Dredd (2012)
In the future, America is a dystopian wasteland. The latest scourge is Ma-Ma, a prostitute-turned-drug pusher with a dangerous new drug and aims to take over the city. The only possibility of stopping her is an elite group of urban police called Judges, who combine the duties of judge, jury and executioner to deliver a brutal brand of swift justice. But even the top-ranking Judge, Dredd, discovers that taking down Ma-Ma isn’t as easy as it seems in this explosive adaptation of the hugely popular comic series.
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This is one of thr best action movies coming from the USA in a long long time...
I prefer this look of dredd over the 1995 version of dredd.
Mega City One; an unbroken concrete landscape. Population 800,000,000
“Twelve serious crimes reported every minute. Seventeen thousand per day. We can respond to around six percent."
Dredd (Karl Urban) is a Judge, a law enforcement officer with the Hall of Justice; each highly trained, physically, tactically and morally. Judge, jury, and when dictated, executioner. They are the law.
Dredd is asked evaluate Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a subpar graduate with a gift, as to her potential as a Judge. Told 1 in 5 don’t survive the first day, Dredd gives Anderson the choice of which call they respond to. The call takes them to Peach Trees, a 200 storey mega block with 75,000 residents, and on to Ma-Ma’s (Lena Headey) turf.
Ma-Ma, a psychotic prostitute turned drug lord, is producing a new and highly addictive drug which she sees as her ticket to expansion throughout Mega City One. The arrival of the Judges causes far reaching problems and she orders the hallways cleared and for them to be hunted down and executed.
In late 2010 Pete Travis was announced as the director on Dredd and my heart sank; his 2008 film Vantage Point is a disjointed and tedious mess. Thankfully Travis really has a grip on the tight script penned by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) and delivers a solid film filled with explosive action and over the top ultra-violence. Garland's script deftly handles the material, grounding it and never gets bogged down in exposition.
Karl Urban, channeling a young Clint Eastwood, delivers an unwavering performance as Dredd; stoic and relentless. Judge Anderson is idealistic and determined and Olivia Thirlby brings a strength to the role that would have been diminished without it.
As the villain Ma-Ma, Lena Headey is patchy at times. A disappointing weak delivery of an order to "Fire!" spoilt the beginning of one of the most exciting firefights of recent memory. A minor performance from Domhnall Gleeson as Ma-Ma's pasty tech guy is noteworthy.
Oscar winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, Antichrist) brings the gritty reality of Peach Trees to the screen with a deep focus that accentuate the long corridors and the height of 200 storeys. Grain persists throughout the hallway scenes adding to the grit and grime. Shot natively in 3D, it is among the best of late; corridors feel long, rooms confined and the slow motion effects of being under the influence of the drug looks gorgeous with its vibrant palette.
Dredd is a visually arresting thrill with solid performances and a level of violence that almost borders comical.
Highly recommended.
“Twelve serious crimes reported every minute. Seventeen thousand per day. We can respond to around six percent."
Dredd (Karl Urban) is a Judge, a law enforcement officer with the Hall of Justice; each highly trained, physically, tactically and morally. Judge, jury, and when dictated, executioner. They are the law.
Dredd is asked evaluate Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a subpar graduate with a gift, as to her potential as a Judge. Told 1 in 5 don’t survive the first day, Dredd gives Anderson the choice of which call they respond to. The call takes them to Peach Trees, a 200 storey mega block with 75,000 residents, and on to Ma-Ma’s (Lena Headey) turf.
Ma-Ma, a psychotic prostitute turned drug lord, is producing a new and highly addictive drug which she sees as her ticket to expansion throughout Mega City One. The arrival of the Judges causes far reaching problems and she orders the hallways cleared and for them to be hunted down and executed.
In late 2010 Pete Travis was announced as the director on Dredd and my heart sank; his 2008 film Vantage Point is a disjointed and tedious mess. Thankfully Travis really has a grip on the tight script penned by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine) and delivers a solid film filled with explosive action and over the top ultra-violence. Garland's script deftly handles the material, grounding it and never gets bogged down in exposition.
Karl Urban, channeling a young Clint Eastwood, delivers an unwavering performance as Dredd; stoic and relentless. Judge Anderson is idealistic and determined and Olivia Thirlby brings a strength to the role that would have been diminished without it.
As the villain Ma-Ma, Lena Headey is patchy at times. A disappointing weak delivery of an order to "Fire!" spoilt the beginning of one of the most exciting firefights of recent memory. A minor performance from Domhnall Gleeson as Ma-Ma's pasty tech guy is noteworthy.
Oscar winning cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle (127 Hours, Slumdog Millionaire, Antichrist) brings the gritty reality of Peach Trees to the screen with a deep focus that accentuate the long corridors and the height of 200 storeys. Grain persists throughout the hallway scenes adding to the grit and grime. Shot natively in 3D, it is among the best of late; corridors feel long, rooms confined and the slow motion effects of being under the influence of the drug looks gorgeous with its vibrant palette.
Dredd is a visually arresting thrill with solid performances and a level of violence that almost borders comical.
Highly recommended.
more Recently added reviews & shouts
On one hand i liked the movie. It created great atmosphere, the story and world are simple yet interesting. I love the play by Lena Headey (Ma-Ma), i think that she is the strong point of the movie. Conceptually, I really enjoyed the implementation of telepathy and the use of it by Cassandra Anderson (played by Olivia Thirlby). The scene where is goes to into Kay's head (Wood Harris) and messes with him just made me love her :).
On other hand, what i really did not like, were the costumes (e.i. Judge Dredd was comical with his helmet, or the Judge's motorcycles). I think that for a movie in made in 2012 they looked like from cheap sfi-fi movies in 80's or 90's. Finally, what made the movie, for me, to go down several points, was the scene with two (or three?) Gatling gun's and Judge Dredd running from their fire like for 5 minutes, and they firing thousands and thousands of rounds, destroying half of Megablock floor, killing a lot of civilians around Dredd, but never hitting him. That was just ludicrousness and i hate scenes like that.
This might be just for me, otherwise i would bump the rating to 7 and if you are a fan of Dredd comis (I have never read it) add another point to it.
On other hand, what i really did not like, were the costumes (e.i. Judge Dredd was comical with his helmet, or the Judge's motorcycles). I think that for a movie in made in 2012 they looked like from cheap sfi-fi movies in 80's or 90's. Finally, what made the movie, for me, to go down several points, was the scene with two (or three?) Gatling gun's and Judge Dredd running from their fire like for 5 minutes, and they firing thousands and thousands of rounds, destroying half of Megablock floor, killing a lot of civilians around Dredd, but never hitting him. That was just ludicrousness and i hate scenes like that.
This might be just for me, otherwise i would bump the rating to 7 and if you are a fan of Dredd comis (I have never read it) add another point to it.
Dark strange action movie. Probably need to be a previous Judge Dredd fan to enjoy.
I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. The cinematography was exceptional and the atmosphere created around a quite single plot was very engaging. Liked the performances of both protagonists, amd the vilain (Ma-Ma). All in all a very entartaining action movie. Certainly closer to the Dredd universe than the 1995 stalone flop.
8/10
8/10
Wow, this film was GREAT! I'm sad it took me so long to get round to watching it.
Disheartening to hear that it didn't make much money and that a squeal likely wont happen.
Disheartening to hear that it didn't make much money and that a squeal likely wont happen.
Loved it! doesn't take a lot of complicated plots to make a great action movie ;-)
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