DREDD reviews. (SPOILERS!)

[thejudgemuffin]

Don't think I've ever been to the cinema I such an excited state in my life. Think the only thing about the previous film that got me feeling like this was the first30 seconds when they showed the covers flicking by,,,,

[thejudgemuffin]

Fair does thinking about it even more that previous film was a right pile of crap...and upsetting crap too.

[Martin Howe]

I went to see Dredd 2D yesterday and my mind now feels like a room with a fatty who has an exploding hand-grenade in his stomach. Too much gore, too many thoughts, too badly splattered out to make sense of right now. Most of it has already been said anyway. But here goes:

The senior Judge was just plain wrong. Both the uniform and characterisation were like the ones from THAT movie instead of this one. Was she really the actual CJ? Grud.

The hotshot was, I think, made deliberately ambiguous. Heatseeker rounds are right on the borderline between "future tech" and "doesn't work outside a comic strip". In any case, you don't use them near bystanders, the story in the special (buried in the garage so I can't remember which one) established that.

Otherwise it was like hearing, and mostly seeing, Dredd brought to life. Main highlights for me:

• Dredd throwing Ma-Ma's 1st officer off the balcony 150 floors up right in front of her and just turning and walking away.
• Ma-Ma's execution. A great homage to Punisher executing the bad girl of The Slavers (though imo, that version is better as is the quote after it).
• Ma-Ma's body mashed as it hits the floor; didn't think even this movie would be as bloody as that.
• The slo-mo effect wearing off just before she hit the floor, truly awesome and really horrifying
• It really captured just what life and death is like in MC1; BRUTAL!

But for me, the best bit was this:

CITIZENS OF PEACH TREES! THIS IS JUDGE DREDD.
MA-MA IS NOT THE LAW. I AM THE LAW.
OBSTRUCT ME IN CARRYING OUT THE LAW AND
YOU WILL BE SUMMARILY EXECUTED.

(or words to that effect; this is really is Dredd talking.)

I really really hope they can properly do a TV series of this, it was that good. 96mins is nowhere near enough.

[CYCLOPZ]

I really really hope they can properly do a TV series of this, it was that good. 96mins is nowhere near enough.

I would much rather see a film series. A tv series would be nice at some point, but there is so much potential for more movies.

I have said it before, but what I really like about the grungy look of this film, and the old cars, is it feels like a sci-fi film that is set in the future, but made in the 80s. Love it!

The film has an authentic 80s sci-fi feel to it even down to the soundtrack.There  were so many elements which could have been taken right out of a John Carpenter film. And I agree that the part which felt the most like Dredd was the bike chase scene at the beginning, when he is pursuing the criminals and speaking to control over the radio. This was portrayed just as it should have been, and is how it has always been done  in the comics since Prog #2. Really happy with that part of the film, and the old style vehicles just were not an issue at all for me.

The car chase was more of a visceral experience than anything else, and the real vehicles helped put you right in the middle of the action. I hope they take this same approach to the car scenes in any sequels that are made, even if the vehicles are digitally switched out with more futuristic cars.

[Steve Green]

Given the choice, I'd rather have a TV series as well.

It's no longer the poor relation, and I think it would suit Dredd down to the ground. I don't even think he would need to be in it for some of it, it would be more about Justice Department and the city.

[MR. ELIMINATOR]

In a perfect world, a series of films and then a tv show!

[Adamskilad]

Did anyone else think the introduction of Dredd and the ending were purposefully done to mimic the same scenes in the Stallone movie? Almost as if Alex Garland were demonstrating how those scenes should have played out.

As Dredd gets off his bike for the first time you have the same shot in both movies - panning up from his foot. You even have a bike stabiliser in both versions!

And especially the ending – first film you have the doors opening and all the judges cheering Dredd and this big fanfare as he snogs the girl and drives off into the sunset. In the new movie you have the shutters coming up and all the judges plain ignoring Dredd (!) and absolutely no emotional resolution with Anderson (he doesn't even bother to tell her she's passed and she walks off pissed as hell!)

[Subsplot]

Back to the whole slo mo thing at the end, apart from the fact it acts like a time stretcher, which Judges are allowed to do if the crime is serious enouth, if slo-mo where a real drug then it would have to be sime form of neural and nerve dampener, which means there's a chance the trigger wouldn't have picked up that she was dead after she hit the floor because her nerves would still be trying to process the information from the fall and she'd still be twitching and trying to breath. It all buys them a few extra seconds to get off the top floors.  And that is another point, only the top floors where rigged, Dredd must know that radio waves propigate best outwards and down. (I do and it was only wifi that taught me that.)  Throwing her off the balcony with her nerves all glued up was almost logical and likely only option he had at that point.  But I dont get why he didn't just blow her hand off at the wrist, we know he a good enougth shot to do it and has done it before infront of rookies and then turned round and told them to go for the chest shot because they don't have the experience at snap aiming like he does.  But then again, I've already said I think this is young, pre apocolypse/necropolis war Dredd, maybe he's not that experienced yet.

[Subsplot]

Ohh, something else I should say. I have never been to see the same film twice in a cinema, no film has ever appealed to me so much I couldn't wait for the video/dvd release.  But that might be about to change, no sod it, it is going to change, I'm going again on Wednesday.   

[CYCLOPZ]

I think it just comes down to I'm more of a Film fan than a TV fan. I can see many Dredd Storylines such as The Pit or Chief Judge's man working an TV in the Style of Walking Dead and Game of Thrones. I definitely think this has to happen at some point.

But I think it would be a terrible missed opportunity if characters such as the Dark Judges never had a cinematic interpretation. Especially when something like Kick Ass has been able to get a sequel.

[Beeks]

I don't like the thought of a TV series...I think it cheapens the product

[CYCLOPZ]

Did anyone else think the introduction of Dredd and the ending were purposefully done to mimic the same scenes in the Stallone movie? Almost as if Alex Garland were demonstrating how those scenes should have played out.

Not sure about that, I think a lot of thought went into choosing the shots that were most effective in the new version. I honestly don't know what they thought they were up to in the '95 Judge Dredd.

One line which I always thought was a direct wink to the audience at the Stallone Dredd in Alex Garlands script was the 'Betray The Law' line in the Judge shoot out scene.

[Danbo]

Dredd needs all the budget it can get.Other 2000ad stories could work though,Slaine and Robo Hunter spring to mind,Halo Jones too.

[JOE SOAP]

I don't like the thought of a TV series...I think it cheapens the product

If it were like BSG or the Wire?

[JOE SOAP]

But I dont get why he didn't just blow her hand off at the wrist,

because the trigger would have sensed no heartbeat and the bombs would've gone off.