Directed by:
Pete TravisScreenplay:
Alex GarlandCinematography:
Anthony Dod MantleComposer:
Paul Leonard-MorganCast:
Karl Urban, Lena Headey, Olivia Thirlby, Langley Kirkwood, Warrick Grier, Jason Cope, Domhnall Gleeson, Wood Harris, Scott Sparrow, Deobia Oparei, Karl Thaning (more)VOD (3)
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The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One - a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called “Judges” who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge - a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of “Slo-Mo” experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed. During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighbourhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture - a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan’s inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound’s control centre and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival. (Entertainment in Video)
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Reviews (11)
From start to finish, a sough-after bit of nonsense that unwittingly joins hands with its inept predecessor from the 90s. It is all the more amusing that it strives so hard not to be such an unnecessary addition. And yet Karl Urban goes unused, the attractive Olivia Thirlby has a thankless role as a talented rookie, Lena Headey as the main attraction never steps out of the box of the anonymous antagonist, and the brutal action becomes boring after the third shootout. I don't understand what happened to Alex Garland's creative talent, which he obviously possesses in spades. Most of the time Dredd only hints at its world, showcasing only a few fragments and instead giving far more space to blatantly inaccessible scenes, and slow-motion shots that are, forgive me, plain stupid (without which this movie would have lasted no more than a weak hour).
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Bloodbath. It really reminded me of The Raid, but without the martial arts. Instead we got neat shooters with all the ammo modifications imaginable (a little and big boy’s dream) and classic fisticuffs... right down somebody’s throat. Urban makes a perfect Dredd, better than Sly in reeling off great lines, commanding greater respect. Lena Headey as Ma-Ma is a decent opponent and the new girl makes for pleasant viewing. Slo-mo was in charge of the visually powerful scenes (evidently low-budget) and the 3D might have looked good if only those bastard distributors had put it on general release. If it doesn’t earn, it doesn’t earn. More bodies for recycling.
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It's hard to find a better subject for a demonstration of the technological advances of high-frequency cameras than a fascist enforcer, where even a guy like Almódovar could have a go at psychology. Which is nicely hinted at, among other things, by the scene where the telepath declares that she feels something like-... and is promptly cut off by her superior, and the film never returns to this theme throughout. Who wants it to, either, when Dredd's means of expression is catered for throughout the running time by his trusty hand cannon, which has a small black hole in the ammunition chamber, so he can mow down an entire house with one handheld multi-function pistol (OBI Fall 2012/Winter 2013 catalogue), which he explains in advance to all the occupants with the courtesy of a civil servant. Then one will forgive even the fact that Karl Urban's helmet is a tad large. Dredd is a cinephilic B-movie, fondling every shot, creating the effectiveness of the action sequences not by editing but by framing the shot, and most importantly a film in which the use of spectacular slow motion is grounded in a narrative structure that is simply revolutionary. And Lena Headey is nipping cruelly at the heels of Batman's Bane as one of this year’s baddies.
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It cannot in any case be denied that the new Dredd movie is a knock-off of the Indonesian film The Raid, but the plagiaristic practices at its core at least appropriately recall the fact that this is pure-blooded B-movie trash. British film production is not trying to jump on the current Hollywood cash cow of comic-book movies as the equivalent of action blockbusters for the new millennium. On the contrary, it is quite blatantly staying at the level of trash that’s inaccessible to young people. However, that doesn’t mean that the filmmakers have given up on having any kind of ambition. Dredd is actually captivating with the inventiveness with which it embellishes the straightforward story and the purely artificial and, in many cases, entirely unjustified attraction of 3D. These days, stereoscopic projections are nothing more than an excuse to entice audiences into cinemas and pull a little more money out of their pockets than usual, but only a few such films contain at least slightly memorable sequences that somehow employ the illusion of three-dimensionality. Dredd offers up the entirely trivial attraction of slow-motion money shots, which it simply but all the more effectively and cleverly justifies in the narrative with a parallel storyline involving a drug aptly called Slo-Mo. As a result, however, the film is most surprising in that Dredd himself comes off as a bundle of sympathetically amusing clichés and would-be tough-guy lines unconvincingly delivered with appropriate woodenness by Karl Urban, who has zero charisma or personality. On the other hand, that enables the two main female character, portrayed by the perfectly type cast Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey, to stand out all the more in comparison with him. Thanks to that, Dredd is not just another eighties macho throwback or a Marvel-esque would-be dramatic blockbuster faking depth, but a dynamic trash flick with enticing female characters.
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Dredd lacks dynamism in terms of action, but the grimy postapocalyptic atmosphere and impressive staging make up for it. This movie is not afraid to go its own way, ignore the mainstream and overflow with ideas. Plus it has a great A-list actress as the main badass. It’s like the best installment of Resident Evil, minus all the zombies and monsters. Everything I wanted as a 14-year-old from Blade Runner and failed to get, given my expectations and demands at that age :-)
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