Dredd (2012)

Director: Pete Travis

Cast: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris, Domhnall Gleeson

Country: United Kingdom / South Africa

Rating: R

Run Time: 95 minutes

Almost any comic book superhero film that comes out now-a-days is backed by a big studio like Warner Bros, Columbia Pictures, Fox, or Marvel Studios. All of these big studio films tend to have budgets over $150 million, come out during the summer blockbuster season, and are rated PG-13. And while many people consider the last few years to be the biggest boom in comic book superhero films, fans of R rated comic book films have been left in the dust. R rated films of the past like V for Vendetta, Watchmen, The Punisher, Constantine, Blade, and The Crow are all decent to excellent comic book superhero films with violent action and lots of blood. These films were made with graphic and adult material solely for mature audiences. But lately, adult superhero films are never made. It's as if comic book superhero films can only be made with PG-13 ratings.

With all hope lost, it seemed that no R rated comic book superhero film would ever come along and kick ass again... until a bright light shown in 2012! Dredd, the little film that could, came and went from theaters faster than anyone could notice as big hits like The Dark Knight Rises and The Avengers raked in all of the cash. But by the time Dredd reached home media, it had grown into one of the biggest cult hits in recent years. Filled to the brim with a massive body count, incredibly gory kills, a pitch perfect performance by Karl Urban, and a straight to the point plot that doesn't goof around, Dredd quickly cemented itself as one of the best adult comic book hero and contemporary action films ever made.

"Ma-Ma's not the law. I am the law."

Dredd rights the wrongs of the original Judge Dredd by sticking closer to its source material. The original Judge Dredd conjures up fairly negative images in comic book and action fans heads. While not a terrible film, Judge Dredd did not stick closely to its source material at all. The film is infamous for its many creative problems: horribly miscast roles, tame violence, un-Dredd like humor, and removing Dredd's helmet from his head for nearly the entire film. Sylvester Stallone was a terrible choice for the character of Judge Dredd anyway. He clearly did not understand the character or even look like him for that matter. Rob Schneider also plays a comic relief role in the film that we'd all like to forget. Judge Dredd's corny humor, boring plot, and deviation from the original comics made it an average guilty pleasure instead of the awesome and action packed film that it should have been.

On the other hand, Pete Travis' Dredd hits all of the right notes: Judge Dredd's helmet stays on his head the entire film (therefore never revealing actor Karl Urban's face even for a second), the violence and gore is amped up to RoboCop and Total Recall levels, and the film nearly abandons all humor in favor of a gritty tone. Dredd is essentially RoboCop / Dirty Harry in the future. Talk about an amazing combination.

Dredd skips Judge Dredd's origin and goes straight for a non-stop shoot 'em up plot filled with great characters, themes of law and morality, and fantastic world building. In the future, Earth becomes a polluted wasteland. Therefore, mega cities are built in order to cram as many citizens into one clean city as possible. Large apartment complexes called mega-blocks fill up these cramped-crime ridden cities. One such city, Mega-City-One, is patrolled by the Judges of the Hall of Justice. Judges are police officers endowed with the ability to be a judge, jury, and executioner all rolled up into one. Therefore, any murderer or dangerous criminal can be executed on sight within the eyes of the law.

The film opens with an action scene (as all great action films should) that introduces us to our character, Judge Dredd (Karl Urban). Dredd is a no-nonsense Judge with no remorse for criminals and an undying devotion to the law. He takes out a trio of drugged up gun men after they run over an innocent man and shoot up a mall. But Dredd's work day is just getting started.

Lena Headey brings her evil Game of Thrones "Cersei" sensibilities to Dredd.

The Hall of Justice asks Dredd to take a new psychic recruit, Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), out into the city for a day in order to assess her abilities as a Judge. Their first call, a homicide in mega-block Peach Trees, places them right into the hornet's nest. Peach Trees is run by the insane Ma-Ma (Lena Headey), the leader of the Ma-Ma Clan. When Dredd and Anderson take one of Ma-Ma's men hostage during their investigation, she locks down the mega-building and orders a hit on their heads. It's than up to Dredd and Anderson to escape the building alive while racking up a huge kill count along the way.

Dredd's plot does so many things that no other comic book hero adaptations do now-a-days. For starters, the film completely skips its hero's origin story. Today's superhero films spend an entire 2 hours and 30 minutes just explaining how a hero gets their powers. But not Dredd. Dredd completely skips over Judge Dredd's days before he was a Judge and introduces us to him at his most interesting. Dredd also gets right to the point by placing Judge Dredd in a relatively small scale situation. Other superhero films of today spend hundreds of millions of dollars depicting cities falling apart (Man of Steel), heli-carries crashing and burning (The Avengers), and entire organizations and worlds collapsing in on themselves (Captain America: The Winter Soldier). These huge plot points become incredibly boring when every single film does the same thing. Instead of telling a large story, Dredd focuses on two characters inside of one building. And that's it. For 95 minutes, we get to know everything we need to know about two characters while watching them shoot up dozens of gun wielding henchmen. There's no dilly dallying, bull crap, or filler. Everything here is essential, straight to the point, and refreshing.

Dredd admires his handiwork.

Thank God for Karl Urban. Even though Urban has been acting for several years (Lord of the Rings, Star Trek, Doom), his performance as Judge Dredd is easily the best role of his career. Urban fully embodies the character with his grizzled voice and pouty lips. Much like Peter Weller in RoboCop, Karl Urban puts aside his personal image and persona in favor of portraying the character as true to the comics as possible by having his face covered by a helmet for the entire film (something that Stallone failed to grasp in his adaptation). I want to see Karl Urban in far more action films after seeing him dominate the screen in this film. He has an incredible screen presence that shouldn't be kept to supporting roles. Urban is a star and Dredd is exactly the picture that proves that. Dredd's character is also blessed with one of the coolest looking costumes and helmets in recent history. I can't praise the production team enough for nailing the look of Judge Dredd's costume. He looks so bad ass.

Dredd also contains one of the best female performances in all of action cinema. Olivia Thirlby does a fantastic job as Anderson, a psychic rookie with a moral code and a kind heart. I love Anderson just as much as I love Dredd. I would argue that Anderson is just as much the lead of the film as Dredd is the lead too. Her character has a fully defined arc, numerous action scenes to showcase her skills, and an equal amount of screen time as Dredd. Anderson is a fierce, lovable, and all around clever Judge that you will love to get behind and root for. I want to stress that her dialog and actions feel very natural and realistic in contrast to the painful dialog and forced motions of Scarlett Johansson's groan worthy Black Widow character in The Avengers, Iron Man 2, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Anderson never tries to be some sexy bad-ass woman like Black Widow. She's simply a bad-ass woman who sticks to her instincts, makes the best out of a terrible situation, and also looks great with her gorgeous yellow hair and brown eyes.

Props should also be given to Lena Headey of Game of Thrones and 300 fame as the film's lead villain, Ma-Ma. How often does a hard R comic book superhero film feature both a female lead and a female villain?

Olivia Thirlby kicks ten times more ass than Scarlett Johansson.

Dredd's main claim to fame is its no nonsense action and high body count. Dredd joins the ranks of Rambo, Punisher: War Zone, RoboCop, Total Recall, Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning, The Raid: Redemption, and The Raid 2: Berandal as one of the most ultra violent action films in cinema history. Some graphic highlights in the film include bodies falling hundreds of stories and splatting onto the concrete, a henchman receiving a submachine gun to the face, a character's arm blowing clean off, and a druggie's cheek ripping open as a bullet passes through his face. Unlike today's tame comic book adaptations, Dredd doesn't mess around. This is an action film for action junkies who appreciate a helping of guts, gore, and blood.

While the action scenes aren't unique or special in their own right, they hit hard and pack enough of a punch to leave an effect on the viewer. My favorite action scene in the film is when Dredd and Anderson breach a room filled with druggies. The scene is filmed entirely with high speed cameras and produces some incredible slow motion effects. It's also worth mentioning that there are no cheap cutaways or shaky cams. Everything is filmed in a fluid like matter. The film also uses a combination of  practical squibs, digital blood, and blanks.

Much like the lead characters in RoboCop, Equalizer 3000, Red Scorpion, and The Fifth Element, Dredd has a unique hand gun of his own, the Lawgiver. The Lawgiver is a hand gun complete with several types of ammunition. The gun can fire flares, bullets, explosives, and even an electrical taser. All Dredd has to do is state the name of the ammunition ("hot shot", "high ex", "two way split") and the gun will cycle to the correct ammunition for his gun. The gun even has a built in defense mechanism that will detonate the gun if it is ever handled by someone other than the gun's owner. Without a doubt, the Lawgiver is one of the coolest and unique weapons in movie history.

Dredd also has a perfect score composed by Paul Leonard-Morgan. It's a combination between moog-like sounds and synthesized beats, sort of a neo-John Carpenter sound. I think Carpenter would be proud of it.

The Lawgiver in action.

The one thing on every Dredd fan's mind is, "When will a sequel get made?" Even though Dredd performed poorly at the box office thanks to its weak advertising, unfamiliar franchise name, and tough competition, the film has since developed a massive cult following. Fans have let Lionsgate know through petitions and DVD sales that Dredd is a hot cult commodity. Star Karl Urban has also mentioned that producers have been discussing a sequel with the studio. Therefore, it is only a matter of time until Judge Dredd returns to the big screen to confront more foes and maybe even reveal his origin story.

Overall, Dredd is a god-send for action fans. The story is sleek and compact, the performances are memorable and classic, and the action is violent and unforgiving. Dredd has quickly established itself as one of the most underrated action films in recent years and it's a shame that more people have not purchased the film or viewed it on Netflix. The film is also an example of how to make a basic and simple comic book adaptation on a small budget with a short run time. I highly recommend this film to all action fans, comic book fans, and science fiction fans.

Rating: 9/10 - One of the most impressive action films in recent years. A must see!