Three months ago, I had an ambitious idea of doing three movies a week. That culminated with 37 reviews of classic, foreign, and recent films. I never thought it would be feasible but, I did it. To wrap up my retrospective of summer movies, I decided to look at a supremely underrated superhero film Dredd. Created for the magazine 2000 A.D. in the United Kingdom by John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra, Judge Dredd is a law enforcement officer for Mega-City One. As a Street Judge, he has the authority to arrest, convict, sentence, and kill criminals. Dredd from 2012 defines all those features.
1. Not Your Standard Comic Book Film
This wasn’t Judge Dredd’s first film. Back in the 90s, Sylvester Stallone starred as the character. Although he did his best with the material, he couldn’t save the film from being a turd. And just by seeing the images here and seeing him in Stallone’s film is that the cardinal sin that he made was taking off his helmet. This time, Karl Urban portrays the perfect Judge. He never reveals his face and has a permanent scowl that gives Batman a run for his loads of money.
He’s not alone in this film. A rookie shadows him named Cassandra Anderson, who is a mutant with psychic abilities. As they investigate a triple homicide in the massive 200 floor apartment building Peach Trees. An infamous gang leader “Ma-Ma” locks down the entire complex and orders her gang to find and kill Dredd. It’s about as basic as you can get in terms of what our two protagonists have going for them. Although the great thing is that the side story ties in with their predicament.
As Dredd gives Anderson the assessment, we get to see her character for who she is. When confronted with a gang member, she hesitates since she has the old-fashioned way to administer justice. I think my favorite scene of her is when both her and Dredd enter a civilian's apartment to hide from the gang. She has a vision that the gang member she killed was the tenant's husband. Anderson doesn't tell her as she and her mentor try to survive.
As Dredd is assigned to give an evaluation to Anderson if she is worthy of being a Judge. What works is that the action between the two coincide if she is good enough to be good as Dredd. Let’s hold off on the action. While the film is unique, I think it has the same structure as the foreign action film The Raid. With a cop and a rookie attempting to stop a drug gang in a tall building. Dredd is different due in large part with having the action show just how efficient Dredd is as a Judge. Okay, now we can talk about the action.
2. Bloody Good Action
What can I say about it? Oh lordy, it’s good for a blast ‘em up kind of movie. Since it’s rated R, it doesn’t hold back with the excessive violence. Some might think it’s a bit much. I say that it represents who Judge Dredd is and who he is supposed to be. Now, I’ll admit that I haven’t picked up or read a story of the famous authority figure, but everything is immediately set up with who he is and what he represents.
Anderson is a representation of us when we see her in the beginning. Dredd tells her the code of the Judge within the city. Mostly, the criminal is subject to life in prison or death. Inside the complex is where the entire action takes place. All the Judges including Dredd has a special gun where he can alternate with different bullet types and stun features. With the even fancy feature of having that gun explode if someone else pulls the trigger.
The main problem with any sub-standard action film is that while the action is at least tolerable, the main characters is the Achilles heel. Mostly since with the action to be good, there needs to be proper tension to at least make us care for the characters. If that’s lacking, what you’re basically going to get is what amounts to watching a video game cutscene, cool to look at, but boring or just not caring. Dredd remedies that issue by having it be that while yes, Dredd is the supreme Judge. The context is he tests Anderson to see if she can be Judge material.
So not only does Dredd have to contend with gang members, but also rogue Judges. Four are sent by the gang leader to hunt and kill Dredd. Not only does it amp up the action, but we get to see just how different Dredd is. From seeing the other Judges, Dredd represents who he is supposed to be and be one step above them.
Anderson is good too and as I mentioned earlier, she is a mutant. When the duo brings a prisoner, Dredd assigns her to use her abilities on him to extract any info. What I like is that we see the power and we think for a moment since she’s a rookie the prisoner will overpower her. The awesome part is that she gives him the illusion that he is in control. Slowly but surely be the next perfect Judge.
3. Why Did it Bomb?
When looking at how much it made in the box-office, it did not do well. It grossed four million dollars less than its budget. The main reason why it underperformed is that as Karl Urban points out, the studio barely marketed it. While there were commercials for the film. Not enough promotion to advertise the film may have doomed it. The good thing is that when it came out on home video, 750,000 copies were sold. Thus making it a cult classic among the Judge Dredd fans.
4. Overall
Dredd is one of those underrated comic book gems that should be seen by both action and comic book film fans. Karl Urban does a great job with portraying the authority figure. And it’s a bloody good time.
Dredd gets a four out of five.
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