BoardChiri
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Phillipa
Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.
Francene Odetta
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
Michael Ledo
The film takes place in a futuristic society after much has been destroyed with atomic radiation. Law enforcement officers are called Judges as they act as judge, jury and executioner. Society is attempting to regain law and order, but is losing. Drugs compromise the largest aspect of law enforcement. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) whose face we never see, is cold, calculating, and strictly by the book enforcer. He is assigned a rookie (Olivia Thirlby) who is a mutant and has special mind reading powers.When a triple homicide happens at a block high rise, our duo goes to investigate only to uncover a large scale drug operation. The drug is called "slo-mo" and gives one a slow motion sensation which adds to the special effects as we get to see plenty of slow motion killings.At this point the feature becomes akin to a video game where our two judges must ascend a a locked down high rise clearing out levels in order to reach Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) the leader.There is plenty of action. In fact the film is almost all action. The sound track was fast paced. Along with the heavy action and blood, one could claim this was similar to a Tarantino grindhouse. Parental Guide: F-bombs, brief sex, brief distant nudity (?), lots and lots of blood and some brain splatter.
adonis98-743-186503
In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO. I'm one of the few people who did liked the 1995 Stallone driven Judge Dredd film and to me this film was kind of an insult. I did liked the girl and Lena's perfomance as Ma-ma but i think that Karl tried way hard to get into the shoes of that character. I mean at one point he acts like Stallone's Dredd and the next as Bale's Batman and a combination of different faces. The plot was also unoriginal and the Rated R at times a bit goofy it's basically like Conan in 3D but a bit better and still bad. (4/10)
James_Denton
One of the most underrated movies in the last few years, Dredd provides an action filled escape from reality by taking you inside the walls of Mega City One, to the ruthless streets & blocks policed the men & women of the halls of justice... The Judges!Directed by Pete Travis, this is a superb film showing how action films can and should be done. Unfortunately, the film tries to make use of 3D technology with the aim of giving a more immersive experience for the viewer and although 3D technology (in film) is now defunct, this doesn't detract from the action sequences in anyway.Karl Urbans performance as Dredd is spot on and fans of Judge Dredd will not be let down.. a calm, resolute, stern and weary character that accurately portrays what years of bringing justice to the streets of Mega City One would feel like.The storyline is relatively simple too, and closely resembles the Indonesian film The Raid (another excellent film). Detractors of Dredd might feel it stole the plot, but Dredd was conceived first and all similarities are most likely down to pure coincidence. If you haven't seen this film, then add it to the top of your list as it's a must!!Here's hoping they eventually make a much deserved sequel with Karl Urban reprising the role.
blrnani
If the 1995 film hadn't catered to Roy Schneider idiocy - he managed to be even more irritating than the Joe Pesci character in the Lethal Weapon films (though to be fair to him I believe it was Sly who wanted more comedy, failing to appreciate the dry humour of the comic book series).
As I only know the comics superficially, I appreciated this film as an actioner and there's no shortage of that, although the violence may be too graphic for many audiences (eg: we see a person hitting the ground after falling over a kilometer through the air). What gave it more depth was Dredd's rookie partner, whose use of her mind reading powers was not only a powerful tool in their fight for survival but enabled her to empathise with many of the bad guys who would otherwise be regarded as disposable street trash.
I hope there are sequels, as there is plenty of ground to be explored and the topic of failing justice is topical, given the way the courts are overloaded with delaying tactics and lack of staff to handle the volume, which in turn gives the advantage to those who can afford to wait for as long as it takes. There's also the issue of law enforcement playing by rules coming up against criminals who don't abide by any rules whatsoever. And of course there's the whole notion of quick justice, dispensed by individuals who are judge, jury and executioner; a level of power that may be efficient but has enormous power to corrupt.
But in a world where many people feel the power has swung too far the other way (how often do we hear the lament that only criminals seem to have rights?), pulling it in this direction is an attractive proposition that can be healthily explored in the cinema.
