Dredd Directed by: Pete Travis Starring: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey Rating: R Release Date: September 21, 2012
TRAILER SCORE: 6/10
Thoughts by TSR: It’s reasonable to groan and wonder why we need another movie version of this character. However, the Sylvester Stallone film from 1995 is far from sacred, so I don’t mind seeing someone take another crack at getting it right. A better film featuring Judge Dredd can certainly be made, and this does look like a passably entertaining actioner. The trailer just doesn’t quite convince me that Dredd will be anything more.
A lot of it simply feels fairly unoriginal (not to mention the similarities to this year’s The Raid, which are really just a matter of unfortunate timing). Familiarity aside, however, there’s some good stuff here. It’s a shame Karl Urban is going to be stuck under that helmet, but he is very convincing enforcing the law while doing his best Batman impression. Though the design of the future city isn’t all that new, there is some nice stuff going on visually as well. I’m especially fond of the way the moments featuring the slo-mo drug are shot (and the use of the La Roux song at the beginning works very well).
So, yeah, I wish this new version of Judge Dredd felt like it was bringing something completely fresh to the table. Unfortunately, that doesn’t appear to be the case, so I’m left hoping Cersei Lannister playing a crazy drug lord and Karl Urban growling cheesy one-liners will be enough.