by Nick Growall
Staff writer
Bloody. Stylish. Soulless.
If there were three words to summarize “Dredd,” the second cinematic outing of the classic “2000 AD” comic, these would certainly fit the bill. Despite its large amount of gore and war, this mostly “by the book” action flick doesn’t quite deliver in terms of story and creativity.
The last time we saw the character Judge Dredd on the big screen, he was played by Sylvester Stallone back in 1995 in a film that was universally panned.
This time around, director Pete Travis (“Vantage Point”) and writer Alex Garland sought to make Dredd closer to his grittier comic origins, from the comic’s futuristic setting to Dredd himself, refusing to remove the iconic helmet.
The story takes place in the future, where the United States has become a wasteland. On the east coast lies Mega-City One, a vast, violent metropolis containing over 800 million residents where crime runs rampant.
The only order in this city are the Judges, a supreme police force who are given the ability to be judge, jury and executioner.
Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is tasked with evaluating rookie Judge Anderson (Olivia Thrilby), a psychic who has failed the tests to become a full Judge. While investigating a triple homicide, Dredd and Anderson venture into the 200-story slum tower Peach Trees, controlled and operated by drug lord Madeline Madrigal (Lena Heady), better known as Ma-Ma.
After arresting Kay, one of Ma-Ma’s henchmen, the two Judges are trapped in the tower by Ma-Ma’s forces. In order to escape, the two Judges will have to reach the top of the tower and overthrow Ma-Ma and her drug ring, responsible for creating and trafficking the drug Slo-Mo.
Karl Urban (“Lord of the Rings” Trilogy, “Bourne Supremacy,” “Star Trek”) dons the helmet this time around, swapping the cheesy one-liners for a much more serious take on the character. Urban’s Dredd is less human and more of an uncompromising, unstoppable force.
Yet the film itself only gives Urban a few shining moments to truly display Dredd’s cool demeanor and supreme skills, the very reason why people fell in love with the character in the first place.
Olivia Thrillby (“Juno”) does a good job portraying the young rookie Anderson who proves her mettle through “trial by fire.” Initially timid and unsure of herself, she shows Anderson’s development into a confident and tough heroine, winning the approval of even Dredd himself.
Lena Heady (“300”) portrays the hooker turned drug lord Ma-Ma to reasonable effect, but doesn’t offer a true challenge to our hero, either physically or mentally.
Like most comic book heroes, they are often only as good as their villain counterparts, and Dredd deserves someone to test not only his skills as a Judge, but also his loyalty to the justice system.
The film is splattered in blood, exposing you to the gruesome reality of Mega-City One in every aspect. From Ma-Ma skinning her insubordinate workers, throwing them out the windows of the tower, to Anderson’s psychic abilities leading us into the most twisted and darkest parts of their enemies’ minds, the film holds very few punches.
It even slows down the carnage for us with the effective use of the Slo-Mo drug, which as the film explains slows down time for its abusers.
However, while the entire film is one action sequence after another, most of these scenes are predictable and unimaginative. Most of the blame could possibly be put on the film’s setting; there are only so many ways to shoot your way through or blow up a building.
The movie also has smaller moments, commenting on the state of the city itself, the effectiveness of the Judges’ brand of justice and so on. Yet we never seem to truly dive into these subjects beyond face value, most of it being left tossed aside with the countless bodies and rubble.
I expected more from Alex Garland, finding myself surprisingly disappointed by someone who wrote the screenplays for such memorable genre fair as “28 Days Later” and “Sunshine.”
While a step in the right direction, taking Dredd back to his gritty, darker roots and injecting a sense of futuristic style, the film fails to separate itself from other modern sci-fi actioners.
While at times cool to look at, the film never takes your breath away due to its hollow action and story.
One can only hope that Judge Dredd, being the badass he is, will get another chance at justice on the silver screen.