Review of Dredd (2012) by Niloo R — 21 Jul 2014

This was a straight-up genre action film with gory violence, big explosions and out-of-this-world graphics. I think it worked very well within it's genre and would be an excellent watch for anyone who's a fan of the action genre.

that being said, other than an interesting premise and an interesting use of 3d graphics, this film didn't do much to stand out from the pack. there was nothing outstanding about any of the characters (though in action films that's always rare) and the plot, despite trying, on the whole failed to thrill and excite.

even though the characters were put against seemingly insurmountable odds, they overcame them with a kind of ease that made the audience stop rooting for them. the protagonist winning became a "given" pretty early on in the film.

the film also maintained a marked distance from all its characters, revealing only a few, generic points about their background and psyche and going so far as to not even reveal the face of its protagonist, which again, distanced the audience and prevented them from caring.

the "judge-masks" that the protagonist, along with the other "judges" wore at all times were also problematic because at times, especially in fight scenes, they made it difficult for the audience to distinguish between the protagonist and other "judges".

also, the film felt very anti-climactic and unsatisfying because at the end of the film it is revealed that their mission was very inconsequential in the grand scheme of things and probably didn't make much of a difference.

having invested over 90 minutes in a film, the audience wants to be somehow compensated for its time/attention. over-all, the film had an interesting premise that had the potential to be something outstanding, but was not developed enough, in either its plot or characters to do its premise and visual uniqueness justice.

as a result, it ended up being a run-of-the-mill action film that was just going through the motions.