Way back in the mists of time, the 1980’s, there was a subversive British comic book called Judge Dredd. Set in an apocalyptic post-nuclear world of
MegaCity 1, it was a boo about police states, crime, and judgement. Violent, satirical, and uncompromising it was a cult hit.
In 1995 a film veriosn was released upon the world – apparently we did pull off all five sacrifices properly that year – with Stallone as Judge Dredd, and aside from some of the art direction, nothing of the book survived into the horrid screenplay or onto the screen.
Now we have a second attempt at translating the world of MegaCity 1 to the big screen, an adaptation that doesn’t not rely on big names, or huge budget, but instead tries hewing closer to the intent of the original stories.
The film Dredd 3D, and it is worth seeing in 3D, follows Judge Dredd as he is tasked with the evaluation of Judge-trainee Anderson, a psychic woman who, on her exams, was found to be 3 points shy of passing.
Responding to a triple homicide in the giant archeology of Peach Trees, the two judge quickly find themselves entangled in a bloody war with a ruthless and crafty gang warlord. Cutoff from help, and with a hefty price on their heads, the Judges battle to survive and bring justice to the guilty.
This movie really does respect the source material. Dredd is properly cast by the terribly talented Karl urban, depending on your fandom he’s either McCoy or Ewomer. Olivia Thirlby is quite good a the psionic judge in training and she plays a wide range of emotions, truly acting a stand in for the audience, allowing the script to keep Judge Dredd is usual implacable self. The story moves quickly without too many glaring problems and the directors does a good job of presenting the world as a credible one.
This is a very violent film. People are killed, in horrid ways, and there is no shyness about what that means.
I enjoyed the film, I enjoyed the 3D, and I was happy to see the property rescued form the memories of 1995.
Agreed, Justin. The 1995 film version of Judge Dredd was moduerrus the worst character assasination since Chief Judge Griffin’s Live TV appearance after Sov psycho-surgery in Apocalypse War part 16 (2000AD Prog 260). Luckily he got what he deserved! Suffice to say, the new film couldn’t be worse but it sure better be a damn sight better.Cheers for posting some of the classic Brian B art work too probably my favourite Dredd artist over the years.
I normally avoid the 3D movies, extra money for the the ticket for usually nothing more than exploitive effects, but in this case the director used the effect as part of the story telling process. There’s a drug in the film – slo-mo that slows down the users time perception, the 3-D during the subjective moments of the drug’s effect were done quite well. I don’t expect to see another 3D movie until I see The Hobbit in 3-D 48 fps.
I’m surprised to read that you liked this movie in 3D; a lot of movies I’ve seen recently have been such a disappointment in 3D. I was on the fence about seeing “Dredd” in the theaters, and I have a couple of co-workers from DISH who are going to the movies to see this. I’m going to wait until this movie makes it to DVD. I have a Blockbuster @home DVD account, and the shipping is fast. Once I’m done I can return this movie to the store for another movie in my queue. I think as long as Stallone has no part of this movie, it should be a joy to watch.
Yes they did. You should try to make the time to see it — though it is very bloody so it’s not one for Sandra.
Ooo, they let psi-judge Anderson be psi-judge Anderson? Neat!