The film 'Dredd' is based on the infamous comic book character of the same name. Set in a post-apocalyptic America, Judge Dredd is a law enforcer given the power of judge, jury and executioner in a vast, dystopian metropolis called Mega-City One. When he is called out to a crime scene in one of the city's Mega Blocks with the rookie Anderson, they set out to take down a drug lord and the vast control that she has in this inner city. Sometimes to disastrous consequences.
When Dredd started my honest first thought was that I was not going to enjoy this, half way through I still thought I wasn't going to like this. However after it had finished and I had some time to contemplate what I had just seen I realised that this really was a great piece of film-making. The extraordinary visuals and the hidden depths of the script really shocked and impressed me whilst watching this surprising movie.
A criticism that I do have for the film is that for me I found the gore and violence slightly too much for my tastes, however I can appreciate that this is part of the story and part of the look and feel of the comic book, I found that for some viewers and especially, stereotypically as well of course, that maybe the female audience would find it quite offensive because it is so 'in your face' and maybe they would struggle to see the need for it. Although my initial reaction of not being excited at all and being anxious to see full frontal violence quickly changed and I started to appreciate this film for what it was. A fun, action packed roller-coaster of emotions.
Karl Urban starred as Dredd, and with the Judge being famously known for never taking his helmet off Urban definitely definitely had his work cut out to portray this famous character and please both the hardcore fans and attract new audience members. Which I definitely think he managed, I went into this film not really having an idea of who the character was or the world he lived in and I think Urban accomplished this as whilst watching the film and after as well I realised what this movie and also the character was trying to say and represent. However whilst reading reviews on the website Metacritic, I saw a comment that I feel really represented the film for me. David Hiltbrand of the Philadelphia Inquirer said that 'For sci-fi action fans, it's an instant classic. For everyone else, it's a dark, bloody mess.' I totally agree with this statement, because as much as I enjoyed the film Dredd I did find that maybe this was a passion project for the makers of the film and I can see why they would have wanted to make it.
I don't think this film is a masterpiece as it does have it's faults, however I think that for the right market that this would definitely appeal all round. It's an interesting concept that I think I would be happy to see again however I think this film was just marketed all wrong and it came out at just the wrong time. However who knows this off beat film may achieve cult status in a decade or two, who knows.
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