It doesn't happen all too often anymore that I go to watch a movie without having checked its rating on IMDb before. With "Dredd" I thought I had checked the rating and that it was somewhere around 6.6. So when I went to the movies I pretty much expected this to be mildly entertaining, but utterly forgettable.
The first ten minutes of "Dredd" did little to alter this expectation. The 3D is awfully done and distracting. We learn about a drug called Slow-Mo and its effects don't translate too well to the screen. Everything just happens really slowly (as you would expect) and that's it. It is as gripping as it sounds. A car chase comes and goes, and I was ready to be bored for the rest of the movie.
However, as soon as Judge Dredd and his female co-star Anderson go to investigate three murders in an apartment building things pick up. The two Judges get locked in with thousands of thugs who want to kill them. To survive the two must fight their way to the top of the skyscraper and kill the Überboss (a somewhat underwhelming character played by Lena Headey).
Anybody who has seen the Korean action film "The Raid" will be reminded of that movie's plot from here on in. The similarity is an unfortunate coincidence. Apparently "Dredd"'s screenplay had been finished before that of "The Raid", but seeing how the American movie was released later, it unjustly seems like a rip off now. Also, most people seem to prefer "The Raid". Not me. I find the highly choreographed Korean movie tiring after 10 minutes, "Dredd", on the other hand, is entertaining and enjoyably old school in its ultra brutal depiction of violence.
It's not a politically correct movie. In fact, its morals are downright rotten, but that's in the nature of the main character. I have never read the original comics (which is probably also why i didn't think the Sylvester Stallone movie from 1995 was all that horrible), but from what I've heard the movie is rather faithful to the spirit of its source material. If you find fault with it, you should blame the character's creators John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, not the makers of this movie.
"Dredd" is the closest thing to an old school action flick, much ballsier and better than "The Expendables" and its sequel that tried to be the real deal. Unfortunately, audiences didn't requite the effort. That way "Dredd" will probably be a last reminder of a time when action movies actually seemed dangerous and forbidden.
The first ten minutes of "Dredd" did little to alter this expectation. The 3D is awfully done and distracting. We learn about a drug called Slow-Mo and its effects don't translate too well to the screen. Everything just happens really slowly (as you would expect) and that's it. It is as gripping as it sounds. A car chase comes and goes, and I was ready to be bored for the rest of the movie.
However, as soon as Judge Dredd and his female co-star Anderson go to investigate three murders in an apartment building things pick up. The two Judges get locked in with thousands of thugs who want to kill them. To survive the two must fight their way to the top of the skyscraper and kill the Überboss (a somewhat underwhelming character played by Lena Headey).
Anybody who has seen the Korean action film "The Raid" will be reminded of that movie's plot from here on in. The similarity is an unfortunate coincidence. Apparently "Dredd"'s screenplay had been finished before that of "The Raid", but seeing how the American movie was released later, it unjustly seems like a rip off now. Also, most people seem to prefer "The Raid". Not me. I find the highly choreographed Korean movie tiring after 10 minutes, "Dredd", on the other hand, is entertaining and enjoyably old school in its ultra brutal depiction of violence.
It's not a politically correct movie. In fact, its morals are downright rotten, but that's in the nature of the main character. I have never read the original comics (which is probably also why i didn't think the Sylvester Stallone movie from 1995 was all that horrible), but from what I've heard the movie is rather faithful to the spirit of its source material. If you find fault with it, you should blame the character's creators John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, not the makers of this movie.
"Dredd" is the closest thing to an old school action flick, much ballsier and better than "The Expendables" and its sequel that tried to be the real deal. Unfortunately, audiences didn't requite the effort. That way "Dredd" will probably be a last reminder of a time when action movies actually seemed dangerous and forbidden.