DREDD reviews. (SPOILERS!)

[TordelBack]

Aye, and it makes perfect sense.  There's been a deep-rooted split in the setup of MC-1 in the comics between a hi-tech pristine star-scraper city with flying cars and roof-gardens, and its role as an over-crowded post-apocalyptic hellhole.  How do you manufacture mo-pads and hov-pods for 800 million people when most of the world is a smoking ruin?  How do the 90% on Welf afford them?  Why is the city so huge when everyone lives in kilometre-high 40K-population blocks?  Answer (as in the comic) is that they don't.

It's absolutely consistent with the setup that some of the population are crammed into mega-blocks, while the rest live in sprawling pre-war buildings and shanties around them, the Low-Lifes, Cardboard Cities and Old Towns of the comic.   It's consistent that there are hyper-tech handguns and shiny glass monoliths in the hands of the Judges, and AK-47s and minivans in the hands of the citizens.  Fuzzy security cameras run by the gangs and sophisticated facial recognition systems run by the judges.  This is the future, but one living, as Dredd's VO says, in the ruins of the Old World.  I love the aesthetic, and I love how it represents both sides of the city as shown in the comic, the John Burns/Steve Dillon/Cam Kennedy side, and the Ron Smith/Carlos Ezquerra/Brian Bolland side.  Much as I love to see cool SF vehicles and funky skyscrapers, I've already seen 'em: this, this is something new and real.

[Cookyman]

A couple of British podcasts on Dredd 3D

Cinematic Dramatic
http://www.geekplanetonline.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=3613:cinematic-dramatic-4x12-dredd&Itemid=204

Hypnobobs - A Beginners Guide To Judge Dredd with Dredd3d review.
http://www.geekplanetonline.com/hosting/originals/hypnobobs/?p=episode&name=2012-09-09_hypnobobs_93__the_beginners_guide_to_judge_dredd.mp3&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Hypnobobs+%28Hypnobobs%29

[locustsofdeath!]

I've now seen the film twice - once in 3D with a date and once in 2D on my own.

I preferred it in 2D, as I'm not a fan of 3D.

The film...was just okay for me. I found it entertaining to a point, though a bit frustrating here and there. The second viewing was a little better in some respects, a little worse in others.

I loved Urban as Dredd. But I felt there were a couple of real out-of-character instance that occured throughout the film (script's fault, not Urban's). The scene in which Dredd is caught off-guard by a pair of juves bothered me, as I can't believe Dredd in such a scenario would be anything but keenly aware of eveything around him; had those juves been hardened perps, Dredd would be Dedd. This sequence seemed only to serve a way to get Anderson captured. I also didn't much like Dredd's "judging" of Ma Ma. I felt the "real" Judge Dredd would never have tossed an immobile perp out a window, let alone actually use an illegal substance to aide in making that perp's fate more "tormenting". Didn't ring true for me.

I absolutely loved Olivia (Thrillby) Thirlby as Anderson, and found that she really took over the movie for me; I completely bought into her performance, and her transition from naive (or reluctant) cadet to judge was believable, from a vulnerable youth to perp-killer. Sure, she wasn't comic-book Anderson, but did she ever create a wonderful, memorable character.

The baddies, however, I found bland and boring. These guys were cooler in Robobcop or even Predator 2. Ma Ma wasn't really menacing to me, and I found myself wondering often how a drugged-out waif could possibly rise to the head of a multi-block drug cartel in this brutal world. Dredd's world really allows for unique (and fun) baddies...and to me, none of the baddies we got stuck out.

Whilst I was indifferent about Mega-City 1's appearance as near-future America, I did indeed enjoy the squalid run-down block interiors. That's fantastic set design.


I may see it again. I'll certainly buy the blu ray. I'm glad to have seen a Dredd film on the big screen (didn't bother to see the Stallone film in the cinema).

[TordelBack]

Yeah Locusts, some of your niggles are my niggles, my niggler.  I do think Dredd's execution of Ma Ma is the only real moment where movie Dredd was incompatible with comic Dredd - but even then, not implausibly so. There have been times when the Law has been different, and this MC-1 seemed to fit the bill.  I did however find it extremely cool, Ma Ma's descent through the scenes of her crimes being quite superb. 

I also wondered if perhaps SPOILER FOR DAY OF CHAOS [spoiler]the Beeny resignation scene[/spoiler] in Day of Chaos might have been Wagner's reaction/clarification to the Dredd-beats-Kay classroom scene, which while well within how the character has been written from time to time, but still didn't sit quite right with me. 

I actually bought Ma Ma as a ganglord, and a scary adversary.  She seemed to succeed through a fey uncaring brutality, and her resigned fatalism towards the end really felt like a Judge Dredd villain to me - I was reminded of Nero Narcos, for example. 

My main quibble was the events that spill out from the escape to the skate park.  Dredd makes it clear on his radio that the situation is so serious he can't even wait there for backup. This seems to be at odds with the causalness with which Volt and Guthrie(?) just hang about at the front door waiting, given that we've just seen that a big gun and some hi-ex can breach the war-shielding

That said, that's a very few very minor niggles with a film that I thoroughly enjoyed. Remarkable for an adaptation of a property I so love. 

[PsychoGoatee]

It's interesting, it seems discussion of the movie itself has slowed down, while the box office topic is always getting new posts.

Anyways, anybody have thoughts on what I mentioned about the ending? Why do you think Dredd didn't tell Anderson she passed, instead letting her give him the badge and walk away? Typically in comics he would tell them they passed, and it's an interesting choice in that it doesn't five the audience a satisfying moment there between them as peers.

Though I do love how bleak the ending is, and how it captures that spirit of this being a neverending job. Great movie, seeing it again in just a couple hours.

[COMMANDO FORCES]

Perhaps he had to inform his superiors first of her result and they would inform Anderson through the system!

[Aonghus]

It's interesting, it seems discussion of the movie itself has slowed down, while the box office topic is always getting new posts.

Anyways, anybody have thoughts on what I mentioned about the ending? Why do you think Dredd didn't tell Anderson she passed, instead letting her give him the badge and walk away? Typically in comics he would tell them they passed, and it's an interesting choice in that it doesn't five the audience a satisfying moment there between them as peers.

Though I do love how bleak the ending is, and how it captures that spirit of this being a neverending job. Great movie, seeing it again in just a couple hours.

As I sat in the cinema I assumed that Dredd did tell her she passed off-camera, actually, having made the decision while talking to the Chief Judge. We see Anderson with her helmet under her arm as she walks into the sunset, which was the first time we saw her helmet; I took that to be a symbol of her having achieved (and knowing she'd achieved) full eagle.

Did anyone else think this? :/

[PsychoGoatee]

Perhaps he had to inform his superiors first of her result and they would inform Anderson through the system!

I don't see why Dredd wouldn't be allowed to tell her himself, especially since her handing him her badge and thinking she failed might prompt him to mention it. Plus in the books Dredd and Anderson often have a repoire and whatnot after a crisis.

Here, the movie is largely about her passing Dredd's test, and we don't get to see her reaction to passing, etc. And of course Wagner agreed that ending the movie on that note for her would be wrong, so they added in the digital stuff of her walking with a helmet.

Just saying, it's a curious choice I think.

As I sat in the cinema I assumed that Dredd did tell her she passed off-camera, actually, having made the decision while talking to the Chief Judge. We see Anderson with her helmet under her arm as she walks into the sunset, which was the first time we saw her helmet; I took that to be a symbol of her having achieved (and knowing she'd achieved) full eagle.

Did anyone else think this? :/

Well like you say, it's off camera, so we wouldn't know if he told her himself. And that that satisfying moment isn't there kind of represents a lot of the coldness of the film. Which I do find brave, just even while "ol stony face" I would've liked to see that.

[Fisticuffs]

I also took it, from Urbans body language etc, that when Anderson handed him her badge, he was still making his mind up. It was only when he was talking to the CJ that he finally decided.

[JOE SOAP]

Anyways, anybody have thoughts on what I mentioned about the ending? Why do you think Dredd didn't tell Anderson she passed, instead letting her give him the badge and walk away? Typically in comics he would tell them they passed, and it's an interesting choice in that it doesn't five the audience a satisfying moment there between them as peers.

I see that end-scene as an inversion of the conclusion to Dirty Harry where Harry throws his badge and dismisses the system he no longer has faith in, into the river.

In Dredd, instead of a badge being thrown away, Anderson hands (throws) her badge to Dredd. Unlike Harry Callaghan throwing the problem away, Dredd accepts the problem - the alternative possibility that Anderson has awoken in him - by keeping the badge. The dramatic point of that scene ends ultimately with Dredd as he's left to ponder Anderson's badge and what it represents: the possibility to make a difference rather than going through the motions of just doing the job- a non-violent alternative/adjunct to Instant Justice. An alternative he's never really considered.

Anderson's walk away is a make your mind up, it's up to you moment. Ending with Anderson getting her 'full eagle' would've been a cliched (false) positive beat and would've ruined the open-ended, detached feeling Dredd is left with.*



I think there's also a circularity between this end scene and Anderson's intro in the briefing-room at the start of the film. Both the end and briefing scene contain the same three characters: Dredd, Chief Judge and Anderson. In the briefing, Anderson is told to scan and see and identify who Dredd is. She sees the control, the rage etc. but is stopped when she gets deeper and finds something which I believe is Dredd's deep-rooted sense of doubt that is behind or part of his fierce sense of control. This is the Dredd arc we get a hint of at the end, Dredd's consideration of his doubts and Anderson's make a difference when he's left to gaze at Anderson's badge.



*A new audience could also be left with the notion or possibility Anderson might refuse but that's not really important to this story as it still ends up coming back to and being, Dredd's film.

[Keef Monkey]

I think it was a really nice moment, he does look a little like he's still making his mind up, and when he looks up Anderson is refusing medical attention even after everything she'd been through. I kind of saw that as maybe a tipping point in the decision, but certainly a display that she's tough enough to make it. When you then see her graduated I get goosebumps, I really do. I think it's beautifully done.

[PsychoGoatee]

I see that end-scene as an inversion of the conclusion to Dirty Harry where Harry throws his badge and dismisses the system he no longer has faith in, into the river.

In Dredd, instead of a badge being thrown away, Anderson hands (throws) her badge to Dredd. Unlike Harry Callaghan throwing the problem away, Dredd accepts the problem - the alternative possibility that Anderson has awoken in him - by keeping the badge. The dramatic point of that scene ends ultimately with Dredd as he's left to ponder Anderson's badge and what it represents: the possibility to make a difference rather than going through the motions of just doing the job- a non-violent alternative/adjunct to Instant Justice. An alternative he's never really considered.

Anderson's walk away is a make your mind up, it's up to you moment. Ending with Anderson getting her 'full eagle' would've been a cliched (false) positive beat and would've ruined the open-ended, detached feeling Dredd is left with.*



I think there's also a circularity between this end scene and Anderson's intro in the briefing-room at the start of the film. Both the end and briefing scene contain the same three characters: Dredd, Chief Judge and Anderson. In the briefing, Anderson is told to scan and see and identify who Dredd is. She sees the control, the rage etc. but is stopped when she gets deeper and finds something which I believe is Dredd's deep-rooted sense of doubt that is behind or part of his fierce sense of control. This is the Dredd arc we get a hint of at the end, Dredd's consideration of his doubts and Anderson's make a difference when he's left to gaze at Anderson's badge.



*A new audience could also be left with the notion or possibility Anderson might refuse but that's not really important to this story as it still ends up coming back to and being, Dredd's film.

That is a good interpretation of the scene, I dig that. Though I disagree that showing her getting it and having a bit of repoure between Dredd and Anderson there would be cliche or a false positive. I agree that the bleakness works and is good to end on, showing how it never ends. But a little moment of rapport to end the Dredd/Anderson arc of the moment would not be cliche, since those moments do happen in Dredd, it wouldn't feel out of place in my opinion.

Though it is kind of interesting that you mention that, since happy endings are often considered cliche etc, but even the dark world of Dredd has little positive moments here and there. And I don't think that's cliche personally.

[DKCX]

Anyways, anybody have thoughts on what I mentioned about the ending? Why do you think Dredd didn't tell Anderson she passed, instead letting her give him the badge and walk away? Typically in comics he would tell them they passed, and it's an interesting choice in that it doesn't five the audience a satisfying moment there between them as peers.

I see that end-scene as an inversion of the conclusion to Dirty Harry where Harry throws his badge and dismisses the system he no longer has faith in, into the river.

In Dredd, instead of a badge being thrown away, Anderson hands (throws) her badge to Dredd. Unlike Harry Callaghan throwing the problem away, Dredd accepts the problem - the alternative possibility that Anderson has awoken in him - by keeping the badge. The dramatic point of that scene ends ultimately with Dredd as he's left to ponder Anderson's badge and what it represents: the possibility to make a difference rather than going through the motions of just doing the job- a non-violent alternative/adjunct to Instant Justice. An alternative he's never really considered.

Anderson's walk away is a make your mind up, it's up to you moment. Ending with Anderson getting her 'full eagle' would've been a cliched (false) positive beat and would've ruined the open-ended, detached feeling Dredd is left with.*



I think there's also a circularity between this end scene and Anderson's intro in the briefing-room at the start of the film. Both the end and briefing scene contain the same three characters: Dredd, Chief Judge and Anderson. In the briefing, Anderson is told to scan and see and identify who Dredd is. She sees the control, the rage etc. but is stopped when she gets deeper and finds something which I believe is Dredd's deep-rooted sense of doubt that is behind or part of his fierce sense of control. This is the Dredd arc we get a hint of at the end, Dredd's consideration of his doubts and Anderson's make a difference when he's left to gaze at Anderson's badge.



*A new audience could also be left with the notion or possibility Anderson might refuse but that's not really important to this story as it still ends up coming back to and being, Dredd's film.

Great take on the ending Joe!

[Michaelvk]

From our propsmaster who sent this during the the crew screening about 10 minutes or so ago:

"Fucking awesome!!!!!!!!!!"

[JOE SOAP]

That is a good interpretation of the scene, I dig that. Though I disagree that showing her getting it and having a bit of repoure between Dredd and Anderson there would be cliche or a false positive. I agree that the bleakness works and is good to end on, showing how it never ends. But a little moment of rapport to end the Dredd/Anderson arc of the moment would not be cliche, since those moments do happen in Dredd, it wouldn't feel out of place in my opinion.

Though it is kind of interesting that you mention that, since happy endings are often considered cliche etc, but even the dark world of Dredd has little positive moments here and there. And I don't think that's cliche personally.

I think we all ready had that moment (understanding) going down in the elevator. Anderson's walking away - without the badge - is a statement, as is her refusing medical help; the walking away wouldn't be the same if she'd just been given the pass, or badge.