DREDD reviews. (SPOILERS!)

[Goaty]

I thought that was great scene, and Dredd headbutted! how coolest is that??

And again I mentioned it before, it still interesting to see 5 stars on American Flag...

[Eric Plumrose]

Dredd has gone there in the comic - see his interrogation of Ruskin in After the Bombs

Not read it. Who wrote it?

[shaolin_monkey]

Remember folks, this may be the ONLY OPPORTUNITY we get to see it on the big screen, so do whatever you can to save money elsewhere and spend it on going to see it. 

I personally have avoided my usual heavy weekend of drinking, saving me enough money to see it about three or four more times.  I'll be going to see it for a fourth time before the week is out, and then a couple of times before the end of it's run.

And yeah, word of mouth on Twitter - I made a comment about it being 100% fresh on RT after nearly 30 critic reviews, and it ended up getting retweeted 13 times, maybe more by now - that's never happened to any of my tweets before!!!   

My own thoughts on the film are it gets better every time you see it.  The first time, at the preview, I was just so gobsmacked by it I missed so many things.  On my third viewing I was picking up on graffiti, film posters, shops signs, random comments, where the soundtrack comes in and out, and so much more.  It's a beautifully crafted film. 

[Keef Monkey]

There was tangible squirming and discomfort as Mama approached the ground, as people realised what was about to happen.

A colleague has just said the same thing to me, his screening was pretty busy and he says there was a group "ooooooooh" actually audible when the ground appears. My screenings were the same, you could feel everyone gripping their armrests. I think it's so effective because at that point you're enjoying the gorgeous slo-mo visuals that you almost forget a horrible death is imminent. It almost makes Ma Ma's death seem like a really beautiful thing and then the ugly reality sinks in. Brilliant.

Didn't bat an eyelid at Dredd's aggressive interrogation, he's done far worse as a means to an end.

Off for my third viewing tonight with my regular movie buddy, really looking forward to it, possibly even more than the first time.

[Jim_Campbell]

Despite earlier precedent of 'torture is illegal' in an early story, Dredd has gone there in the comic - see his interrogation of Ruskin in After the Bombs, depends what Mega City Law says on the issue - it's only out of character if it's not 'legal'.

Also: Dredd has always been about expediency. Having realized that everything Ma-Ma is doing is intended to keep Kay out of the interrogation cubes and that her disproportionate response clearly hints that he's missed something big, finding out what that is immediately becomes a top priority and I have no issue* with seeing a man who once had a reporter lobotomised under the Security of the City Act roughing up a suspect.

Cheers

Jim

*From a character perspective, obviously.

[Steve Green]

Dredd has gone there in the comic - see his interrogation of Ruskin in After the Bombs

Not read it. Who wrote it?

John Wagner - came straight after the Total War/Terror plot.

Still small beans compared to nuking a billion innocent cits in the Apocalypse War.

[radiator]

My initial response to the look of the film was that I thought it looked a bit 'off' somehow - perhaps too grungy or too 'digital' in feel, and now I've seen it again I feel like I can articulate myself a bit better. Basically, I don't really like the colour palette/grading of the film. It's got a sort of greeny/yellowy cast which personally I find a bit sickly and off-putting for some reason. I know it's probably supposed to communicate the decay of the city, but I just don't like it. Also, other parts - mostly the slo mo sequences but not exclusively - have that obnoxiously 'teal and orange' grading that is so common these days.

Just a subjective thing, and as gripes go it's a minor, cosmetic point. Others may like it, but I probably would have preferred a different approach, maybe a cooler, more desaturated pallette, with the reds - as on Dredd's visor and the copious amounts of blood - picked out.

A colleague has just said the same thing to me, his screening was pretty busy and he says there was a group "ooooooooh" actually audible when the ground appears. My screenings were the same, you could feel everyone gripping their armrests. I think it's so effective because at that point you're enjoying the gorgeous slo-mo visuals that you almost forget a horrible death is imminent.

Yes totally.

I think the discomfort was due to people expecting it to not cut away as we see Mama from the side in a wide shot as she is about to hit the floor. That would have been bloody gruesome, but I think it's handled well - even the impact itself is quite beautiful and dreamlike - like something from a music video. It wasn't hard for me to watch at all.

Also: Dredd has always been about expediency. Having realized that everything Ma-Ma is doing is intended to keep Kay out of the interrogation cubes and that her disproportionate response clearly hints that he's missed something big, finding out what that is immediately becomes a top priority

Bang on.

this may be the ONLY OPPORTUNITY we get to see it on the big screen, so do whatever you can to save money elsewhere and spend it on going to see it.

YES! Got 5 others to see it with me last night - going to see it again Tues/Weds, this time on one of Vue's massive 'Xtreme' screens - and this time taking my girlfriend and hopefully drag along a few others too. I'm also going to relentlessly nag my brother in law to go and see it until he complies. He went to see Expendables 2, and if he liked that load of codswallop it's fair to say that Dredd is going to blow his mind.

The weather seems to be cooling off today, so hopefully that bodes well for Dredd's box office prospects the rest of the week, especially now it's (apparently) officially number 1!. As I said, my showing was quiet, but the cinema itself was all but deserted - there were hardly even any staff in the place and we had to buy our tickets from the snack bar.

[Hairwolf]

Been avoiding coming here until I'd seen it (no self control when it comes to spoiler tags) but went twice over the weekend, once with not so geeky mates who loved it and once with another me who FUCKING loved it.
Much like the man himself, it's lean, uncompromising, focused brutality...beautifully paced (love the intro from the taut opening monologue to being thrown straight into a high speed pursuit) and the minimalist no-nonsense action movie with a brain script drives it so well...oh and the soundtrack meshes perfectly with the visuals..so yeah...loved it.
Congrats to everyone involved with the making of this and indeed for the U.K. box office No.1 - much deserved.

[Spaceghost]

My initial response to the look of the film was that I thought it looked a bit 'off' somehow - perhaps too grungy or too 'digital' in feel, and now I've seen it again I feel like I can articulate myself a bit better. Basically, I don't really like the colour palette/grading of the film. It's got a sort of greeny/yellowy cast which personally I find a bit sickly and off-putting for some reason. I know it's probably supposed to communicate the decay of the city, but I just don't like it. Also, other parts - mostly the slo mo sequences but not exclusively - have that obnoxiously 'teal and orange' grading that is so common these days.

Just a subjective thing, and as gripes go it's a minor, cosmetic point. Others may like it, but I probably would have preferred a different approach, maybe a cooler, more desaturated pallette, with the reds - as on Dredd's visor and the copious amounts of blood - picked out.

I, on the other hand, really liked the colour pallette used. I thought the high contrast and sickly yellows really added to the whole queasy atmosphere. I liked the bright red blood too. Not deliberately disagreeing but these were things that stood out to me as real positives.

I've been trying to avoid finding fault, at least for a while, but if I was pushed, I'd have to say there were a couple of issues.

I can't pretend that I wasn't a little disappointed with the extremely contemporary look of Mega-City One, especially the fact that the city wasn't as densely packed with blocks as the comic version. Also, the vehicles were a bit too modern day. I was forwarned about both of these aesthetic issues from reading the film threads but I still couldn't help imagining how cool it would look if it had been a bit closer to the comic.

It came close during the scene just after Dredd and Anderson had blown out the wall and jumped out onto the skateboard ramp. The nighttime view of the city and the beautifully lit blocks looked great.

I realise that some of this was down to budget and my disappointment faded once the action moved into Peach Trees.

The only other issue I had was that I thought the actress playing the Chief Judge didn't do a very good job of projecting the authority that the role demands. She was too casual and laid back.

All the important stuff; Dredd and Anderson's character, dialogue, uniform, bike, gun, the lok of the blocks inside and out, all done perfectly.

[Proudhuff]

Saw it saturday am at a local multi, about forty folks in for it and the lights bounced of most of their domes!!

Glad to see the correct way to say Cursed Earth right at the start 

Various thangs here had prepared me for the violence but not the over all bleakness and grimness of the film's world view and Dredd's comporment. While this was fine with me, (as was the lack of pithy one liners every time someone is shot, and a lack of comic side kick ) I'm not sure the American audience will feel the same. Still their loss. I think this movie may even be a slow burner in the way Bladerunner was.

IMHO this is the best Dredd we could have hoped for on the big screen and Karl, Alex and the team are to be congratulated. 

[radiator]

The only other issue I had was that I thought the actress playing the Chief Judge didn't do a very good job of projecting the authority that the role demands. She was too casual and laid back.

Hmmm, yes. I hate to criticise, but she stood out to me as the only weak link in a very strong cast. Some of Mama's goons were a bit on the cartoonish side also.

I can't pretend that I wasn't a little disappointed with the extremely contemporary look of Mega-City One, especially the fact that the city wasn't as densely packed with blocks as the comic version.

Alex said they experimented with having the mega-blocks closer together, but the result was they lost their sense of scale and just started to look like regular skyscrapers. Dispersing them out as they have exaggerates the contrast between them and the regular size buildings and helps to sell the concept.

As for the less futuristic feel, it's only really that one van that looks a little out of place to me. Watching the film a second time, I noticed that the buildings and the city look a lot more futuristic than I remembered from seeing it the first time. There's some really great shots - like the flyover of the crazy spaghetti junction, and the world of Mega-City One always feels like a real, tangible place. I wasn't keen at first, but I'm very pleasantly surprised at how well it works.

[SuperSurfer]

Really hit the spot!

Saw it on Sat at the Empire with the gathering organised by Commando Forces. Thanks for that CF – really appreciate it. Was a great evening.

I avoided this thread and many of the others from way back when script was out in the wild.

Tons already covered here. Yes, Urban fantastic, as was in particular Thirlby. Urban = early Ezquerra Dredd.

Summed up the essence of source material. Gritty, raw, no holds barred – rough round the edges (I mean that in a good way). Gave me the same buzz I had when I first read 2000AD.

A word that sums it up for me: uncompromising.

I like the way the film set out its stall from the outset. The sequence with the growling lawmaster chase as it busted down the undersked and pumping soundtrack had me grinning like a buffoon.   

Really like the cinematography. I like the way it had a distinct visual style, the contrast of the dull scenes to the saturated colours.

I'd only seen one 3D film before: Avengers. It looked as if elements were flat cardboard cut outs placed in front of each other. Didn't get the point.

3D in DREDD was 3D. In places astounding. At one point towards the beginning I was drawn in so much I actually leant over to see around something blurry in the foreground. Bath scene out of this world. Never thought 3D could create such an illusion of depth as the water fanned outwards. When Ma Ma was falling she seemed to be way outside of the screen. Perhaps some purists would argue this kind of thing makes the viewer conscious they are watching a film rather than losing themselves in the story, but I don't care. It just added to the experience.

I really liked the way the film switched from action to almost surreal, dreamlike artistic scenes. Some of the slo-mo and other scenes reminded me of David Lynch's work. Almost like being submerged in water and then coming back up for air. Reminds me of Raging Bull in that respect with the boxing sequences.

Will the 3D date the film in 20 years time? I don't think so as I would imagine the visuals will work superbly in 2D. How many films do not feel anchored to the era they were produced in some way? Very few I can think of at the moment. I momentarily took off the 3D glasses and as expected they were dulling some of the colours so look forward to seeing it on the cathode ray tube on DVD in months to come.

Script was what I expected – pretty straightforward – not multilayered but did the job fine in establishing how Dredd should be portrayed.

Regarding the low tech in comparison to the comic version – again fine by me. The look of the vehicles didn't jar for me at all. As others said, it was set somewhere between now and the comic. Such a vast sprawling city would have all sorts of sectors with a different feel.

Loved the scene with Anderson out on the skate park taking stock. Loved the look on Ma Ma when it was dawning on her that things weren't going her way. Also the shot of Dredd with the reflection of the flames on his visor when he fried those perps with the incendiary.

Will see it again in a week or so. It will be the first film I see more than once in a cinema. (Actually think I might have seen Blue Velvet twice.)

More later. I'm still ploughing through this thread at both ends trying to read every post.

Oh, did I mention I liked it? Hell yes. It really felt like 2000AD on screen.

[chuffsteruk]

Am I the only one who wanted to see the hacker executed too?

[shaolin_monkey]

Am I the only one who wanted to see the hacker executed too?

I felt really fucking sorry for that guy, and kudos to the actor (who we met briefly at the preview screening) for portrayinig such a tortured soul.  He really was caught between the devil and the deep blue sea, and I really thought he expressed that conflict and angst beautifully.  Excellent performance.

Re the opening scene with the bike and van, I bloody loved it!!  I kept thinking of that Bolland cover that someone posted up a while back (was it a Quality comic cover?) with Dredd hanging off the front of a van.  I spoke to Alex Garland about that, and he thought I was being nice to him and sparing his feelings when I said I really enjoyed that part, but no - it's a blast!  Dredd screaming through traffic, the bad dudes realising a Judge is on their tail, 'Do you require backup?' 'No.'  - it was all brilliant!  I was grinning from ear to ear like a bloody goon on each of the three occasions I've seen that bit so far.  As an opening to the film it was just excellent - grabbing viewers by the balls right from the outset, as it should be.

[radiator]

That's Domhnall Gleeson, probably best known for playing the eldest Weasely brother in Harry Potters 7 and 8. He's a great actor - son of the excellent Brendan Gleeson.

He used to be in Irish sketch show Your Bad Self - love this sketch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcDKeos5puI