Dredd 3D: ****/*****, or 7/10
In the
annals of cinema, you'll find few instances of remakes surpassing
their predecessors in quality. The lack of creative originality and
the general feeling of déja vù all too often prohibit a remake from
living up to the name of its forebear, usually rendering them highly
derivative products produced simply for making more money by cashing
in on an established franchise's name. However, one of the latest
additions to the ever growing but already overly long list of
remakes, reboots, re-imaginings and the like, Dredd 3D proves
a pleasant deviation from the norm in this regard. However, it will
surprise few people familiar with the former Judge Dredd movie
from 1995 (which starred Sylvester Stallone as Dredd) that its
successor improves upon that film on just about every level,
considering it ranks considerably high on nigh on every list of
'worst comic book adapations' in existence. Judge Dredd is
just an easy movie to top, and Dredd 3D does so with a
vengeance appropriate for its titular character.
Transporting
us to a typical post-apocalyptic future world where humanity has made
a big mess of things via nuclear war and global pollution, we are
introduced to the setting of the film, a vast metropolis named
Mega-City One, where the remaining 800 million people live in a state
of near anarchy on the remains of the world-that-was, huddled
together in slums and giant skyscrapers. Of course so many people in
a single spot is a recipe for crime running rampant, but fortunately
for the decent citizens of the city (if any) the Hall of Justice has
a small army of Judges patrolling the town, acting as judge, jury and
if needs be, executioner in any conflict.. Sporting intimidating
outfits with eerie helmets to match, a wide range of explosive
weaponry and an overall 'don't fuck with us' mentality and attitude,
this future police force roams the street delivering swift justice to
any offenders unlucky enough to cross their path; which is still only
a small percentage of total crime levels, aptly indicating the need
for such a seemingly excessive justice system. Among the hardened
veteran Judges is a character simply named Dredd, a paragon of virtue
even amongst his fellow law enforcers, highly skilled in making sure
criminals get their just due if he happens upon their shady
activities. Playing Dredd is Karl Urban, who, given his fairly
impressive resumé of similar Sci-Fi action flicks (examples include
Priest (2011), Doom (2005) and The Chronicles of
Riddick (2004), though he's undoubtedly best known for his
performance as Eomer of Rohan in the two final installments of The
Lord of the Rings trilogy), seems the perfect choice for the
role, which fits in neatly with the rest of his oeuvre. His Dredd
carries the neccessary gravitas for the character of an
uncompromising badass cop, meeting out punishment with a total lack
of prejudice, simply adhering to the laws in a dystopian world where
very few seem to care about said law, so he refuses to shy away from
intimidation and violence if warranted.
Of
course such a character proves difficult to feel much empathy for, so
we – and Dredd himself – are introduced to rookie
Judge-in-training Anderson (Olivia Thirlby, The Darkest Hour
(2011)) to help guide us into this gritty, bleak future world,
working alongside Dredd on her first day as he assesses her qualities
as a potential Judge. Though she failed for her first exams in
training, Dredd's superiors are eager to keep her on the force since
she is a mutant, possessing psychic abilities to read minds and such,
which would make her a great asset to the force. That is, if she
survives her first day: unfortunately she and Dredd stumble upon
quite a tricky situation as they are faced with a vicious gang murder
in a skyscraper which proves to be just the tip of the iceberg in a
huge narcotics operation under control of the highly dangerous
psychopathic Ma-Ma (another terrific, and horrific, bad lady for Lena
Headey, who once played the protector of mankind's future in her own
series Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, but since her
performance as the devious, scheming Cersei Lannister in the superb
HBO series Game of Thrones ironically excels at playing
convincingly evil dames). When she learns these Judges are onto her,
she immediately seals off the enormous building from the outside and,
in order to get rid of the evidence most effectively, orders her
legions of creepy minions to kill them both in whatever nasty way
they see fit. All too soon, Dredd and Anderson find themselves
cornered and have to mow their way through scores of bad guys, while
attempting to break the perimeter and call for back-up. If this story
sounds somewhat familiar, it's not because this movie is a remake,
but because much of the plot is overly reminiscent of the recent
Indonesian action hit The Raid: Redemption, which featured a
police squad under siege in an apartment building on the orders of a
ruthless crime lord who orders the local tenants to exterminate the
law enforcers. Were it not for the fact both movies were produced
more or less simultaneously, the plethora of similarities would seem
just a little too suspicious. Luckily, Dredd 3D at least
differs in its execution by its future setting and the fact the plot
is less used as a showcase for impressive martial arts and more as a
standard Hollywood type action flick (though the film was produced
independently from the studio system) applying “ordinary” gun
fights and stunts as its main visual draws.
Speaking
of visuals, it's ironic drugs offer the most successful FX shots of
the movie, despite the protagonist's insistence on shutting this drug
operation down, thereby aiming to end the fabulous visual flair
applied to the effects the drugs in this film have on its characters
for the audience to enjoy. The drugs in question are nicknamed
'Slo-Mo' and their effects revolve around the apparent slowing down
of time to a fraction of its actual speed. This results in the
movie's most stunning 3D shots (it's called Dredd 3D after
all), where we see the image slowing down accompanied by a glittering
haze that adds some much desired colour to this otherwise dreary and
bleak future. Whenever Slo-Mo is used, dazzling, almost lyrical
visuals brighten the gloomy mood, allowing for wonderful dimensions
of visual depth to be revealed, which are however also applied for
further enhancing the levels of gore, already disturbing at times.
When we see characters fall to their death from the great heights of
Ma-Ma's complex, we're both fascinated and revulsed by the image of
seeing them hit the ground and splattering across the screen in the
graphic depth and detail such slow-motion effects allow for. It takes
a strong stomach for sure, but such shots form the visual highlight
of the film, and their ingenuity in 3D justifies the '3D' in the
film's title, considering for most of the film two dimensions appear
to suffice.
Ultimately,
such visuals plus the basic action and violence are Dredd 3D's
main assets, since both the story and the character development leave
something to be desired. As for character development, Dredd
basically has none. One might say the title is grossly misleading,
considering it's really not Dredd's story at all, it's Anderson's.
Though we see the film from both their perspectives, it's mostly
about her. It's her first day on duty, being trained in the ways of
the Judges by her mentor. For Dredd, it's all in a day's work, while
for Anderson, it's a life defining experience that sees both her
physical and her mental faculties tested to their limits as she must
confront one creepy criminal after another, almost getting (mind)
raped in the process, while Dredd, who simply shoots and maims his
way through the baddies, experiences no such ordeals. Credit must be
given to Thirlby for playing such a demanding role (especially
considering she has never done this type of film before, unlike Urban
who we already know revels in it) and pulling it off compellingly,
thus adding some heart, cause and emotion to the film (though we
would like to have seen a bit more explanation on the role of mutants
like her in Mega-City One, something the movie alludes to on more
than one occasion but never fleshes out sufficiently), whereas Dredd
stays a rather bland character throughout. However, in Dredd's case,
revealing more about his persona isn't at all necessary. Staying true
to the comics on which the movie is based, nowhere in this film is he
seen removing his helmet or showing his face, other than his mouth –
which houses a well suited grumbly, raspy low voice (think Christian
Bale as the similar themed Batman character in the recent Dark
Knight trilogy) – since as the truest servant of the law, he
must feel like something beyond simply human, more like an ideal than
an actual man of flesh and blood. Dredd is made out to be just that
by staying underdeveloped, unexplored, a walking talking enigma, a
man without a past and without clearly defined motivations, who only
lives to uphold the law, the one thing holding this screwed up
society together. Undoubtedly such a character has a colourful past
to explain his one sided rationale, but explaining that all away
would defeat Dredd's effectiveness in this film: it would remove his
helmet metaphorically, so it's as much a no-go as is removing his
actual helmet, something Stallone back in 1995 had less issues with
in his take on the character, which is one of the reasons his Judge
Dredd failed to properly adhere to the character.
In
short, Dredd 3D is a decent new shot at adapting the original
comic book, superior to its feeble predecessor. It offers little new
material to the genre though, since both the story and the dystopian
future setting have been done before (and better) in the past, but
that doesn't stop the film from being a wholesomely entertaining
Sci-Fi action flick, sporting some thoroughly thrilling scenes of
violence and gore and impressive visuals at times, aiding the
otherwise hardly noticeable 3D effects. The unfathomable Dredd as
played by Urban proves a memorable re-imagining of the iconic comic
character, a sentry of the law making a lawless city just a little
bit safer. Considering its various plot similarities to The Raid:
Redemption, Dredd 3D fortunately also renders the much
dreaded American remake of that particular film redundant. Sadly
Dredd 3D underperformed at the domestic box office, so it may
be quite a while before we see Dredd in action again, but until that
time, this is without the doubt the best rendition of the character,
effecting some much needed justice upon the franchise name by making
us completely forget the lackluster 1995 film.
Sidenote:
despite its shortcomings, consciously or not, Dredd 3D ultimately
proved to be inspiring. Taking the metro on the way home at night, I
noticed a woman harassed by some vagabonds. I stood at some ten
metres distance, but nobody appeared to come to her aid (though there
was quite a number of people around), despite her obvious distress. I
simply walked down the tram towards the incident and demanded to know
what was going on. The assailants told me in a rude and agressive
tone to fuck off, but I stood my ground and told them to end their
intimidation and public disturbance, at which point they directed
their attention toward me. Though I got increasingly nervous, I
didn't let them notice and simply looked at them very sternly
uninterruptedly. The forbidding relentless eye contact clearly made
them unhinged and though they continued slinging (racist) insults and
threats my way, they didn't go so far as to resort to more physical
measures to underscore their intentions. My tactic proved effective
as several other people joined me in pointing out the hoodlums'
faults in the matter and when reaching the next station, the
agressors made a swift though noisy departure, clearly intimidated by
the now greater numbers opposing them, exposing them for the cowards
they were. Looking back, I seemed to have quickly judged the
situation and acted upon it, likely extinguishing an explosive
situation publicly, and I didn't need a cool helmet (quite the
opposite in fact), a gun or other weaponry to do so.
Or
did I? When the loudmouths had left, I realized I unknowingly had
zipped open my coat's left pocket and had clutched a pen I always
keep in there. Though one wasn't necessary in the end (thankfully!),
I apparently unconsciously had looked for a weapon to defend myself
with if it had come down to a brawl. Maybe my antagonists had noticed
and feared I harbored something more formidable in there, thus
hastening their decision for a quick exit. I cannot help but wonder
what would have happened if it had come to a fight. A pen may
normally not constitute a lethal weapon, but people have been
severely hurt with less. I'm just grateful I never had to find out
how such alternate situations would have developed. Unlike is usual
for Dredd, this particular incident only warranted his typical quick
assessment and unrelenting domineering posture to bring it to a happy
end (as the woman thanked me and I received credit from numerous
people on the tram for my action). But then, Amsterdam is hardly
Mega-City One. Still, if I had seen a different motion picture in the
hours before, would I have been in the right mood to defuse a
potentially violent situation like this...?
And
watch the trailer here:
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