Dredd (2012)

17 years ago, fans of Judge Dredd were less than thrilled with the first big screen outing of one of 2000AD’s most iconic characters. The Danny Cannon directed film, had committed several cardinal sins, such as the oft cited ‘removal of the helmet’ by it’s unsuitable star, Sylvester Stallone, and the injection of ‘comic relief’ in the shape of Rob Schneider (of all people).  Fast forward to the release of Dredd and the question on many people’s minds now was, “are we set for more disappointment?”

This new interpretation, directed by Pete Travis (Endgame), with a script by Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later) stars Karl Urban (Star Trek, LoTR, Xena) as Judge Dredd, following him through the course of a day, as he evaluates a new recruit, Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby – Juno).

In the future, America is now a desolate wasteland, with a vast city, Mega City One, lying on the East coast, where most of the inhabitants live in huge tower blocks.  The bulk of the story takes place in the ‘Peach Trees’ block, a particularly lawless slum controlled by the ‘Ma-Ma gang’, led by Madeline Madrigal, aka ‘Ma-Ma’, (Lena Headey – Game of Thrones, T:TSCC, 300).  Judge Dredd and Anderson investigate a triple murder in the block and discover information about the new drug ‘Slo-Mo’, leading to them raiding a drug den, where they arrest ‘Kay’ (Wood Harris – The Wire).  Following the raid, ‘Ma-Ma’ locks down the block, trapping Dredd and Anderson inside, and orders that they must be killed…

Right from the start, it is clear that we’re not in the same territory as the previous Danny Cannon version of Dredd, with a much darker tone and in many ways, the filmmakers have got it right.  Karl Urban has a commanding presence which gives Dredd the much needed serious edge previously lacking, and he manages to retain the helmet throughout; a fact many viewers will be happy about I am sure.  Throughout, he is portrayed as a ‘no nonsense’ man of law, as he should, with a rigid sense of judgement, giving the character the right feel, but there are still some compassionate or lenient decisions, which seemed slightly incorrect; personally I think the hard, unforgiving aspect of the character could have been taken further, as I’ve always felt that the Judges were even more ruthless, almost with a sense of menace in the comic.  Complementing Urban’s Dredd, Olivia Thirlby supplies the human element (ironic given her characters mutant status), while Lena Headey’s villain is unfortunately written as a one note character, with a lack of depth making the character an uninteresting opponent.

The look and feel of Mega City One is done well, with good costume, prop and set design, but with one exception: the Lawmaster.  The new bike design is more of a sports bike, rather than the iconic low slung Lawmaster, and I really missed the classic bike.  I’m not sure why this decision was taken, but this is really just a minor quibble, as some nice touches for the fans are evident throughout the film, such as the ‘Chopper’ graffiti.

Plot wise, there are some things which are problematic: one is ‘Slo-mo’, the new drug, the effect of which seems almost like a plot contrivance to aid in adding some visual spectacle by permitting several close up slow motion shots, as opposed to being key to the story.  Another is the undeniable similarity, albeit unintentional, to the plot of Gareth Evans film ‘The Raid’.  The basic outline of both films is almost identical and makes separating them very difficult once seen and the comparison between the two definitely impacts on the effectiveness of Dredd.  Where ‘The Raid’ has varied, thrilling and inventive set pieces, Dredd has effective, but less fulfilling sequences; many times in Dredd it just resorts to a hail of gunfire, which is a shame as so much more could have been done, and it makes Dredd seem more of a low-rent gore fest than it is.

With much of the story taking place in a sealed block, it is a shame that more of Mega City One couldn’t have been explored, as the source material has sufficient depth to allow for far greater inventiveness and scope, but there is still much to admire here. This version of Judge Dredd is so much closer to the comic, than before and the tone more in keeping with the characters world, that it definitely feels like 3 steps forward; It is only really the plot and the nagging similarity, yet better execution of The Raid that makes Dredd take that one step backward.  Having said all of that, 17 years on from the Stallone incarnation, we can still count that as two steps forward.

Related posts: