by Michael Favila, Reporter

Unlike a lot of people, I didn’t have negative feelings about the Sylvester Stallone vehicle Judge Dredd. I hadn’t read the comics and just took it as simply a futuristic cop movie. That being said, I haven’t watched again since it was in theaters.  Dredd writer Alex Garland wrote one of my favorite novels, The Beach, which was later adapted into a movie by Danny Boyle.   In this case, Garland is also the producer.  It’s obvious that he picked up a few stylistic things from working on 28 Days Later.  Would this reboot be able to take the source material into a new direction?

Dredd takes place in the future, where a nuclear war has decimated the planet and all the remaining inhabitants live in a sprawling walled compound called Mega-City One, which stretches from Boston to Washington.  Order is dispensed by Judges, lawmen who are empowered to act as judge, jury and executioner for its population.  Innocents are often mowed down without reason.  Judge Dredd is played by Karl Urban, grumbling deeply here not unlike Bale’s Batman.  His cadence and manner is a perfect choice for Judge Dredd. Urban does a commendable job of portraying the character, even with with his trademark helmet on the whole movie.

Olivia Thirlby (Juno) plays a rookie that Dredd takes under his wing, due in no small part to the fact that she is a powerful psychic. Her powers provide some of the only humor in the movie.  Her character is a breath of fresh air in an otherwise pretty dark story. Her character encounters the darkness but is not enveloped by it.  Even her hair is brighter than the rest of the movie’s palette.  Ma-Ma, played by the excellent Lena Headey, is the head of the bad guys here, and was really scary and convincing.  She is in charge of a growing cartel distributing Slo Mo, a drug that causes the abuser to experience life in super slow motion.

Dredd is a decidedly grittier take than the original movie, and it’s definitely not squeamish about displaying blood.  Maybe the future has caught up, or maybe we’ve been prepped by Minority Report, but Mega-City One totally seems like its a realistic enough outcome.  I think the set designers and special effects team did an excellent job dressing up South Africa and augmenting it with the mega buildings to merge the dystopia with the reality.  If you look hard enough, you can even see the Empire State building still standing.

Special Features

This isn’t a special feature per se, but I’m very impressed that they managed to fit both 3D and BD versions onto one disc, in addition to the Digital Copy. It’s a total 180 from the Disney style, where they have a gazillion discs for the same movie.  Honestly, I was getting really tired of managing multiple wasteful discs, so I count this as a bonus.

The main featurette focuses on the character Dredd himself, mostly from a comic origin standpoint.  It’s a very strong primer for the uninitiated.  There are also featurettes on the city design and special effects.  I was really hoping for a casting piece, just to see how they came upon such strong players for the movie, but I’m going to have to find that online somewhere.   The motion comic prequel focused on Ma-Ma’s origin.   It’s short, but somewhat enlightening on what motivated her to rise to the top.  No commentary is included.

Audio & Video

The main look of the movie is an overexposed, oversaturated look.  It’s very stylish and gives Dredd a distinct look, but it gets to be a little grating after an hour. That being said, the video is represented well, the neon colors of the Slo-Mo sequences mesh well against the starkness of Peach Trees.  The audio has a pretty good dynamic range, going from quieter slow moments to machine gun craziness. I appreciate that they didn’t force me to listen to a  Bad Boys 2 intensity soundtrack all the time.  I can’t give the 3D a proper review, as my viewing setup does not support it. In the special features, the cinematographer stated that he spent more time on close ups of the actor’s faces than actual 3D stunting. From my perspective. this was a solid choice, and kept the movie from devolving into that cheesy B-movie many 3D movies often do.

Overall

Dredd as a movie hits all the basics that a sci-fi blockbuster should. It’s got great effects, a workable plot, better than necessary acting and an overall immersive world. Urban and Thirlby are excellent in their roles as mentor and student, and Lena Headey always kicks it out of the park in whatever she’s doing. However,  Dredd is a little low on character development, especially for our protagonist Dredd.  There are little allusions to more going on beneath the surface (Garland has talked about a possible trilogy), but they aren’t explored in this film.  Maybe the standard thinking now is that this subject is too much to cover in one film, but when you can’t connect to the characters, it makes it very difficult to want another one.  I do recognize that the characters have potential, especially as portrayed by these specific actors.  I would be willing to watch a Dredd 2 if it came out, but Dredd taken by itself is a stunning, if not imperfect, piece.

Rating:
ComicsOnline.com gives Dredd 3.5 out of 5 Slo-Mo hits!

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