Review of Dredd (2012) by Abnuggler — 06 Sep 2013

I loved this movie, I thought it was exceptionally done and I absolutely recommend it; It reminds me of movies like Sin City and 300: movies that didn't compromise what made their source material great to make turn them into a Hollywood blockbuster, I only wish that Dredd would have gotten the same love as the aforementioned movies; because a bigger budget would have only made this movie even better.

Keep in mind it is an "R" rated action movie, so it's more of a Guy Flick; where most women will think it´s too violent (and I only say this because I can see that women are not quite Dredd's target audience, that being said I do know quite a bit of girls who really liked this movie), and its definitely not a kid friendly movie.

The 3D part of the film is nothing exceptional for the most part but there are some scenes where it really pays off (the scenes with the slo-mo drug effect come to mind).

The plot is not over the top like it is with most Comic Book Movies, so don't be expecting a movie like any of the Marvel Movies or most CMBs; instead it has a very simplistic feel to it (don't get me wrong this is why it is so good), its a straight shoot em up film in it's core. You don't need to know anything about the Comic Book to enjoy the movie and if you do you'll only enjoy it more, I also liked how even when they introduce you to the characters it's not really a beginning story.

I saw the Stallone Judge Dredd movie back in the 90's and thought it was a classic Comic Book movie turned Hollywood. Two essential parts of the character of Dredd are his personality and his uniform and I always thought that by removing the helmet for most of the movie and changing the personality of Dredd they completely changed the Character, that together with softening the tone of the movie to an almost PG 13 kind of movie, and giving Dredd a comedic patsy sidekick in the form of Rob Schneider, were the reasons why Stallone's Judge Dredd was so awful. None of these things are present in Dredd (2012), this movie on the other hand is quite dark and crude which is very much the way Comic Book is.

I also thought Karl Urban's performance was right on, it fit the character perfectly and I appreciated the commitment he put to the role by sticking to what makes Dredd so great, and not demanding to have face time in the movie. Judge Anderson was also done amazingly, both in in the writing and the portrayal of the character played by Olivia Thirlby (I absolutely loved her!).

The only downside of this movie was the villain, although the Ma-Ma character was ok and fit well into the Dredd Universe, I still would have liked a better villain, one that played opposite of Dredd, instead Ma-Ma is just a common thug turned drug lord which is nothing next to Dredd.

If you are not afraid of a bit of violence and blood on screen and are looking for a great movie to watch be sure to see Dredd.