Dredd 3D

The return of Judge Dredd to the big screen has been long over due.It's crazy when it think about it.  Since 1995's Sylvester Stallone vehicle bulldozer'd its way across cinema screens, comic book movies have become an established and recognised cinematic genre - its a different landscape than 17 years ago, yet its taken that long for Dredd to return. But was it worth the wait?

Dredd 3D offers us a 'day in the life of...' story as Dredd, played by Karl Urban, takes rookie judge and psychic Judge Cassandra Anderson under his wing, an opportunity for her to prove her mettle and her worth on the streets of Mega City One.The city, divided into sectors, the population living in two-hundred story towers called Mega Blocks, is one of the few population centres left on earth. War and nuclear fallout force the majority  of the eastern United States to inhabit this vast metropolis stretching from Boston to Washington DC in a world that balances on the brink between chaos and order. The Judges, Mega City One's answer to the police maintain that fragile balance, but in a population of 400 Million people, their work is cut out for them.

The film sees Mega City One in the grip of Slo-Mo, a drug that alters the users perception of time to a fraction of reality and as Dredd and Anderson attend to a homicide at the Peach Trees Mega Block, things go from bad to worse with crime lord Ma-Ma intending to protect her territory, by any means necessary.

I don't want to go too much into the plot of the film but what I will do is tell you why this is one of the stand out films of the year and a welcome return to the big screen for Dredd. The visuals of the movie are striking and immersive. In Dredd 3D you encounter that rare instance where the 3D actually enhances the film and draws you into the story further. As Slo-Mo takes a grip of a Mega City perp you experience the effect of the drug with them, your reality being warped and twisted - not good when a Mega Block could well be a place where you'd want a violent death to happen as quickly as possible. The world of the Mega City is a slum viewed through a grime covered lens, a place of little hope and where it's inhabitants simply 'exist'. In Dredd we experience very little outside of the events occurring inside Peach Trees, this means the action is focused entirely on Dredd and Anderson and as such, on Karl Urban and Olivia Thirlby.

Judge Dredd is the epitome of the law in Mega City One and is played with fanboy aplomb by Star Trek and RED star, Karl Urban, who first encountered the lawman in his comic book origins

"It was a friend of mine who I was working with at the time. He was a big Dredd fan and I remember he switched me onto the character. I was always interested in science fiction and science fiction films like Alien and Blade Runner so I immediately responded to the world of Dredd and obviously the character himself as this tough, take no bullshit lawman with a wicked, dry sense of humour," cites Urban, his fan pleasing credentials shining through. It would be tough for anyone other than a genuine fan to pay such loyal service to this character, a character who's adventures Urban has been reading since he was a kid.

Of the many things that Urban and screen writer Alex Garland agreed upon two were essential, that the helmet stays on and that Dredd be as unrelenting on screen as he is in the comic, this is what they knew that fellow fans would demand.The actor hits the ground running and it's difficult to envision a better embodiment of Dredd than the performance Urban offers, his Eastwood-esque growl reverberating just like that 'saw cutting through bone' that Dredd creator John Wagner heard when creating the character.

The Judge Joe Dredd of the comic has gone through few changes over the years, but both Urban's performance and Dredd's cosmetic appearance are loyal to the comic. With a few tweaks for plausibility you barely notice the absence of that huge gold shoulder eagle because so much in the world of Dredd is exactly how you'd want it. that being said I'd have loved to see a Lawmaster motorcycle exactly the same as the one in the comic. In Dredd 3D, Mega City One is a much more 'real world' environment proving less sci-fi and more futuristic. In fact I'd argue that one of the things that the 1995 movie largely 'got right' was the look of Mega City One. Most likely a budgetary concern, this stripped down vision of the world of Dredd actually works incredibly well to draw the viewer into the movie providing a vision of poverty and desperation not to distant from the world we recognise. In this movie the world could very well be our future and that helps ground the film, but for those of you yearning for the Mega City One of the comics, do not fear...

"In our movie you see one aspect of Mega City One or one sector of Mega City One, that isn’t to say that those elements that people love about the comic and the more science fiction elements don’t exist in another aspect that we could perhaps explore in another film," Urban reminds us;

Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson is an actress I'm not familiar with, but who I'm sure we will see a lot more of... and really shines in this movie. Anderson is the emotional connection in this movie - we see the world of Mega City One through her eyes. There's a vulnerability to her performance born of her world weariness and that he fate is undecided. Yet, that said, she is far from hesitant to perform her duty... plus the Chief Judge has a vested interest in keeping Anderson on the force, namely her telepathic ability. The partnership between Dredd and Anderson is one of the highlights of the film, for viewers and for its star;

"What I found I enjoyed the most was working with Olivia, she was just a great team player and we formed a wonderful partnership. Most of the time we were in the movie were scenes with each other and every day we would have a meeting before we would go on set and discuss what it was we were about to shoot and we were just on the same page. You can see that in the film and the chemistry between those two characters is really the foundation of the film", Karl acknowledges.

Facing off against Dredd and Anderson is Game of Thrones veteran (and Huddersfield-raised) Lena Heady as Ma-Ma, the crime boss who runs Peach Trees. Heady is woefully underused here, which is one of the movies few real flaws, given that all she really has to do is wait for Dredd and Anderson to reach her. Relishing the role and getting the opportunity to 'cut loose' in a way that we rarely get to from her Game of Thrones character, Heady is an actress with a vast repertoire and it's great to see her in a role like this.

The drama in Dredd focuses in one location and makes you care for these characters, the general lack of interest of the outside world really emphasising that the films events aren't  an unusual occurrence in Mega City One. By placing such a strong emphasis on character and by placing all the action inside peach trees we are offered an experience akin to Carpenter's Assault on Precinct 13, and the action and performances don't disappoint.

Sure, Dredd 3D isn't flawless, the movie starts to flag a little in the final act as the inevitable finale draws near and the ending feels a little anti-climatic, but 'it's not the journey but how you get there that's important' and that age old statement certainly rings true in Dredd 3D. Of that journey, Dredd is undoubtedly going to spawn a sequel, something the Urban is already entertaining

"If we get to make more of these I’d be happy to continue the journey, however if this is a one off cult film, I’m happy too because I’m proud of it".

Dredd 3D is out today and I challenge you not to be entertained by what will undoubtedly be one of the stand out movies of the year.

WATCH OUT for our Dredd competition on Monday!