Movie Review: "Dredd 3D"
If you’re not familiar with Judge Dredd, he’s one of Britain’s best known comic book heroes and is 2000AD’s most recognisable character. He’s been going since 1977, when he was created by British comicbook legend John Wagner and Spanish comicbook legend Carlos Ezquerra, and is still going strong with his own magazine called “Dredd Megazine” as well as still making regular appearances in the "2000AD" anthology comic. (very minor SPOILERS ahead!)
Karl Urban is Judge Dredd
In 1995 there was a film that didn’t do so well. It failed at the American Box Office and only did a little better overseas. But most people generally like the film, considering it to be a fun late night action flick. I am included here. It had its problems of course: stupid sidekick, bad acting and failure to understand the source material, it's political themes and the dark brutality of Dredd. But this year, we get a Dredd film made by people who know what they’re doing! DREDD 3D is set in Mega-City One, which is a good start since that’s where it’s supposed to be set! It’s going well, so far, right? Mega-City One looks like it should; it’s a mix between a ruined older world (or regular modern world, to us) and huge, towering structures built to hold an ever increasing population. And it just keeps getting better. 
We’re introduced to Dredd more or less straight away. He’s on his motor bike, chasing a bunch of bad guys driving a van in a very unsafe fashion. They’re high on a new drug called Slow-Mo. This drug makes the brain feel like time is running at 1% its normal speed. Which means they should have seen the civilian coming. But no, they hit him. This pissed Dredd off, naturally, increasing their sentence to death. Dredd forces the van off the road and chases the thugs that escaped the crash through a shopping mall. And yeah, he catches up. In fact, it’s here that we’re shown that this won’t be a light hearted film when Dredd shoots a hostage taking bad guy in the mouth with an incendiary bullet, cooking his head from the inside out. Shortly after we’re introduced to Judge Anderson, a mutant psychic and Dredd’s new partner (Anderson has her own solo stories from 2000AD and some of the best ones were written by Alan Grant). Needless to say, he’s not happy with being saddled with a rookie, no matter how cool psychic powers are. 
Anderson & Dredd
After that, They arrive on the scene of a triple homicide in one of those towering buildings I mentioned. Three men have been skinned and thrown off of a balcony! It’s so cool! I mean messed up. It’s... not cool. When our heroes take a suspect who would be able to blow the entire Slow-Mo operation and incriminate Ma-Ma, the film’s baddie, she traps the judges and the suspect in the building, ordering her minions to kill the judges and anyone who tries to help. What happens next? What do you think happens next?!? Violence! Fire! Bullets! Swearing! Psychic powers!!! The plot is pretty predictable with no surprises but this, in my opinion, is a good thing. The trailers promise a violent action film based on a violent action comic and that’s what it delivers. It is missing a lot of the political themes but this can be forgiven because it’s still very true to the source material. It keeps the brutality and Dredd is still the faceless authority figure. Fans will be happy to know that Dredd never takes off his helmet! But judging the film on its own merits, forgetting about the comic book, it’s still a great film. Karl Urban plays a fantastic Dredd and delivers his lines with confidence and malice while Olivia Thirlby plays the more “human” character, bringing just enough emotion to make the film more interesting while not being annoying. 
Lena Headey as Ma-Ma
The villain is fantastic. You may recognise Lena Headey as Queen Cersei in Game of Thrones and we all hate her in that, right? She adds evil to her role without any effort, creating a very menacing character. The film looks and sounds like a dystopian sci fi film and captures the “end of the word/trying to survive in the wastes” feel that you’d expect. It’s easy to understand why the people of Mega-City One would misbehave the way they do with the cursed earth outside and the claustrophobia inside the protective walls. The slow motion scenes are incredibly beautiful. The sparkling visuals are a pleasant contrast to the rest of the films dirt and grit. One slow motion in particular stands out: Near the beginning, Dredd and Anderson bust a room full of junkies. We’re shown this from the slow motion point of view of the junkies meaning we get to see bullets tearing through flesh at 1% of time’s normal speed. We get to see a bullet tear through one man’s cheek, exposing broken and bloodied teeth and flesh. These slow motion scenes are also the only time the 3D element comes in. This is my first 3D movie and I was kind of hoping to be pleasantly surprised but my scepticism has only been proven right. If this is how 3D is, it’s not worth it. All this comes together to bring you a fantastic, brutal action flick that is true to the source material and aimed at adults. It’s the way it should be and I hope Pete Travis can direct the sequels as expertly as he did this one. So, go see the drokking film!!! 
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