Dredd Review
Year: 2012
Stars: Karl
Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey
Directed: Pete
Travis
Running Time: 95 mins approx.
Well I don’t know where to
start with this I enjoyed it so much so here goes firstly Karl Urban was great,
I’m not a massive fan of his. Doom scarred me against him for a long time Star
Trek redeemed him a little this film has given me faith in the guy.
He pulled off Dredd to a T
who is stoic and before all else puts the law, with the smallest of small
streaks of niceness for fellow rookie judge Anderson.
The story in a nut shell
is not taken from any source material in the comics as far as I know. I think
this is to ease people into the universe of Dredd and they can then expand into
the stuff more diehard fans know in a sequel which I’m almost 100% sure is
going to happen. The main bad-woman is Mama who is played nicely and robotically
by Lena Headey whose acting always seems to be very straight in whatever she’s
in, I think the woman must find conveying emotion hard at least it seems that
way to me.
She’s usually eye candy in
most things she’s in, not so in here as she has a frickin big scar down her face that’s
elegantly explained later on in the film.
Anderson was also pulled
off fantastically by Olivia Thirlby who has been in other things inbetween this and Juno I haven’t seen her in since. She plays her well as Anderson doesn’t wear a
helmet (helmets huh I’ll get to them) as it interferes with her psychic
abilities she’s about the only judge that refuses to play by the judges rule
book in the comics. May I add to that not a in a bad way she just disagrees
with some things.
Now her psychic powers are
portrayed in a believable realistic way in this film there’s a brilliant head
fuck scene between her and a perp later in the film. For some people who
dislike fantasy/sci-fi even in the small doses I think it’s
easily acceptable in here as they dont give an over the top explanation about it.
There’s a drug in mega
city one (a massive city housing billions in massive blocks it’s a walled city
safe from the outside barren wastes of a long past war that ravaged most of the
world) SLOMO it makes the mind think time is passing only fraction of what it
actually is.
This here is one of my
three gripes about the film every SLOMO part is made specifically for 3D now if
you’re like me which lets face a lot of adults are (and Dredd is an 18 so
adults will be the only ones watching this hopefully *laughs*) you won’t have
perfect 20/20 vision which is needed in a 3D movie or you won’t see it properly
simply put.
Also 3D because of a
filter they use is darker in comparison and Dredd is a dark film I’m sure you’d
miss things.
Changes for film are there
in this film but you have to for the masses as a lot of people’s experience of
Dredd is the old Stallone one they don’t realise it’s a comic book as well.
Armour in the comics has much bigger shoulder plates and that’s pretty much all
it consists of as well. Here in Dredd it’s been toned down but still has all
the hallmarks the eagle on the shoulder but it’s been made into a full body
flak jacket which I actually liked.
The helmets oh my, helmets
were much too big for my liking even bigger than the comic book versions,
though not by much. That was my second gripe I didn’t like about the movie
little I know but it’s something you constantly see as Dredd true to the comic
also and not like the Stallone film NEVER takes his helmet off.
This film is bloody and
quite a few of those scenes again are made for the 3D element but work well
despite that. There are a few scenes they really could have shown more of even.
As they didn’t need to hold back at all on this I feel it was an 18 anyway,
just a few things happening off camera that they could have done on screen.
Anyway few the modestly
low budget they made this film on $45mill which trust me isn’t a lot compared
to a lot of films these days they did well.
I have one more gripe in
judge Dredd there’s corrupt judges but in this film the inclusion of 4 is a bit
of over kill 2 maybe 3 would have worked and been more believable over all.
So in conclusion this film
is well worth the watch and a great return of the 18 rated movie reign
hopefully it’ll make some directors not as scared to put that scene that would
make a film in rather than remove it to get more bums on seats.
Go watch Dredd it’s a tour
de force and well deserves the 5 stars I’m giving it here
No comments:
Post a Comment