EXCLUSIVE - FIRST STILL FROM DREDD!

[Jim_Campbell]

I'm not sure either - it's a bit odd considering McMahon was asked to ape Ezquerra originally.

I don't think it's about what editorial did or didn't want, I think what Dave's saying is that he couldn't find 'vision' of Judge Dredd that felt like his own, that he only felt like he was drawing Bolland's version of Dredd, and that didn't interest him very much.

Cheers!

Jim

[Steve Green]

Ah, I see.

Yeah, I guess if you've got a similar style it must be pretty hard to establish your version of a character, compared to someone wildly different like McMahon.

[helm]

Just think, this thread may become the longest in 2000AD message board history. A year to the film's release and this thread has already reached 6 million pages.  






Or 187, if you prefer. 

[JOE SOAP]

...but look at the content.

[Jared Katooie]

Can everyone please stop insultng the poor stuntman?

[vzzbux]

Yeh. It's not his fault the crap camera angle gives him 10 chins.





V

[Misanthrope]

Speaking of which; how awesome would have been if Frank Frazetta had gotten to illustrate/paint Judge Dredd!!

He did, sort of...

[TordelBack]

That's the best version of the movie uniform I've seen - it actually looks good!.

[brendan1]

I wasn't disputing it, I genuinely didn't know.

I hear people (or read people) talking about these classic artists and while I can appreciate that they are good - I can recognise that that page is good art - I can't see why one is better or worse (or just different) than the other. Just can't see it. Really feel like I'm missing out on something sometimes.

Is there a visual equivalent of tone death? Cos thats me.

That must be terrible. I can usually discern an artist very, very quickly, especially on Dredd.

[Mudcrab]

I wasn't disputing it, I genuinely didn't know.

I hear people (or read people) talking about these classic artists and while I can appreciate that they are good - I can recognise that that page is good art - I can't see why one is better or worse (or just different) than the other. Just can't see it. Really feel like I'm missing out on something sometimes.

Is there a visual equivalent of tone death? Cos thats me.

That must be terrible. I can usually discern an artist very, very quickly, especially on Dredd.

Style blind? 

I'm the same (as brendan), first thing I take note of about the prog, usually unconsciously. Open prog, check out Dredd artist, back to P14 then read Dredd. I'm usually a bit rusty with newer artists so always read the credits, usually while guessing the writer too of course. Older artists are instantly recognised, mostly. Noticing that it's Gibson for example, is like noticing it's in colour. No offense to the colourists

So yeah, more Dredd pics!

[Leigh S]

Thats a very good summary of my own fears really - in trying to distance themselves from the camp of the Stallone film, they might end up with a dour film thats just as generic as the 95 one, albiet for different reasons.  The absurdity of Dredd is, for me, one of its great strengths, because it knows how to extract maximum entertainment, satire and drama within that framework.

Still, we have a psychic judge in there, so thats one weird thing going on....

[JOE SOAP]

The corollary of this is the new film's intention to provide as gritty and pared down a narrative context as possible, to offset the Spanish piratical visual aspect of their protagonist,

This I disagree with since the uniform is closer to Ezquerra's original design than the '95 film. It still looks Dredd and equating Dredd's uniform with the narrative is not really a genuine corollary, it's an aspect.

which would seem to rule out any possibility of including eating competitions; psychotic droid insurgency; alien/supernatural incursions or any of the hilarious and ridiculous elements of the strip which would make a Dredd film a unique and original cinematic proposition.

My worry isn't that Urban's Outfitters have made Dredd look silly: rather, that they might not have made everything else silly enough.

Considering [spoiler]95% of the film is set in one city-block in Mega-City-One[/spoiler] doesn't indicate/negate that any of those things can't exist/happen in possible future films. Anyway there is no way they could have portrayed the city you depict in your post on the average budget they had, hence 'one location'. If there are hints of the world-texture and tone outside the block, that's all it needs, Escalades or not.

It's an intro, and hopefully a decent one. We have 1000's of stories and 30 years of publishing with which to compare one draft script, one still and a few spy photos to, not really fair at this stage to worry too much about the full scope of Dredd being represented in one film. Think of it as a Prog Zero Dredd, 'Bank Raid' set in a city-block. If it works ok and people actually go see it, we're sure to see more, and I never took Dredd in essence to be silly, silly aspects yes but not inherently so. It's about proportion too and the degrees to which proportions can change in future films once the characters are known. It took a while before the writers and the audience got used to Dredd in comics for the city to be fleshed out, gotten used to, it's not too different in cinema either.

[blackmocco]

I reassured myself that as long as the film kept the invention, brutality and wit of the comic I wouldn't notice the stupid fucking codpiece, but the ludicrous design choices made by the film-makers proved indicative of the degree to which they misunderstood their source material.

Hmm. I'm not sure I agree with this. The designs for the Stallone movie, bar a few questionable choices, were the only aspect of Dredd and his world they got right. The uniform and cityscape were straight out of the comic, more or less. I would argue the people who didn't understand the source material were the producers, writers and star.

[radiator]

KennyWho? makes some good points, and I share some of his concerns.

While I completely understand the decision to cut back at least some of the eccentricity of the comics (remember that is something that happens with all comic book movies to a certain extent, it's just a reality of adapting something to a different media - it's why Wolverine doesn't wear yellow spandex and Bat Mite isn't in any of the Batman movies) I hope they're putting in a few nods to the tone and character of the comics, or at least plan to explore that side of the comic strip in future films should there be any.

Most important for me (infinitely more so than the judge's uniforms, the bike, the chin etc - all minor details imo) is how they present Mega-City One (or at least how it's presented in the glimpses we get of it). It's such a beautifully realised place in the comics, far more than just a depressing slum or urban sprawl - it has a playground quality to it - it's a tangible place that would be as thrilling to inhabit as it would be terrifying. I hope this is at least slightly hinted at in the film...

I'll mention again that John Wagner was asking fans last year for suggestions for background details and humourous asides that he could pitch to the producers for inclusion in the film, so I live in hope that we'll see human taxidermy shopfronts, hottie vendors, spy in the sky cameras, Chopper/Phantom grafitti, fatties, simps et al get some screen time.

I'm pretty certain that DREDD is going to be a decent - perhaps even great - sci-fi action film. I just hope it's a great Judge Dredd film.

[Beaky Smoochies]

I wholeheartedly concur with radiator's above post, I'm actually really excited about Dredd, everything I know about the movie so far, I like, and Joe Soap is also spot-on when comparing the overall look and tone of Dredd to the very first (banned) JD comic-book story, Bank Raid- in fact, if I'm not mistaken, Jock himself has actually compared the movie to the aforementioned story, high praise indeed!

Whilst totally onboard with the new movie's creative direction, I always thought that if they were going to attempt another JD movie, it should be directed by Terry Gilliam (who should have directed the first attempt, and even Sly Stallone apparently has said so), been a remarkably faithful adaptation of the source material (both in look and overall tone), and probably with Judge Death in it.  Had they shot it in somewhere like Prague, they could've made a truly representative JD movie now for about $80 million, which isn't bad for a big movie nowadays, and they probably would've had no problem getting the financing for it- even taking into consideration the probable 3-D element- but like I said, I'm totally behind the new movie as it is, JD fans should just thank the good Lord we're getting another JD movie... and this time, they mean business!!!