Review: Dredd Is a Dark Take On a Colourful World.
- Feb 25, 2017
- 2 min read
After almost 20 years, Dredd returns to the big screen in one of the best action movies ever made. It's dark, violents and oh so good.
Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is a man without emotion. He cares not for others, nor for himself. He cares only for the law. He is an instrument of it's will, an extension of the judicial system. When he's given a failed psychic rookie for assessment, he's less than hopeful. When a routine investigation turns into an all out war there's no longer any law, only survival.
From the moment it begins it is apparent that Dredd is a realist take on it's source. Gone are the neon highways, laser rifles and garish uniforms. In there place are densely packed urban roadways, high-tech assault weapons and practical suits that have more in common with military attire than the golden eagles and chains of the past. The world is dark and grimy, a city dominated by gangs, order held together by a small number of judges. When over 17000 serious crimes are reported everyday, it's not a nice place to live and the movie makes it apparently clear.
Dredd himself is more inline with the comics, much more so than the previous films. Karl Urban keeps the helmet on and speaks in reserved tones. He rarely registers any emotion, instead preferring to be calm and methodical, a man who is fully committed to his task. He is joined by Judge Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby. She's Dredd's opposite, the emotional anchor of the film and easily the most human character in the film. The villain, Ma-Ma, portrayed brilliantly by Lena Heady, is equal parts vile and threatening. While she's not much of a threat, the power she holds more than makes up for it.
But Dredd isn't a character film, it's an action movie, a violent, bloody, gore filled action movie. Blood spatters across walls, limbs are removed, heads are blown up and it's punctuated by moments of slow motion. Within the story it's put down to a drug known as slo-mo, a narcotic that slows the brains perception of time to 1% of it's normal speed. This leads to some scenes that can only be described as beautiful violence. Within half an hour a dozen people are dead and the body count is just beginning. Each scene turns the action up with varying encounters and bigger threats. It's some of the best action around and easily the best looking.
Much like the 1995 film, Dredd isn't a stickler for comic accuracy and, much like the 1995 film, that's okay. It manages to stand alone as a glorious testament to the badass heroes and unrelenting violence of the 80's but with the modern style to make it an experience like no other.
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