Dredd

So after watching too much My Little Pony, I need something a little more gritty and a little more violent.

I almost watched Expendables 2 but I think I'll save that for a new segment I'm starting with my roommate, Blood and Gore Sundays. It started with Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

So I decided to watch Dredd.

Dredd is the new adaptation of the comic book series "Judge Dredd".

In 1995, Sylvester Stallone did a version of the Judge Dredd story. It was not that great of a movie. Maybe I'll review that one day but for now I'm looking at the 2012 version. They were very clear that this movie not a reboot but instead a different take on the comic... so its a reboot.

I haven't read the comic so I don't know how accurate or how good of an adaptation this movie is. I'll be reviewing this as just a movie. A comic book movie but a movie nonetheless with no allusions to the comic.

The movie stars Karl Urban as Judge Dredd. He gives an introduction at the beginning saying that the United States is now a crime ridden wasteland. Justice is dealt the Department of Justice in the form of Super cops called Judges. They don't really waste time with courts, they just sentence the perps, bring them in to prison or kill them there on the spot. I'm guessing that Dredd is the best Judge of them all but to be honest, I can't really tell the difference between Dredd and other judges, who come in later in the movie.

I mean look at these guys? Can you tell which one is Karl Urban... or if Karl Urban is even there? No.

Judge Dredd is almost like Robocop. He's only concerned about the law and that it is carried out. There's little to no emotion given in this performance, which makes sense for the character but it gives a kind of boring performance.

There is no backstory given about Dredd and there's very little that can destroy  his conviction, if anything at all.

The rest of the characters on the other hand are much better done.

Olivia Thirlby plays Judge Cassandra Anderson who is a rookie and is being assessed by Dredd so that she can become a full fledged judge.

She's definitely has more of a personality then Dredd and she's definitely got more of a soul. She wants to join the Judges because she grew up in the impoverished neighborhoods the judges usually patrol. She wants to do some good in the world and the judges seem to be the route she wants to take.

Oh... and she's psychic.

Its awesome and really comes in handy for the character but there is little to no explanation as to why she's psychic or how she got that ability. She's just psychic.

And that's another thing about this movie. Its overly simple.

Dredd and Anderson are called in to investigate a triple murder in a giant apartment complex. They soon figure out that this complex is run by a druglord named Ma-Ma. (Played by Lena Headley)

 I can tell they wanted to channel Siri from Game of Thrones in this performance and Lena Headley does a really good job and just playing a stone cold bitch. One that cannot be reasoned with, she's just freakin insane.

The culprit of the triple murder is an officer of Headley's and Dredd captures him. Before they can get him out and interrogate him, Headley shuts the entire complex down.

The rest of the movie is Dredd and Anderson trying to survive in Headley's fun house. Shooting their way through countless bad guys.

Like I said, incredibly straight forward. There's not much of a twist, Lena Headley's the bad guy, Dredd is going to stop at nothing until the bad guy is dead. Thirlsby is the one with the most internal conflict, dealing with the cold hard fact of "THE LAW" and her optimistic view of helping people.

So what are the good things of the movie?

The movie is incredibly visual... for the first hour.

Headley's gang is the main distributor of a narcotic that makes the user feel as though time is slowed down incredibly. The cinematography when people were observing from the drug was really good.

There's a scene where Dredd and Anderson breach a room and kill a bunch of bad guys on the drug. Almost the entire fight scene is filmed in slow motion and bullets are flying into people's cheeks, tearing flesh open, it was a really artistic gore which you don't see too often. Then as the movie went on, the visuals died down a little bit. Bad guys stopped taking drugs and the incredible visuals were toned down a lot until the end. Overall, the visuals of the movie were really good.

Another really good part of the movie was Olivia Thirlsby just in general. Fun fact: she played Juno's annoying friend in Juno. When I started the movie I knew I recognized her but it wasn't until I looked her up that I knew what she was from. This role is definitely a change from that one.

But since she's just randomly psychic, she has a couple moments where she's using her psychic powers and those scenes are just awesome.

Furthermore, she's pretty attractive.

She's really an unknown and really has recognition from being the quirky friend to the main character in a young adult movie.

This kind of sounds like a familiar case.

Remember when Anna Kendrick was just Bella's cute friend from Twilight? I'm predicting Thirlsby is going to have a similar uprising.

Now what's wrong with this movie?

The main character is really boring. I've heard different reactions to this movie and some of the people that really liked it thought it was a dark and fascinating performance, similar to that of Christian Bale as Batman.

Where the analogy falls apart is, imagine Christian Bale doing all the Batman movies, never taking the bat cowl off. Always talking in that raspy annoying as hell voice and showing no emotions.

It would be no different that that of Karl Urban playing Dredd. The guy doesn't take off that stupid looking helmet and he's always got that stupid grimace on his face. It looks like he just ate a bunch of vegetables he didn't like.

The other problem is the entire premise of the movie.

I'll give it credit, its a unique concept. It kind of reminded me of Training Day.

The premise of Training Day was just Ethan Hawke and Denzil Washington over the course of one day. Denzil Washington is a vice detective who is bringing Ethan Hawke along for a ride along.

Over the course of the day, Washington and Hawke find themselves in more and more dangerous circumstances. It finally builds up to the cumlinating event. The build up is brilliant.

Dredd... the build up is alright.

The movie is visually stimulating that I think the best, greatest action sequence of the movie was in the beginning with the scene where all the bad guys were on drugs.

I didn't think the build up of the movie was really that great.

And finally, as I've mentioned before, the movie was just simple. If they leave it as a standalone movie I think I'd be okay with this movie just for the action and Olivia Thirlby. But knowing Hollywood these days, I find it incredibly unlikely that they will keep this movie as a standalone and try and make more money off this idea.

Overall, Dredd was a pretty mindless action movie. Good visuals, Olivia Thirlby, and some decent action versus an overly simple its stupid story, and a boring protagonist. You decide what you feel is more important.

I had fun watching Dredd, it doesn't mean that its good. Again, if you're looking for a mindless action flick, or your a fan of Judge Dredd comics, you should try this movie out. Otherwise its probably one you can skip.

So have you seen Dredd? What did you think of it? Comment and discuss below, let me know what you think.

I'll leave you with this. While the movie was complete shit, a little bit of credit needs to be given to the 1995 Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd. He is THE LAW!