Dredd 3D (2012)
Certified: 18
Duration: 95 minutes
Directed by: Pete Travis
Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris, Domhall Gleeson
KRS release
Judge Dredd has featured in Britain’s 2000AD comic strip since its second issue in 1997.
Dredd 3D is tautly edited, perfectly balanced and uncompromising in its attitude- Johan Galea
In 1995, Hollywood took the character created by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra and made a veritable mess out of it.
Mega-City One was too clean, Judge Dredd almost never wore his helmet and the protagonist, Sylvester Stallone, was at his worst.
When a reboot was announced, I was not enthused by the idea. We have had so many dystopian futures making it to the big screen that I thought it would be very hard to see something new or cinematic.
But five minutes into the film, I started getting the feeling that this was going to be one awesome trip. And I was immediately hooked.
Dredd 3D is not just an excellent film – tautly edited, perfectly balanced and uncompromising in its attitude – but it has also managed to do justice to the comic strip character.
The first good news is that Karl Urban never takes his helmet off. With that stern jaw and his Clint Eastwood-styled voice, this Dirty Harry-of-the-future has enough character to fill up the screen.
Secondly, Mega-City One is a futuristic city devastated by a nuclear holocaust. New Mega Blocks, that have been erected where the old buildings once stood, house thousands of civilians.
The law in Mega-City One is in the hands of the judges: policemen who can dish out both judgment and punishment.
Judge Dredd is one of them.
At the start of the film, Dredd is given a rookie for a day – Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a mutant with psychic abilities. He has to decide if she makes or fails the grade by the end of the day.
Meanwhile, the violent and deranged Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) rules at Peach Trees Mega Block. She is in control of the production of Slo-Mo, a drug which makes its user see everything moving at a very slow pace.
When Judge Dredd and Anderson are called to Peach Trees to investigate a triple murder, Ma-Ma shuts down the block and sets all the thugs on them.
Alex Garland has delivered a very good script that leaves enough space for director Pete Travis to deliver a lean and muscled film.
Judge Dredd knows the war on crime is unwinnable but he does his job with a sense of duty and single-minded purposefulness that is honourable; yet there is ample room for wry humour. When Urban says the iconic lines “I am the law”, you will believe him. I could not help but cheer him on.
I also enjoyed Headey’s and Thirlby’s performances. Headey’s grotesquely scarred face is not scary but her penchant for violence and her seeming instinct for skinning whoever gets in her way, certainly are.
Meanwhile, Thirlby looks a bit insecure as a rookie. Unlike Dredd, who is very linear in his character in this compact and hard-hitting film, we see ample character development on her side. It is interesting how it is the mutant that seems the most human in this film.
Another very positive factor is the 3D effect, which is well made use of. With an industrial Goth soundtrack that is propelling and grinding at the same time, the 3D effects are at times psychedelic and highlight the carnage even more delightfully.