Dredd (2012) Review - Action, Thrill, Explosive, Bloody

This year alot of good movies have been cropping up and  Dredd 3D (2012) in my opinion, is one of them. Although it can't reach the levels and standards of The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises, it does pretty well considering the low expectation level surrounding it. Oh it's been a bumper year for comic book flicks. Avengers was fantastic, as was Batman and Dredd is slowly becoming a hit. To those who don't know, Dredd is actually based on a comic. Here's the Wiki excerpt.

Judge Joseph Dredd is a fictional character whose comic strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running, having been featured there since its second issue in 1977. Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner. Dredd and his fellow Judges are empowered to arrest, sentence, and even execute criminals on the spot. Judge Dredd is amongst the UK's best known home-grown comic characters. So great is the character's name recognition that his name is sometimes invoked over similar issues to those explored by the comic series, such as the police state, authoritarianism, and the rule of law.^[2]Judge Dredd was named the Seventh Greatest Comic Character by the British magazine Empire.^[3] In 2011, IGN ranked him 35th in the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes

There was a movie back in 1995 by the title of Judge Dredd in which Sylvester Stallone starred, and it was barely entertaining. And especially the ending was pure crap lol. It badly sucked. But this new remake is way wayy better in many ways and in every department. This time, it is efficient and entertaining as well as containing loads of memorable comic lines and one-liners.The basic aim of Dredd is simple – it needs to be bold, true to the source material and full of juicy violence, enough to wipe out the memories of the notoriously poor Stallone attempt of 1995 that threw plenty of money at the screen without bothering to work on anything resembling a decent script.

Karl Urban plays Dredd and well he was pretty good. He doesn't really need to act here though. He just had to show a tough, cold, bad-ass demeanor and he succeeds with flying colours. He perfectly portrays the character of an emotionless, robotic deadpan who cares for nothing but law and the safety of his city by slaying baddies left,right and center. Olivia Thirlby plays Dredd's new assistant rookie, Anderson and she gives a worthy performance too. Good thing she doesn't wear a mask like Dredd (you'll know why when you've hit the flick) as it shows her pretty face and generally her humanity value. Expect lots of movies coming up with Olivia in the lead soon. 

The premise is reasonably simple, something that works well as an introduction to what is, in the comics at least, a sprawling future world. Dredd is accompanied on patrol by rookie Judge Anderson, who is on the verge of failing her final assessment but is being given a second chance because of her powerful, and rare, psi abilities. A routine triple homicide (it's that sort of city) turns into a siege when they are trapped in a massive tower block by criminal nutjob Ma Ma (Lena Headey) and forced to fight their way out and stop her manufacturing the addictive new drug, Slo Mo. Obviously there's a bit more to it than that, but this is the basic set up and it works very well indeed, allowing for plenty of violence and lil bit of gore, some character development and no few explosions. The story is very well and aptly written and you'll be hard put to find any boring moments or any excuses for you to go take a piss or something. :P

Overall, this movie kicks ass and is like a cross between Robocop, Daredevil and Batman with a tad more violence and bloodshed. I heartily recommend it to teens and guys in particular with a love for violence and action sequences. I would say this film is a flat no-no for kids younger than 12, weak-hearted slobs or those who faint at the sight of blood. There's even a hint of a sequel so be sure to catch it soon. Quite simply a superior and a satisfying action film, and whilst it's no masterpiece (then again, it's not supposed to be) it's as good as fans could ever have hoped.  A callback to the great high concept action films of a bygone era, Dredd is, dare I say it, the one must watch comic book film of the year. Here's to the sequels…Cheers! I give it a 8/10 rating. Go watch it! :)

Judge Dredd.

Judge Anderson.

Ma Ma (Wow what a nasty piece of work)

Next up, Hotel Transylvania and Thaandavam. :D