"
Ma-
Ma's not the law. I am the law."
Judge
Joseph Dredd is a fictional character from the British science fiction
anthology 2000 AD and is the magazine's longest running character having
been featured within it's pages since its second issue in 1977. For
people not aware Dredd is a law enforcement officer in a violent North
American city of the future called Mega City One. It's here that
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.
My
first experience of Judge Dredd was as a teenager back in the 90's
where I would sit in my local library and read complete books starring
him. The stories were often quite graphic in violence but also had the
charm of being able to pull of emotional elements such as humour, sadness and in some cases thought provoking dilemma.
That
was all I knew of Dredd really until the infamous 1995 film starring
Sylvester Stallone as the no nonsense lawman of the future. The visual
effects and designs in the film were brilliant but the major problem was
Stallone. His performance in the film bares no resemblance to the the
dark and gritty anti hero of Judge Dredd I remember in the comic strip.
He also breaks the rule most hardcore Dredd fans were annoyed about. He
removes the helmet.
Part
of the mystery of Dredd was the fact you never see his face making him
more mysterious and just the face of the law. Last time I looked someone
had posted the full movie on You Tube so if you have never seen it then
check it out. I'll be honest when I say it's an enjoyable film but not a
very good representation of the character if you ask me.
Fast
forward seventeen years and the Peter Travis/Alex Garland movie DREDD
is absolutely nothing like the Stallone film. It's a million times
better.
Any
worries about it being as bad as the Stallone movie are all shot down
in the opening chase scene and the amount of bullets, action and gore
that follows.
"Sir, helmets interfere with my psychic abilities."
"Think a bullet in the head might interfere with them more."
Karl
Urban is Dredd and was born to play this role. He delivers the serious
nature of the character while still giving him a bit of humanity. It's
another fine edition to his already growing CV and shows what a chameleon he is when it comes to the different roles he takes. He manages to balance the harshness of Dredd while still managing to make you smile at the sly humour he puts across with some of his lines and actions.
The
rest of the cast do their job well. Olivia Thirlby (an actress I hadn't
heard of before this) is excellent as Psi Judge Cassandra Anderson.
Tough, sexy and providing a spark of humanity and idealism to counter
Dredd's more cynical outlook. I do think Lena Headey's Ma-Ma could of used some more screen time and a bit more fleshing out character wise though.
While
she was a threat in all the scenes she was in when I look back now she
doesn't actually do much. I did enjoy the slo-mo and psychic effects.
They are suitably trippy.
Mega
City One (the small glimpses we see of it) is perfectly envisioned to
suit the brutal look of the film. I'll admit it wasn't translated from
the comics 100% but it works in the context of the film and the
characters, and that is far better than just simply copying what existed
on the page.
I
also love Paul Leonard-Morgan's electronic music for the film. I picked
up the soundtrack a while back and it's worth a listen on it's own.
I am absolutely gutted though that it's unlikely there will be a sequel due to bad box office takings. This film deserved to do much better yet I think people were put off for many reasons that escape me.
I keep my fingers crossed in hope.
I'm
really not sure why so many people dislike The Watch? I saw it for the
first time this week and thought it was one of the funniest films I'd
seen in a long time. It's a crazy fun movie you can watch with your
friends and have a good laugh at.
