DREDD reviews. (SPOILERS!)

[dweezil2]

Dredd pisses all over The Raid, which had zero character development and didn't have Judge Dredd in it!

They aren't in competition.

Sounds like some critics think they are.

[darnmarr]

I cannot believe Kermode said The Raid had a 'better depth of character' than Dredd...

Yes that was laughable: also he begins to criticise 'retro-fitted' 3D before realising that he doesn't know whether it was or not, and so goes off on a 'I hate 3D' thing. Basically his review was: doesn't like 3d, reminded him of  'brass eye', reminded him of 'the raid'. So it wasn't so much a review as a personal reaction.

[CYCLOPZ]

It's obvious that kermode had done no research before the review, in fact he was doing it on air. After all his talk of the Raid and criticizing Dredd for having the cheek of not being the Raid, he gave it 3.5 stars anyway. Which makes no sense.

[Steve Green]

Yeah, that 'too similar to the Raid, but not being as balletic as the Raid' was dopey.

[dweezil2]

Yeah, that 'too similar to the Raid, but not being as balletic as the Raid' was dopey.

There was Ballet in The Raid?

The problem with Kermode of late is the he's becoming increasingly impressed with the sound of his own voice, while throwing in "witty" pop culture reference without reviewing the fucking movie!

[darnmarr]

It was a candid, off-the-cuff, personal reaction but you couldn't call it a review: more a vox-pop or something.

[James]

Did anyone else notice how Ma-Ma's 'watch' was still flashing at the same frequency in slo-mo as it was in normal speed?

[JOE SOAP]

Did anyone else notice how Ma-Ma's 'watch' was still flashing at the same frequency in slo-mo as it was in normal speed?

That depends on whose point-of-view you think it was, I'm presuming it's our POV of the timer so that's why it was the same.

[Mark Taylor]

One thing that I didn't like is the fact none of the bad guys seemed to know who Dredd was..in the comic his very name strikes fear into perps..the most famous Judge in the Meg

I get the impression that Peach Trees is a world of it's own and most of the clan guys don't get out much and probably have no idea what's going on in the outside world.

I have to disagree that none of the bad guys knew who Dredd was though - both Domnhall Gleeson's 'Clan Techie' and Ma-Ma herself clearly did. They have no reason to know who he's anything other than a random judge until he speaks on the P.A. - but the despairing look the Techie gives Ma-Ma when Urban says "This is Judge Dredd" is not just "Should I let him talk?" ... it's already been established that he has to in order to trace Dredd's location. It's a "Shit! that's Dredd! We're going to fucking die!" look. Later, when Lex (I think it is Lex) asks Ma-Ma if she knows who the other Judge is and she says "No", she is clearly lying. For the first (only) time in the conversation she fails to look him in the eye and looks down instead.

Anyway, as for my review: after a year of highly anticipated but somewhat disappointing releases, Dredd makes up for it in spades. It's nigh perfect. A 9/10. I'm not even going to mention the few minor niggles that make it fall short of a perfect 10 until I've seen it a few more times. It would just seem petty of me to do so!

[Keef Monkey]

Any Raid comparisons were completely forgotten by me when watching the movie. On paper (and in the trailer) the concept does look like you're getting Judge Dredd: The Raid, but in practice they're such completely different films that I don't think you could compare them. I adore The Raid, it's one of my favourite action movies and I was exhilarated when I saw it, but this is just a completely different beast. Any film critic who can't separate the two shouldn't be a film critic.

I think if you're comparing them all you could really say is that The Raid is a better martial arts movie than Dredd, which sounds so preposterous you would never say it. Dredd had so much more going on that I personally think it's the better film without question.

The one scene that admittedly is very, very similar is the lockdown moment with Ma Ma on the PA. The execution of it in Dredd I found was even more effective though. It's amazingly tense, the way the camera keeps looming over them to give the impression of just how deep the stomm is that they're in. Fantastic.

But there I go comparing it to The Raid, when my whole point is they shouldn't be compared.

[JOE SOAP]

Dredd has more in common with the Wire than the Raid.

[JOE SOAP]

There are 'eerily' similar scenes with the Raid that are noteworthy though: both films start with the execution of dishonourable gang-members; they both feature scenes of hiding out in an apartment of a mother with child and of course the intercom scenes. The Raid does rely more on its martial arts than anything else though whereas Dredd has more story/character meat.

[CYCLOPZ]

My thoughts exactly on the similarities . Even the name of the main bad guy in The Raid is similar. But Alex Garland insists Gareth Evans film only has these similarities by coincidence. So I guess great minds think alike.

BTW I love The Raid.

[Adrian Bamforth]

Waw it yesterday but was hampered by the 3D glasses, whish make me nauseous, and tried to watch most of it without.

I feared the storyline too linear from the synopsis, and still thought so afterwards: It's obvious that Dredd is going to get from point A to point B, and then the interplay between him and the villain is going to be brief. Things got more interesting with the appearance of collupt judges, which I didn't expect, and thought it a shame the film wasn't more about that dynamic (if it didn't echo the first movie too much), since they were far more challenging and elusive foes, it spoke more about the system which motivated dredd, and it would have been interesting to hear how deep it went (I'm not sure how they would have got away with becoming suddenly very wealthy). As others have noted, the nature of the drug wasn't too relevant to the plot, nor was Anderson's powers.

That said, it looked good, the leads were great, and I liked the way Dredd starts of seeming fairly normal and becomes more Dredd-like as he is gradually worn down (I wouldn't have liked to see him Batman-like for the whole film). I still have my reservations about the story (though for its budget it would have to be something similar). I really hope it gets a sequel, even with the same budget, so we can have a few more twists and sci-fi for the next.

[NikolaiDante]

Hi Everyone,

I've not posted here for a very long time - don't have the time I'm afraid - but I went to see the film last night and it was excellent.

I would waffle on but my highlights were :
1. Dredd was gritty and battered - in fact his uniform was battered and grimy at he start. Urban was excellent in his acting. As he said an actor's best tools for conveying emotion are the eyes and he didn't have this. Best scene for the acting with just the lower face was when he'd been shot and the Judge was standing overhim - the grit in the jaw was pure Dredd

2. The Slo-Mo scenes of violence were very graphic but captured what we experience in the comics - after all each frame in comic is a frozen image.

3. Attention to detail - whomever was in charge of the backgrounds had done an excellent job and clearly understood the world of Dredd - I thought the Hottie Stand ad was great and did you all spot the "Chopper" and "Kenny Who?" graffiti? Was there more?

4. Simple story - I don't meant this badly, this film could have been a Mega-Epic like "Apocalypse War" or "Judgement Day" but the Dredd character would have been lost. I think the simple story of a drugs bust with a rookie in tow going horribly wrong allows the true Dredd and his resourcefulness to come through. (As well as Anderson)

5. Being Faithful - whilst certain aspects of timeline were changed I think everything in the film stayed as close to caconical history as possible. Perhaps this could be viewed as a early point in time in Dredd's history where the PSI division was only just getting going.

I did find myself cringing when the bad guy picked up Anderson's gun as I KNEW what was going to happen when he pulled the trigger - and it did. I could tell that came as a surprise to some of the audience!

All in all this film lived up to expectations and can finally bury the corpse of the celluloid disaster from the 20th Century. Can't wait to see what happens next!!

PS this film cleary used 3D well

Barny