psycho female drug lord named Ma-Ma who controls the building locks them in and her gang tries to kill them.
The movie is very bleak, especially when compared to the 1995 Stallone movie Judge Dredd. There isn't a lot to the story, but I really liked it. It was very violent and stylishly shot. It basically had everything I would want from a modern day exploitation cop movie. One small complaint I have is that they don't really tell the back story of Dredd. All you really know about him is that he is a badass. Throughout the movie he never even takes off his helmet which I thought was an interesting and somewhat brave decision by the filmmakers.
Karl Urban plays Dredd really well although it really is just your basic rough'em up cop character. After seeing him in this I could easily see him in a lot more action movies. I also liked Lena Headey as the drug lord Ma-Ma. I think it is cool that they ditched the cliche of having some Christopher Walken look-a-like as the drug lord and made the drug lord an ex-prostitute. Actress Olivia Thirlby plays Dredd's protege Anderson and also does a pretty decent job. You might remember her as playing the best friend Leah in the movie Juno (2007).
A lot of people are comparing this movie to The Raid: Redemption (2012) which came out quite a few months before this. There are a lot of similarities, namely the idea of a drug lord controlling a giant apartment building, but the truth is Dredd was actually written more than two years ago and was actually filmed before The Raid: Redemption. The Dredd script actually leaked back in 2010 and I've heard that it had pretty much the same plot. I think it is possible that the people who made The Raid ripped off the leaked script, but there really isn't any proof of that other than the fact that they are somewhat similar.
I really enjoyed watching this movie and thought the writer and director did a great job. It pretty much is just an exploitation futuristic dystopian B-Movie but it was made very carefully with a lot of detail. I'm really hoping they make a sequel and get into the back story of the Dredd character.
Dave Randal's Rating-
Thumbs Up
Learn the Randal Rating System
Dave Randal's Star Rating- ★★★★(4) out of ★★★★★(5)
Dredd is a very dark and violent adaption of the infamous comic book character. The movie is about police officers having the power as judge, jury, and executioner in a dark futuristic and dystopian city. Judge Dredd is monitoring a female Judge trainee named Anderson when they get called over to investigate a murder in a giant 200 story building that is basically a ghetto and somewhere Judges rarely go to. Once inside the psycho female drug lord named Ma-Ma who controls the building locks them in and her gang tries to kill them.
The movie is very bleak, especially when compared to the 1995 Stallone movie Judge Dredd. There isn't a lot to the story, but I really liked it. It was very violent and stylishly shot. It basically had everything I would want from a modern day exploitation cop movie. One small complaint I have is that they don't really tell the back story of Dredd. All you really know about him is that he is a badass. Throughout the movie he never even takes off his helmet which I thought was an interesting and somewhat brave decision by the filmmakers.
Karl Urban plays Dredd really well although it really is just your basic rough'em up cop character. After seeing him in this I could easily see him in a lot more action movies. I also liked Lena Headey as the drug lord Ma-Ma. I think it is cool that they ditched the cliche of having some Christopher Walken look-a-like as the drug lord and made the drug lord an ex-prostitute. Actress Olivia Thirlby plays Dredd's protege Anderson and also does a pretty decent job. You might remember her as playing the best friend Leah in the movie Juno (2007).
A lot of people are comparing this movie to The Raid: Redemption (2012) which came out quite a few months before this. There are a lot of similarities, namely the idea of a drug lord controlling a giant apartment building, but the truth is Dredd was actually written more than two years ago and was actually filmed before The Raid: Redemption. The Dredd script actually leaked back in 2010 and I've heard that it had pretty much the same plot. I think it is possible that the people who made The Raid ripped off the leaked script, but there really isn't any proof of that other than the fact that they are somewhat similar.
I really enjoyed watching this movie and thought the writer and director did a great job. It pretty much is just an exploitation futuristic dystopian B-Movie but it was made very carefully with a lot of detail. I'm really hoping they make a sequel and get into the back story of the Dredd character.
Dave Randal's Rating-
Thumbs UpLearn the Randal Rating System
Dave Randal's Star Rating- ★★★★(4) out of ★★★★★(5)
No comments:
Post a Comment