Dredd 3D — R
Running Time: 95 min
Director: Pete Travis
Lead Actors: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey
Rating: 7
To transport to a foreign society in which violence is the enemy and the law, both natural and expected in every city block, is one thing, but to experience it in a high definition, over exposed slow motion version is another.
Judge Dredd (Karl Urban), a law enforcement officer who has the power to be the “judge, jury, and executioner” for daily criminals, is given a rookie judge who did not pass her examination by a few points but has the most powerful psychic abilities the agency has ever seen. Infamous in Mega City One for his skill and feared for his merciless judgment, Dredd is initially reluctant to take the rookie along for one day, strictly seeing her failure on the test as an undeniable indication of her insufficiencies as a Judge, yet is soon locked—quite literally—in a battle with a powerful drug lord, Ma-Ma. The drug “Slo-Mo,” intended to make time appear to pass at 1/100 of its original speed, hit the city and Dredd and his new subordinate, Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), are set on liberating the city of the danger once and for all.
Dredd. In a word: bloody. In two words: very bloody. Frankly, the most prominent thing about it was the gross, over-exaggerated use of blood and gore. Again, a great deal of scenes were depicted in extreme slow motion, many of those being slaughter scenes. Although seemingly over the top, I found myself entranced as well as disturbed by the manner in which the people of Mega City One lived their lives. My only question was why these people would want to slow down that same pathetic, pitiful life to 1/100th of its original speed. They really want to live that existence for the time of 100 lifetimes? Nonetheless, the attention to detail was so up close and personal, I found myself savoring each drop of blood which was focused on in my own little horrific way, undoubtedly like the director, Pete Travis, wanted me to.
Luckily, the special effects weren’t the only things this movie had going for it. Imagine Karl Urban playing the loveable character of Bones in Star Trek (2009), or even the irresistibly good looking son of the King of Rohan, Eomer, in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002). Now put him in a helmet and give him a permanent scowl. Hilariously, Urban both managed to pull off the part and over-do it ever so slightly. It was a bit distracting in parts of the movie which Urban was obviously trying to curl his mouth into a dark scowl. To me it looked like he was trying not to laugh. I would love to see the outtakes and bloopers of this movie just to see Karl Urban trying with all his might not to smile in that incredibly intimidating helmet.
Unfortunately, more than Dredd’s frowny face pulled the movie down. The first twenty minutes or so were brilliant, a choking intensity grabbing onto the audience and holding them above the ground as the movie’s tone proved to be both dark and intense. It, however, did not change for nearly the rest of the movie. The entirety of the movie was a string of explosions and bloody encounters with gang members. None of the characters really let their guard down throughout the whole movie, least of all Dredd, whom the audience was very convinced was going to have a change of heart. On the contrary, by the end of the movie, he seemed to have tightened up the rookie Anderson to his own uptight ideals. Although maintaining the entire movie as one big climax seemed like a good technique to keep the audience engaged, it turned out to be a burden upon the impressively solid plot line.
The blood may have scarred me for life, Dredd’s frowny face may have remedied those nightmares, and the movie may have tried a bit too hard to be one giant climax, but I still find myself savoring the memories I have of Dredd. It was worth it as an action movie, and that’s all we can really expect.
