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DREDD reviews. (SPOILERS!)

Started by blackmocco, 30 August, 2012, 10:17:57 PM

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Michaelvk

You have never felt pain until you've trodden barefoot on an upturned lego brick..

Funt Solo

Quoteno memorable action sequences.  No "Lobby from The Matrix", no "Building Site chase from Casino Royale", no "Lightsabre fight from Phantom Menace"

Ah, but The Matrix (touted on release as the best sci-fi movie of all time) has faded a bit over time.  If the best thing about your movie is a new special effect (bullet time), then that doesn't speak well of the movie.  Casino Royale's building site chase is ridiculously contrived: "we want to insert free running - shoulder it in here".  And The Phantom Menace isn't even a proper Star Wars film.

I'd rather a movie be good overall, than have a single stand-out memorable scene.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Definitely Not Mister Pops

You may quote me on that.

Funt Solo

I just saw Dredd in 3D at the movies last night - and I REALLY enjoyed it - I hope it does well enough over time for a sequel, but even if it doesn't, at least we got a proper Dredd movie after the Stallone abortion. (It's not even fair to blame Stallone, as he only plays Rob Schneider's sidekick.)

Karl Urban was Dredd - fantastic grimace, amazing chin work. I thought the general plot a very smart choice, and the sprawling urban dystopia very well realized.

You've probably all already discussed the pros and cons of a Fifth Element style MC-1 vs. what was presented in this movie - but I really liked the realism of it.  It felt like a future you could be living in. The Hall of Justice as a heavily fortified bastion seemed so fitting, and I liked a depiction of MC-1 that would make your average citizen want to hide in a block for safety.

Things I thought didn't work so well:

  • The hot-shot. It seemed overcooked (ha!) as a scene. Why not just shoot him with a normal bullet? (Also - nerd alert - the hot shot is a homing bullet - not a head-melting bullet. I know the makers read the comic so why insert a glaring apple cart knocker like this?)  It wasn't double-whammy shit, but it was following it around in a dark overcoat.
  • Mini-guns being able to shoot through all those apartments in a block that size. I don't like to have my willing suspension of disbelief stretched too thin, which this did, and then my psyche was busy trampolining on it because the build-up to that scene took way too long.
  • Stunning the juves. (Won't somebody think of the children?) Either don't have juves with guns, or if you do have them, shoot them along with everyone else. This was the only bit of the movie where you could have inserted Stallone and it wouldn't have made any difference.
  • Dredd feeding Ma-Ma slo-mo. Motive-wise, it would've worked better if she'd taken the slo-mo herself, perhaps during the fall. She was a crazy bastich - kind of thing you could imagine her doing. Dredd doing it felt like torture. Illegal use of narcotics - off to Titan with him!
  • Some awkward silent moments in the script. Like when Dredd is dressing Anderson's wound - she looks up at him like she's in love (which is weird).  What are they thinking? She might be psychic, but the audience aren't. Well, not me. Also, when she gives Dredd her badge and then walks off in a huff - why doesn't he call her back?  He looks like he's just been dumped. Given that the entire plot revolved around Anderson's test for Judge-status, we should have seen her being given it - how would she react?
  • "Wait? Why should I wait?" went on far too long. Dredd should have stabbed him with his boot knife. "One chance - boot knife!"

Love it, though. Proper Dredd. On film. In 3D.  Thanks!

(Corrupt Judges were a great touch.)
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Michaelvk

    Can't help on the character references, however..

Quote from: Funt Solo on 07 October, 2012, 06:27:57 PM
  • The hot-shot. It seemed overcooked (ha!) as a scene. Why not just shoot him with a normal bullet? (Also - nerd alert - the hot shot is a homing bullet - not a head-melting bullet. I know the makers read the comic so why insert a glaring apple cart knocker like this?)  It wasn't double-whammy shit, but it was following it around in a dark overcoat.

With a standard round there's the possibility that the round could shatter and cause trauma to the hostage in such close proximity to the target. The hot shot round, a possible derivative of the incendiary on a slow burning fuse, would cause internal trauma contained within the assailants head.

Quote
  • Mini-guns being able to shoot through all those apartments in a block that size. I don't like to have my willing suspension of disbelief stretched too thin, which this did, and then my psyche was busy trampolining on it because the build-up to that scene took way too long.

Those were designed as a .50 cal weapon. A .50 round, at that distance, and depending on the type of round (armor piercing, incendiary, explosive tipped.. They do exist, honest!) will happily make short work of concrete, especially at that relatively short range when the wound is carrying huge amounts of kinetic energy. They're also firing at around 3000 rounds a minute, which is a lot of lead. The three of them would chew the place up as if it were made of jacobs crackers.

Quote
  • Some awkward silent moments in the script. Like when Dredd is dressing Anderson's wound - she looks up at him like she's in love (which is weird).  What are they thinking? She might be psychic, but the audience aren't. Well, not me.
Trauma.. She's been shot after all..

QuoteAlso, when she gives Dredd her badge and then walks off in a huff - why doesn't he call her back?  He looks like he's just been dumped. Given that the entire plot revolved around Anderson's test for Judge-status, we should have seen her being given it - how would she react?[/li][/list]

No real need to, they know where to find her, and he's letting her vent after a fairly hairy few hours..

Quote
  • "Wait? Why should I wait?" went on far too long. Dredd should have stabbed him with his boot knife. "One chance - boot knife!"

Never bring a knife to a gun fight, especially when someone is just out of reach, has the drop on you and you're suffering a fair amount of physical trauma.

Glad you liked it overall..
You have never felt pain until you've trodden barefoot on an upturned lego brick..

Michaelvk

round, not wound.. Damn you no edit button!!!
You have never felt pain until you've trodden barefoot on an upturned lego brick..

CraveNoir

Quote from: Funt Solo on 07 October, 2012, 06:27:57 PM
Dredd feeding Ma-Ma slo-mo. Motive-wise, it would've worked better if she'd taken the slo-mo herself, perhaps during the fall. She was a crazy bastich - kind of thing you could imagine her doing. Dredd doing it felt like torture. Illegal use of narcotics - off to Titan with him!

Dredd's questionable action bothered me after the second time I saw it, but on the third time I noticed that even though he's pumped the vapour into her mouth, she then chooses to inhale it. She's resigned to her fate.

JOE SOAP

Quote from: CraveNoir on 07 October, 2012, 10:22:33 PM
Dredd's questionable action bothered me after the second time I saw it, but on the third time I noticed that even though he's pumped the vapour into her mouth, she then chooses to inhale it. She's resigned to her fate.


As Dredd is resigned to his Judgement of her. They're both the most fatalistic characters in the film.

Tiplodocus

Mmm. That's not really what I meant about "no memorable set piece". It's quite hard to get into words.

Budget shouldn't come into it though. Most people don't even bother with reviews let alone know how much the budget of a film was so if I see a lot of billboards with a big future cop on it with a city in flames behind him, and the film is showing in my local mutiplex, I don't think I'd go in with the mindset of "This didn't cost much, I'd better not expect any stand out moments".

And naturally, The Matrix has aged - that's not what I meant either, I don't think I came out of DREDD with a "Blimey, I'd never seen that before, that was cool!" moment in my head that I could rave on to people about.

Sure some elements of the gore were new and the way the 3D and slo-mo worked together were good but as lots have people have mentioned above, these both have drawbacks in that some people don't like excessive gore (I feel it really is a niche thing) and some people don't like 3D.

So what were the things in the movie could I say "This was really cool, go see this" to people?

Even the spot on characterisation of Dredd and Anderson means a lot less to a civilian viewer than it does to us.
Be excellent to each other. And party on!

radiator

Quotewhen she gives Dredd her badge and then walks off in a huff - why doesn't he call her back?  He looks like he's just been dumped. Given that the entire plot revolved around Anderson's test for Judge-status, we should have seen her being given it - how would she react?

He's still mulling it over - he only passes her begrudgingly (which grates because it means admitting to himself that he was wrong about her).

Also: why would he tell her straight away? This ain't a driving license test.

The aforementioned shot of Anderson heading out on patrol, carrying her helmet, is enough resolution for me.

W. R. Logan

A link for Robo-Cop pics but Dredd gets a very small mention about reboots being done right.

http://www.screengeek.co.uk/news/article/robocop-set-pics-reveal-the-suit

PreacherCain

Quote from: Tiplodocus on 08 October, 2012, 12:28:01 PM
Mmm. That's not really what I meant about "no memorable set piece". It's quite hard to get into words.

Budget shouldn't come into it though. Most people don't even bother with reviews let alone know how much the budget of a film was so if I see a lot of billboards with a big future cop on it with a city in flames behind him, and the film is showing in my local mutiplex, I don't think I'd go in with the mindset of "This didn't cost much, I'd better not expect any stand out moments".

And naturally, The Matrix has aged - that's not what I meant either, I don't think I came out of DREDD with a "Blimey, I'd never seen that before, that was cool!" moment in my head that I could rave on to people about.

Agreed. The action scenes were really quite poor in Dredd and lacked a lot of imagination. I don't buy the budget argument for this either; plenty of other films have fantastic action sequences and had even smaller budgets than Dredd. Looper cost $15 million less than Dredd and had very well executed action sequences and a great looking futuristic city. I liked Dredd a lot but I did feel the action scenes and general pacing were its two weak points.

Funt Solo

QuoteThe aforementioned shot of Anderson heading out on patrol, carrying her helmet, is enough resolution for me.

That's a very necessary shot - because there we do get our resolution.  I just would have preferred Dredd (title character and all) to have been more directly involved.  I know we can come up with motivations and so on for why the characters behave the way they do and resolve it in our minds that way - I just felt that there was a large gap there (in the script) where I would have preferred Dredd to say something - for them to have been more explicit communication between the two main characters, rather than teleporting in the Chief Judge to do some Basil Exposition.

It's not that I need to be spoon fed plot points (the voice over in Blade Runner was not necessary) - just that I didn't think the strong, silent approach from Dredd in some scenes did us any favors. It's not like we can use his eyes for guidance on what he's thinking.

It's like when you have to explain the joke to someone. It might still be funny, technically, but...
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Funt Solo

Quotefor them to have been

"for there to have been"
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Funt Solo

QuoteSo what were the things in the movie could I say "This was really cool, go see this" to people?

I know what you mean: the set pieces are, I guess, the mini-guns, and to some extent the incendiary round. The mini-guns made my space maths feel wobbly (despite the fact that it's probably all highly realistic) and even though the incendiary was horribly effective, it was a bit ... sick. Maybe the entire movie is the set piece - it's what the word rollicking was made for.  Almost non-stop action from start to finish.  The bit I couldn't stop telling people about was the bullet going through the guys cheek.  I've never seen that before.  (Like you said, though - not everyone's cup of tea to watch slow-mo exit wounds in 3D.)

QuoteEven the spot on characterisation of Dredd and Anderson means a lot less to a civilian viewer than it does to us.

Simple solution: start 'em on Prog #1 and get them caught up.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++