GUEST POST: 'DREDD' REVIEW

I love Judge Dredd comics. But since Dredd comics weren't easily accessible for me growing up in small town America, I'm not as versed in all-things Dredd. So, I reached out to my buddies in the UK for a worthy 'DREDD' movie review. Here's what guest writer KINNON thought of the movie....

DREDD REVIEW
 

8 and 1/2 out of 10

After a brutal shortage of 2D showings (3D gives me killer migraines and I'm partially sighted so can't even appreciate it ) I was encouraged by friends that Dredd was indeed something I wouldn't once again weep at, after the Stallone debacle. I'd already seen the Raid this year, and was duly confident another action genre movie wouldn't come close, and was additionally burdened by a terrible fondness for the character going all the way back to his first appearance over 35 years ago. Still, the trailer had a real intensity about it, I knew Alex Garlands script would be respectful of the source material, and Anthony Dod Mantle knew his way around a HD RED one digital camera. I wanted it to be good, but if I'm being fair, the movie had a lot of expectation to overcome.

I shouldn't have worried. In a lot of the best possible ways, for all the comparisons / similarities between the 2 films, (Both productions had criticisms of plagiarism whereas it's actually a case of great minds think alike) they share the same exceptional DNA. Like the Raid, Dredd is an effort to get back to the real meat of action movie filmaking. Not to be mistaken with oversimplification, it's actually a precise condensing, refining, stripping down, getting leaner, functional....dangerous. It's a space where the characters are as clearly defined as the action, and the sole mission is to make the audience draw breath hard through clenched teeth. 

Everything embraces the core concept of the character of Dredd himself, absolutely what is required to get the job done, nothing more, nothing less, anything else is just a waste of his and the audiences time. The way Karl Urban moves through the movie, always forwards, perfect gun stance, cover to cover with absolute confidence. Dredd is one of those immediately iconic characters the audience knows is actually more of an irresistible force, this isn't John McClane, or Rama in the Raid, human, relatable. This is a character that engages you in awe of them, in the style of the old school western gunslingers, cold, hard men, with little to say, but mean more when they say it. This is Eastwood in Unforgiven, Lee Marvin in Point Blank, Bronson in Once upon a Time in the West. These are men you do not mess with. 

Urban doesn't just "get" the character he obliterates all memory of the Stallone misstep. No comedy growl or Batvoice (tm), he just goes with a classic almost low whisper. This is a man who doesn't need to shout because he won't say things twice, if he affords you the chance to listen, it's clear it'd be your mistake not to. To the audience, what happens in the movie is an incredible, exhilarating day to watch. it's a closed set, though external shots of the growing megacity are beautifully handled, this trapped environment evokes the very best of classic John Carpenter, and with Thirlby's Anderson it feels like Trial by fire...the joy of watching Urban, is that you're under no illusion that not only is it just another day to him, it's possibly only the first shift. This kind of character ownership rarely comes along.

Olivia Thirlby offers that easy emotional counterpoint to Urban, playing Anderson as the rookie with potential. She's not the flirty, worldly character of the comic, but her braveness, and moral quandaries with the severity of the decisions that come with being a judge, give the film it's human heart. The film handles her psychic abilities in fascinating and interesting ways, including a really memorable exchange with Wood Harris, that both actors nail. She's superb to watch, and the pairing with her and Urban works on all levels, comedy, drama, and especially combat. Watching the 2 of them go up against level after level of armed combatants you honestly start to feel sorry for the bad guys. The gunplay is this side of brutally realistic, with that slow motion concept passed down from Peckinpah to Woo, given even more new life here. In places the violence skirts beauty, before making you wince again. 

All in all for a movie under 50 mill it's incredibly impressive looking.

For such a great central 2 man concept, it does have the odd flaw, the location itself, is not allowed to become a character in it's own right, and the transition of travel around and up isn't too clear. Ma-Ma is played beautifully by Lena Headey considering what she has to use, but she seems a bit flat detail wise, there seemed a moment where they could've almost toyed with the audiences potential sympathies for her, or opened up why she's become the monster she has, but she remains simply scarred and vicious. Wood Harris from The Wire, is a great actor, and when he's given chances here he just shines in exchanges with both Urban and Thirlby, but alas for lot of scenes he's just being dragged around in handcuffs, a bit of a missed chance to work more of that verbal pressure on them. Heroes are only ever as good as their bad guys, and while there's some great notes, it's not sustained enough to really elevate things up.

Also, being a bit picky the swearing really threw me, i know it's something only a fan would get, but hearing sand f bombs in the Dredd universe is weird, what happened to all the "Drokks", and Stumms". Minor quibble. 

All that however is something that could easily be remedied in sequels, the comic stories contain dozens of great characters that would eat up the screen and enhance what Thirlby and Urban and Garland already bring to the table. 

All in all ,considering what we've had in the past and considering what we got, I'm just glad there's folks who wanted to stay true to the character, refuse to compromise their 18 certificate for bums on seats, and clearly had a huge amount of love for the stories. So hats off lovely people, my reservations about costumes, bikes, megacity, blocks, lawgivers, helmets, and the script were completely unwarranted, you had it all in hand. Thanks for a great night out, and a Hi-EX, armour piercing, incendiary and stunning movie. Where are we going next? Dark Judges? Chopper? America? Cursed Earth? I can't wait to find out. 8¬)