Today's overdose of news

It's been a busy week for posting movie news after all:

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157368/nieuwe_trailer_jupiter_ascending

Jupiter Ascending is back with a vengeance. We've had zero word on the project since it was postponed a few months back, but it's certainly set to be the big film of February 2015. Which seems an odd time to release such an ambitious and expensive title, but at least it ensures there's not a lot of competition to go up against. In terms of visual effects and atmosphere it seems this is going to be quite a thrilling piece, but I have my doubt about the plot, which marries an element or two from Dune to bits and pieces of The Matrix and of course mixes the epic qualities of Star Wars in as well. Then again, I kinda dig the notion of humanity simply being bred as a resource for an extraterrestrial imperial dynasty's vain pleasures. It doesn't seem to emphasize the moral and existential 'specialness' such Sci-Fi films inherently attribute to our species, usually portraying them as the great wonder of the galaxy. Here, humanity is just a big herd of dumb sheep, ignorant to the bigger picture. Of course, this fairly rebellious notion is sure to be shattered by the character played by Mila Kunis. And speaking of Kunis, I'm not convinced of both her and Channing Tatum's ability in terms of acting to carry such a big blockbuster movie. At least there's a decent cast of supporting characters (Sean Bean, yay!) to make up for it if they fall short.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157333/game_of_thrones_acteurs_gecast_in_pride_and_prejudice_and_zombies

There's enough pride & prejudice in the Lannister family to be siphoned off by other projects for sure. Game of Thrones has also witnessed its fair share of zombies, too. Any excuse to get Headey and Dance showing off their considerable acting talents, on their own or together, is well worth the effort. Dance should have plenty of time on his hands, now that he's not likely to do much more work on GoT (and boy, will we miss him!). The cast for this movie grows ever more impressive, perhaps more so than its decidedly silly premise deserves. It's a clear sign all these grand actors, who usually deal with heavily dramatic performances, need a break at times, something lighter to keep from going insane. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies may be just what Headey and Dance need, to keep their mind of all the political intrigue, backstabbing and murderous family squabbling they've had to endure in recent years. It'll be great to see them bounce off such frustrations on the mindless hordes of the undead.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157366/game_of_thrones_acteur_wordt_booswicht_maze_runner_2

Here's another GoT actor who has time to spare for a big genre movie. Considering the series has progressed as far as the books with Littlefinger's particular story line (or Sansa's, to be more precise), I wouldn't be surprised to see he was used only sparingly in the next season. Which gives Gillen time for other things, like playing another villain (come, on, that's what Littlefinger is and you kow it!) in a hugely popular dystopian teen franchise. I have no doubt he'll excel at playing the part of the character called the 'Rat Man', even though, considering the pace with which The Scorch Trials is being produced (the deadline ends in less than a year from now), it seems he has very little time to prepare for the role. Good thing his experience on Game of Thrones comes in handy then.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157335/nieuwe_trailer_laggies

Oh hey, they made a movie about my lack of a career! And Keira Knightley is playing me. Odd choice, but I'll take it. But seriously (if ever), this movie is just made to reflect on the many millions of people lagging in their lifes, of which I am only one. Hopefully it'll also provide a solution out of this mess that is my existence, other than the generic resolves of embracing adulthood and responsibility. Which wouldn't help me any further, as I do believe at least the latter element is perfectly honed in my case. But from the trailer it at least appears as if I would leave the theater in a cheerful mood, as the sizzling levels of feel-good juice are dripping off my computer screen when it's playing this preview of Laggies. Whether the movie will have the same effect, or whether I'm in for a painful confrontation with the hard, merciless truths of life remains to be seen. It's starring Keira Knightley, so the latter scenario seems unlikely.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157350/neeson_en_freeman_in_ted_2

More actors in for a change of pace and genre. These days, Liam Neeson is either starring in a slick but forgettable action thriller, or a comedy cannibalizing on his persona of a slick (and forgettable?) action thriller star. The latter was the case in Seth MacFarlane's previous zany comedy, A Million Ways to Die in the West, in which Neeson made quite the badass desperado. Seems both parties enjoyed their collaboration well enough to go at it again, though one of them is resorting to doing voice work only again (and it's not Neeson). Freeman is still wandering around completely at a loss as to providing any sensible exposition of what exactly went down in the unintelligible Lucy, and apparently hopes to do a better job explaining the still somewhat fuzzy science behind a living teddy bear. Probably easier to do than providing the many answers that come with a woman unlocking her mind to the max and turning into everything there is. Or stuff. I dunno. And neither did Freeman. No freckle added to his face for a job well done on that one, that's for sure.

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/157371/nieuwe_trailer_big_hero_6

Well, this looks simply adorable. And also quite un-Marvel for what is in essence still a Marvel movie. The subject matter obviously lends itself better to a regular Disney animated film, or so this catchy trailer would suggest. It does make for a less complicated Marvel movie that refrains from tieing into other Marvel movies for a change, diversifying the Marvel properties under Disney's control. Yet it remains faithful to the source material in keeping the (fictional) Japanese type of setting, though the characters don't seem all that South-East Asian, except for the robot himself which seems to come straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. This movie seems to do a great job of marrying the younger side of Marvel to the traditional Disney style, yet ensuring there's enough to enjoy for the adults in a way more reminiscent of Pixar. But what's up with keeping this one in the fridge for Dutch theaters for four months? That's just asking people - not me, I must say - to start downloading illegally! I thought Disney had learned their lesson on Up. Though waiting four months instead of six admittedly is a kind of progress.

Today's Review: 300: Rise of an Empire

300: Rise of an Empire: ***/*****, or 6/10

The visually unusual action-on-steroid flick 300 proved to be quite the unexpected box office success back in 2006. It took a while before the army of pixel pushing programmers got reassembled for a second chance at glory, which many blamed on Frank Miller, the writer/artist of the original graphic novel of the same name. Considering Miller isn't even done publishing his follow-up Xerxes yet and the current sequel 300: Rise of an Empire hardly follows that particular story, such critique is quite unfounded. This second installment could have been shot years ago, and it would probably have been for the better, since the distinguished visual style that characterizes both this movie and its predecessor has been copied almost as often as the signature quote 'This is Sparta!' has since been enthusiastically and overly loudly uttered in fanboy circles. But what becomes quite clear early on upon watching Rise of an Empire, is that 'this' is not Sparta anymore.

Rise of an Empire, from a narrative viewpoint, serves as both a prequel and a sequel to 300, and even has some of the newly depicted events take place simultaneously with its illustrious forebear. The result is a rather uncomfortable mix of separate story elements all cramped together in one movie that feels the need to both explain the motives behind the ruthless conquest of the antagonist, the Persian king Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro), and explore the political intrigue between the various Greek city-states that must unite against him to keep Greece Greek. The movie flashes back to Xerxes' past as easily as it does to the outcome of the battle of Thermopylae, which makes for an overall chaotic feel that was lacking in the original 300, whose narrative structure proved less distracting and more coherent. The movie starts with the history of how Xerxes became king of Persia after the death of his father at the hands of the Athenian Themistokles, and his rise to power afterwards guided by delusions of divinity. A supernatural element provided by some fluorescent pool in a cave which supposedly made him a god is all too easily discarded by the spectator from its inception, as he/she has already seen the scar Leonidas gave him in the previous film, which effectively stripped him of his godlike status. And as soon as the movie is done demystifying the giant despot, who we find out basically grew from a whimpy princeling's grief over his father, the title of the film makes progressively little sense, as we're only ten minutes into the movie. It took that long for the titular 'empire' to 'rise', now the remaining 90 minutes will be spend on bringing about its decline.

More poignant to the title's failure is the fact Xerxes is merely a supporting character to the overall story, as the movie is based around the personal battle between Themistokles (Sullivan Stapleton) and his Persian counterpart, Artemisia (Eva Green), the vengeful admiral of Xerxes' navy. Artemisia is a sly, seductive and manipulative woman who pressured her king into going to war with Greece, despite the advice of his dying father against participating in such a costly, doomed exercise. As a horribly abused former child slave of Greek descent, she has some personal issues with the Greeks to conclude, which brings her head-on with the Athenian statesman. Green portrays this strong woman with visible delight and ensures the enemy's side is not devoid of the necessary charisma, which would have played well off Gerard Butler's equally commanding Leonidas. Unfortunately, she has to make do with Stapleton's rather bland Themistokles instead, who proves to lack the gravitas one would expect from such a renowned politician. Equipped with largely the same ideological motivations as Leonidas, Themistokles keeps droning on about the magnificence of Greek freedom as opposed to Persian tyranny, which he deems so grand and noble it's worth risking every soldier's life to uphold it. Problem is, because of Artemisia's distressing background of pain and suffering such lines are somewhat rendered moot, as we know the limits of Greek freedom, while Leonidas at least did a much catchier job at delivering them and inspiring his troops to kick Persian ass. We'd be inclined to pick Artemisia's side, were it not for her routine of viciously despatching her bumbling commanders in disturbing ways.

300: Rise of an Empire proves to be a telling case of 'girl power' over the political machinations of the men who assume command. The film reintroduces the character of Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey), who also serves as the film's narrator. It's not the endless quasi-poetic lines the script supplies her, it's her ability to stand up to Themistokles and voice her displeasure with his approach to fight “his” war, coupled with her own desire to right the wrong that was done to her and Sparta, that make her more compelling to watch and listen to than her Athenian rival. Gorgo proves at least as tough a female presence as Artemisia and the two are almost kindred spirits if they hadn't been fighting on opposing sides. Unfortunately they do not grace the screen together but are both limited to interacting with the boring Themistokles. A showdown between both female characters would have been preferable, but sadly we are denied. Too bad, it's not like these movies care the least bit for historical accuracy.

Though narratively and emotionally this semi-sequel turns out to be a mixed bag, it's the action and visual flair characteristic of the established 300 style that should make the film. In that regard the movie leaves little room for disappointment. However, because of 300's then-originality and the numerous copycats that followed it, there's little novelty to discern here. If you expected excessively muscled men beating their adversaries in all manner of gruesome, bloody ways, usually shown in extreme slow-motion shots against obviously digital backdrops, that's what you'll receive. Athenian muscles are not as outrageous as their Spartan counterparts, which is probably a good thing as it ought to cause less physical insecurity amongst the audience's male demographic (though the same may not be said of Artemisia's ample bosom dimensions for female viewers). Since most of the movie revolves around the naval battles between the Greek and Persian fleets, the movie differs in tone with its predecessor mostly in that regard, trading in the earthy red colour pattern for a blue maritime quality. The bombastic hardrock style soundtrack remains to great effect though. Epic shots of ships ramming into each other and the various tactics applied by both naval commanders to do as much damage as possible serve the majority of the film's action sequences, but it cannot be helped that these start to feel tedious as the movie progresses. Battles on boats simply do not provide the same opportunity for colourful combat diversity as land battles do due to their limiting nature. Don't expect to see any monstrous men, elephants or rhinos fighting in Artemisia's war. The script apparently acknowledged this lack of fantasy by adding a strange dream sequence in which a drowning Themistokles envisions giant marine reptiles picking off his men as they lie dying in the water. As any expensive blockbuster sequel of today, this movie is billed a 3D-experience, but little effective use is made of that technology. There's the occasional arrow or spear in your face, but otherwise the film offers little remarkable in this regard.

300: Rise of an Empire is a fairly decent follow-up to its predecessor that proves largely devoid of surprise or inspiration and arrives a little late to the battlefield, but does what people expect it to do. It packs quite a punch in the female acting department, but its male stars and their motives are simply not as interesting to keep your attention from drifting on the waves of its maritime action scenes. Though it serves its obligatory bit of gory battle scenes, it stylistically can't stand up to its predecessor and feels like little more than a compendium piece in terms of story. It will definitely not rank as high on a popcultural level, absent absurdly cocky but highly quotable lines that proved 300's trademark and are sorely missed here. Truth is, Athenians are just a lot less fun to go to battle with than those delightfully over-the-top-and-then-some Spartans with their constant flow of witty reprisal.

Today's Double News: if posters come I'm ready!

Got a double dip of news today, thanks to my own forgetting to post half of it earlier this week (that's so not like me!). So there's a bit of older news here as well, but I can live with that. Today, posters are in my blood!

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/148993/nieuwe_poster_thor_the_dark_world

http://www.moviescene.nl/p/148972/nieuwe_posters_300_rise_of_an_empire

A lot of new one-sheets, thus. And a lot of me doing free advertising for these movies on MovieScene, and now on this mine own blog. I ought to get at least a Christmas cards from the studio execs.

Let's start with the older news. The 300 posters (yes, I know there's only six of them, I was referring to the title) were already spotted earlier at Comic-Con, which in online terms makes them ancient history by now, but hey, I have yet to see them adorning walls in theatres and the movie is still more than half a year away (even though originally, it was supposed to be released in fall 2013). Say what you will about them, at least they offer consistency compared to the character posters released for the predecessor in 2007, which took a very similar route. The big difference is these are only showing heads while their original counterparts also showed the rest of the characters depicted. Guess not more is needed here. The silly taglines - 'Athens will burn', is that some sort of cleverly hidden social commentary on Greece's internal affairs? - and the gritty faces set the mood perfectly; as if that was needed, since people who saw the first film will know exactly what they can expect, while I doubt this flick will draw many audiences unfamiliar with the first 300. Gotta love these expressions. Eva Green looks utterly pissed off. Me thinks she's still mad about "her" TV show Camelot getting cancelled after only one season, so shooting this movie no doubt provided some violent therapy to blow off some steam for her. Cersei Lannister Lena Headey by contrast appears reserved and calculating, yet regal as ever. She's not done playing queen yet, returning to her role from the first film. Good to see she can also play a nice queen instead of only the scheming, bitchy variant we've all come to love on Game of Thrones. That is, if you can sincerely call a queen who orders her men to go out and spill rivers of blood in excessively disturbing manners in any way 'nice'. But then, the alternative we see in Xerxes (poor Rodrigo Santoro in dubious bling-bling make-up again) isn't such a good option either. After the stuff he pulled in the first film you sure know you don't want him to be your monarch. In summation, these character posters will do a decent job preparing people's expectations for 300: Rise of an Empire (I'm still unsure what empire is being referred to exactly, but it's clear the people behind these films don't give a rat's ass about historical accuracy, nor will the general audience). I'm moderately excited about this film myself. I gotta admit I hated 300 the first time I saw it, but it grew on me in later viewings as I came to understand what the film was all about: gratuitous violence relayed through hyperstylized imagery. Who could say no to some more of that?

Now, if it's visual spectacle you want in your posters, there's the latest one-sheet of Thor: The Dark World for ya. By Odin's beard, this is something else entirely! It looks utterly fabulous and rich, even if it's in many ways simply a few heads put together. Nevertheless, it clearly showcases its stellar cast (and Tom Hiddleston's Loki's back, yay!) and its continuing journey into the epic fantasy realms of Marvel's take on Norse mythology. And as a bonus for movie aficionados like myself, it also undeniably hearkens back to the good old poster art the likes of Drew Struzan (except photoshopped instead of hand drawn). There's also a definite Lord of the Rings vibe to the piece, which is never a bad thing. If this poster is any indication, I'd say Thor: The Dark World is in good hands, courtesy of Alan Taylor. Who happened to direct no less than six episodes of Game of Thrones, thus taking us full circle to the previous bit of news, thanks to the number six and Cersei Lannister Lena Headey. If that's not a sign from the gods I don't know what is.

Doing the Judge justice

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:

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/lions_gate/dredd/