Dredd (2012)

Dredd (2012)

8/10

Starring

Karl Urban

Olivia Thirlby

Wood Harris

Lena Headey

Directed by Pete Travis

When a movie depicts a guy running and moving around like terminator, I get turned off, but Dredd and his partner made this terminator and compardre get together worth seeing and admiring.The movie gets off strong, dark and gritty, it maintains this feel from start to finish with performance worth seeing again.

Judge Dredd has been a comic icon for a long time, the fictional character’s comic strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running, since 1977.

Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner. Dredd and his fellow Judges are empowered to arrest, sentence, and even execute criminals on the spot. IGN ranked him 35th in their Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.

The 1995 adaptation of the movie was named Judge Dredd and it earned a Golden Raspberry Award nomination for Sylvester Stallone as Worst Actor.

This 2012 remake, is not related to its 1995 release, and it was shot in South Africa over a period of 13 weeks. Written and produced by Alex Garland who I remember from the movies 28 Days Later (2002), Dredd is a movie created for the action freaks, with a good enough story set to entertain.
Its plot is engaging, solid and straight forward, which I have to give a salute to Garland for that, making the movie easy to follow and appreciate. 

 

The movie plot is about the future America. Mega City One – is a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The Judges are feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge who has to wipe the city of a scourge which is a dangerous drug called "Slo-Mo". Slo-Mo gives users the ability to experience reality at a fraction of its normal speed.

Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie mutant with powerful psychic abilities.

A crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture - a 200 storey vertical slum controlled by ex-prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey). She has fortified her slum with enough weapons for defence and turned her place to a fortress.

Now Dredd and his partner must stop her and stop the drug from flowing about the city. What drags the two to this den of Ma-Ma? She wanted to set an example, she skinned three people and dropped them from the top of the high-rise she controls.
 

 Pete Travis the director (The Jury) to me did a fine job and as most of the film location was a 200 story building, the cinematography was well done to not create a form of claustrophobia. The actors also put in their all to make the movie memorable. Also, salut to Travis in making sure we do not get lost in the subplots.

Dredd was played by Karl Urban, who was wonderful in the movie RED, he was also in Lord of the rings: The Return of the king, the Bourne Supremacy, Doom and Priest.

You should take the time to see this movie, and like me get a second look to really appreciate what this movie has to offer.

It is sad that this movie did not make enough in the box office for us to get a sequel. As of now, no plans have been put in place for one, but we are all hopping that the streaming service providers will do something, we have been holding on since 2012, we can hold on longer. I do hope this comes to pass as true one day.