Dredd

Incredible

Dredd_360P

cool

This movie is so cheap and shallow that it's not even funny. I found out the reason why this movie bombed so badly. It wasn't entertaining or even well made. It's main character is a horrible killing machine with no distinct character traits even. Cheap South African,(And I don't mean disrespect to South African made movies, District 9 is pretty good and well budgeted, as is Chappie) Cannon Like production of an Action movie reminded me of Superman IV nearly. Or one of those other 21st Century Comic Book movies like Captain America from 1990. Obviously the budget was only limited to a few sfx shots of the city that might as well be stolen from Blade Runner. Our hero is no hero, he's a thug and a killer with no sympathy or humanity. It's version of Dredd is Robocop without any of the humanity or background. We are forced to have to sympathize with his partner Anderson who is merely there for titillation and half hearted attempts at humanity. Other wise you get Lena Headey's bored acting, she learned nothing from being equally terrible on Game of Thrones. She reads lines with no energy and with no real characterization but hey evil. The script was written by an Academy Award Winning writer, could have fooled me. It seems written by a teenager in puberty who just learned the art of cussing and who maybe has anger management issues. Our bad guys are even more faceless than the ones in Assault on Precinct 13 and that movie is a freaking masterpiece. It's just so mind boggling how this movie gets praise. It seems more just a movie to rub people's faces in unpleasant violence and shallow, wannabe-cool dialogue. Maybe Garland thinks himself Tarantino. I know The Raid had violence in it, but even it wasn't as laughably bad as this movie. And it's characters didn't need to say shallow, wannabe cool dialogue. They didn't feel the need to dress like cos players taking a break from comic-con. People may think that Evans stole from the script of Dredd. Quite frankly I don't believe this. Evans took an old story device and used it as his own. Same as Dredd did, but The Raid actually made use of it and wasn't really reaching for all this grand, wannabe epic, cool BS. And our main characters in that weren't psychotic killers or thugs with Nazi regalia on. And please, Stallone did more with this material in 96 minutes than this movie could even dream of doing. The writers of the comics just need to get over the precious changes he made. So what about the Helmet. What was that helmet? Important? Not really, it's not like it wasn't featured in the movie. And to further the Robocop allusions, Robocop took off his mask during the last part of his movie to symbolize his humanity the same way Stallone does. Clearly this movie seems not to care about this symbolism. It's hero is a guy who has lost his humanity and shows few hints that we care not to know about in a sequel. In short, this movie is terrible, cheap looking, boring with long scenes of slowmo and drug inhaling. Violence and death is glorified even worse than most movies and I can usually stand some glorification of violence. Not Recommended. PS. Slowmo is one of the lamest drug excuses for doing fancy slow motion shots in your movie I have ever seen. It's stupid, why the heck did you need a drug in the movie to explain why scenes were in slow motion, writer? Just have slow motion in your movie, it doesn't need a drug to explain it being there, it just seems like a excuse for you to have it. And a lame plot device. You couldn't have come up with some special future drug that was like a mixture of heroin,ectasy crack, cocaine, weed or something? No, you had to create something that I'm surprised the actors and actresses could say with a straight face!

I normally don't review movies, but I was completely blown away by the good reviews. There was no plot, no character development and terrible production values. The movie was so horrific at times I could not stop laughing. I don't understand how anyone can take this movie seriously. It has a lot of action, but it is extremely generic and forgettable. It felt like I was watching a C-level video game. I am still just amazed that people enjoyed this movie. There were some cool 3-D effects, however these effects alone are not enough to save the move. I suppose if you are a die-hard fan, you would probably enjoy it from what I have read about Dredd.

I'm not a fan of the comic, or comics generally, so I'm reviewing this as a layman observer. This movie is tiresome and dreary. I would not recommend it to anyone except fans of the comic. It is slow. The action scenes are fine but the story is like molasses. The time frame is short, the character development is minimal. It is trite. The opening scene is a tedious & clichéd introduction to the main character (Dredd), the way the city and the judge system operates, and the primary story hook (the Slow Down Drug). It feels a lot like Robocop but without the style or charm. And almost 30 years too late. Too many instances of people dropping background story points into conversation in ways that would be illogical to someone in that world; I'm sure we can figure out the background story if it's implied rather than explicitly spelled out. There was significant budget shoveled into this film as witnessed by the special effects, but it feels like the cinematography or editing lacks the punch that you'd expect. It's just a story, not an adventure. It could be the lighting, music, post production - I don't know but it comes across very lacking. Perhaps the problem with this is that the main character is expressionless and monotone, literally faceless. Fans will say that's the whole point, or that is as intended. Perhaps it's the story or the script - feels cheap and pointless, but again maybe that's how it should be. All I can tell you is that I don't care for it at all. I would pay money to avoid watching it again.

In a dystopian future, the world is devastated. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is the last word in Law & Order within Mega-City One. Judge Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) is his junior partner. They are battling drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) who is operating out of a massive apartment block. The previous version of Judge Dredd (1995) starring Sly is a campy affair. Consider that it had Rob Schneider in it. 'nuff said. This one brings us into the comics once again but this time, they drop the camp. It is well written probably because they had Alex Garland who also wrote 28 Days Later... and Sunshine among others. Karl Urban is not as imposing as Sly but he does a solid job. Most importantly, he's not impersonating Sly. Olivia Thirlby is great as a foil or conscience to Dredd. Their relationship is the heart of the movie. Lena Headey does a good job as the baddie. It's an interesting unusual choice. It's certainly not your average muscle bound villain. I did have 2 problems. First, Slo-Mo happens too many times. The first couple of times are interesting. I'm sure it's cool 3D fun, but even that would get tiresome. It's a balancing act between pace and cool and the climax needs pace more than cool. Second problem is the ending. The final fight with Lena Headey is not as climatic as needed. It's a bit of a letdown. Overall, this is super-fun despite the minor problems.

This definitely isn't one of those movies with a lot of character development, but its not your typical action flick either. This is a beautiful work of art with a lot of stylized violence, desolate alleys with shady characters and ill intentions. The grungy neon lights of a dystopian future, the scarlet blood and glimmering glass, the hauntingly beautiful slow motion, what makes this movie great is definitely the visual aspects. Dredd himself is very one dimensional, forcedly so. Stern, analytical, gruff, his toughness masking a side of him the audience never actually gets to see. His character is described perfectly in the first few minutes by his new psychic apprentice, which is the last look you get inside of his head before its slammed shut. He is a man who takes his duty seriously to the point that it consumes him, defines him. Ma-ma is sadistically brilliant. Her mob-style domination of peach tree creates a claustrophobic apprehension for a threat far too big to take on in a box far too small to escape. The terror by which she controls the people is believable and vicious. Whats lost in character development is regained by the subtle twisted moments and reactions to the threats imposed on each of the characters. The psychic scenes were perhaps the most well done and paints a very nice psychological battle between the judge in training and her prisoner. I would've actually enjoyed more of these as they were very surreal and artistic. Its also cool to see the way she breaks him down even after he thinks he has the upper hand. Slow mo, the drug this movie centers around, makes for some very awesome fight scenes on par with Sherlock Holmes 2: a Game of Shadows and the Matrix. The visual effects were very well executed and i myself being a visual effects artist, have only one complaint. At some points the blood was a bit oversaturated and toonish, which was likely in attempt to match the comic but draws away from a few scenes.

Seventeen years ago, a Sylvester Stallone sci-fi action vehicle was released into the world under the title 'Judge Dredd'. Based on the character from the popular 2000AD comic book series, the film was a huge disappointment with critics and a source of much heartache for Dredd devotees in the way it seemed to blatantly disregard crucial aspects of the source mythology both in look and tone. Fast forward to present day, a world in which comic book characters mean big money for film studios, surely enough time has passed to give the old Judge another crack of the whip right? I'm happy to say fans of the comic book should be able to relax and enjoy this much darker and tougher representation of their much loved character. Although the film, and it's (permanently) helmeted protagonist is a straightforward and simple beast, it actually works all the better for it. Dredd isn't given a back story or imbued with much in the way of humanity, he's instead portrayed more as the mysterious 'man with no name' whose dialogue is limited to one-liners that usually precedes some serious ass kicking. Where the 1995 Judge film was light and comedic, this version is hardcore and extremely violent with some surprising explosions of brutality meted out in a world that's long since gone to hell. As is pleasingly more and more the case in mainstream action cinema, we have strong female representation in Olvia Thirlby as Dredd's rookie sidekick and a nasty Lena Headey on form and fresh from bad girl duties in the celebrated TV series Game Of Thrones. Dredd 3D can't and won't be considered a classic of the genre, but it's a huge step-up from the Stallone version and should satisfy any and all sci-fi action fans looking for a fun Friday night thrill. Visually arresting and with a sensible running time, Dredd rocks. 3.5/5

it is a great movie to watch