Review of Dredd (2012) by Diyar G — 30 Apr 2016

Dredd was really good surprisingly, I didn't expect it to be this good! Here's what I liked/disliked.

Positives:

1. Karl Urban as Dredd, wow he was awesome. He has a very cheesy exaggerated expression and all the better for it, his character just oozes cool and he has some funny moments as well as badass moments! Olivia Thirlby was really good, I honestly felt for her character and she was a great sidekick. Lena Headey as Ma-Ma was just disgusting and her performance was so convincing, you just love to hate her and she did a great job portraying that character.

2. Visuals, style and action; I loved the visuals, this movie is shot well and looks good. The slow-mo scenes are surprisingly gourgeous and this movie is just shot so well. This film is pretty self-aware, it has some cheesy acting but it works for this film honestly and I like the post-apocolypse setting that is realistically portrayed, well for the most part. The action is great, its filmed so well, no shaky cam and quickcut crap. Its all steady and easy to follow.

Negatives:

1. My only negatives is that this film doesn't really have enough substance, the story is very simple and the acting is very serviceable. I'm not saying having a simple story and acting is a bad thing but this film doesn't really offer much in terms of substance. I also thought some scenes were a little over the top and some of the special effects especially the minigun shootout were bad.

Overall:

I liked Dredd, it's a really well made action movie. Its kinda like Robocop in a way and it does borrow some elements from other sci-fi films but it uses those elements to convey its own original premise and it in the end it worked great!