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Nexus Wookie -> RE: DREDD (20/9/2012 12:16:57 AM)
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DREDD (2012)
**Spoilers**
What a thrill ride! Visceral, bloody, depraved, beautiful (yes beautiful!), but most of all - awesome! Right from the offset from that thrilling opening Lawmaster/ car chase, to the closing scenes of Ma Ma's face getting beautifully splattered on the screen - I was on the edge of my seat, gripping my arm rest like a maniac. I was utterly thrilled, immersed into this nightmarish vision of Mega City, filled with crime, disease and decay.
It was like Judge Dredd in The City of God.
The action and violence was unrelenting. No flinching from the brutality of it, but made strangely beautiful by the drug induced slo-mo scenes. And for those scenes alone, the choice of 3D was the right choice. You cannot view it any other way. It is visually arresting. Look at the scene of Ma-Ma in the bath, the water droplets dancing like minature planets in orbit, enhanced further by that beautiful, uplifting music - visual poetry. Who would've expected to see such beauty in an 'action' flick?
Karl Urban was brilliant as Dredd - his gruff one liners, and ''yeah''s reminded me of Eastwood. The decision to keep his helmet on at all times (save the begining - and even then we don't see his face as it's obscured by shadow) is a good choice. It makes the character more mysterious and harken's back to the comics - we even get Karl Urban grimacing like Dredd - he gets the character down to a T. Karl Urban's Dredd is totally kick-ass as opposed to Stallone's limp dick Dredd! He is coolness personified. Check out the look on Ma Ma's face when Dredd - after taking a whole floor out to kill Dredd with their firepower - emerges unscathed from the smoke and cooly throws a baddie over the side! The look on her face shows that she has totally underestimated Dredd. And Dredd is not a man - he is The Law!
Olivia Thirlby as the rookie Anderson was superb and a joy to watch . I don't think i've seen her prior, but what a great choice she was for this role (I wont lie when I say i've fallen in love with her!) And her psychic abilities are awesome to say the least - especially in one stand out scene with the goon they're transporting. How cool was that?! And Lena Headey? This is quite possibly the best role she has played. I believed her as a ruthless, methodical, no bullshit, head of a drug empire. Her criminal persona like a flip side to Dredd's upholding of law. She was perfect for this role and by the end, I even had a little sympathy for her because she was a product of her environment. (the new Judge Dredd Megazine has a brilliant comic story showing her life before she became the notorious drug lord).
Regarding the look of the film, Pete Travis captures the sprawling vision of Mega City with its massive block rising up to the sky like rows of concrete colussus' brilliantly. A concrete jungle - a chilling look into the future, a future wherin over-population, crime, decay run rampant. And the scenes of a skate boarding ramp hundreds of kilometres up in the middle of the sky-scraper showed the insanity of it all. I think his decision to shoot the film in South Africa brought an air of believability to the whole film.
I loved the music (by Paul Leonard-Morgan) for the film too, and thought it complemented the film perfectly. Especially in those tense action scenes.
Finally Judge Dredd has a film worthy of his legendary name! I admit there are a few minor quibbles, the film's low budget does show in some places, but in a way it makes it more gritty and real. And therefore the experience was more thrilling, than if it were a big budget film. And of course with bigger budget comes the pressure to dial down the violence - compromising the directors vision in the process. In an age where the whole film industry is filled with 12 rated fodder - Dredd is a breath of fresh air. I wish Dredd becomes a success, and hopefully it can signal a change for Hollywood to make more comic-book/ science-fiction/ action film's for adult's. As for Dredd, I really hope we get a sequel. The Dredd universe is so rich that the possibilties are endless - Judge Dredd kicking ass on Cursed Earth? Now there's a film I would gladly go pay to see.
DREDD 4/5
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