STARRING: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena
Headey, Rakie Ayola, Langley Kirkwood
2012, 95 Minutes, Directed by:
Pete Travis
Do
you ever read the reasons given for the MPAA ratings? If all you know about
Dredd is that it’s a reboot (not a remake) of the character from the
2000AD comic book previously brought to the screen by Sylvester Stallone,
you might want to play closer attention.
When it says it is rated R in
the U.S. for “strong bloody violence” that’s not merely colorful language. This
is one of the most violent movies released this year. Consider that less a
criticism than a warning. This is not for the squeamish.
It’s a post-apocalyptic future
where the remnants of civilization live in a walled megacity stretching from
Boston to Washington, D. C. Lawlessness is rampant and the city is essentially
ungovernable except for the “judges.” These are uniformed and masked crime
fighters who combine the roles of police, prosecutor, judge and executioner.
Dredd (Karl Urban) is one of the most ruthless and incorruptible of the judges.
After establishing the scenario
we find that he has been assigned to assess a potential new judge named Anderson
(Olivia Thirlby, her hair dyed blonde). She didn’t quite make the grade but
she’s a mutant who can read minds. The chief judge (Rakie Ayola) thinks she may
be useful. The rest of the film is about Dredd and Anderson on assignment in the
massive Peach Trees complex where they are working on a brutal triple murder.
It’s connected to Ma Ma (Lena Headey), the vicious crime boss who runs the
complex with an iron fist. She is using it to launch a deadly new drug called
“Slo Mo” that makes the user feel time has slowed to a crawl.
"Lots of strong bloody violence done with style and cleverness!"
What happens after that is more
of what we’ve already seen: lots of “strong bloody violence.” Dredd shoots a
bunch of thugs on Slo Mo and we see the bullets piercing various body parts in
slow motion. A beggar Judge Dredd tells to move along remains in place, not
realizing it is where a massive steel gate is set to come down. Several people
plunge down the 200 story Peace Trees atrium with sickening splats, none more so
than the last one. It is unrelenting.
That’s not to say it isn’t done
with some style and cleverness. Most of the time Anderson’s power consists of
her head being oddly lit as she “reads” someone’s mind. Yet in one scene we get
to see it from her perspective, as she is interrogating a suspect, and it’s a
head game in more ways than one.
As for Urban, there’s no question this was
either a brave or foolish role for him to take. Already established as a
supporting player in the
Riddick and
Star Trek film franchises (he was the superb Dr. McCoy in the 2009 Trek
reboot) here he’s taken a leading role . . . where, as in the comic, his entire
face is covered except for his mouth and chin. This is for the entire movie.
Even Peter Weller got a few scenes in the original
Robocop where we got to see him pre-helmet.
Dredd is solid action
fare which is a lot closer to its source than the Stallone film was, presenting
a fantasy world that might border on fascist but for the humanizing presence of
Anderson, who lets one member of Ma Ma’s gang go free on the grounds that he’s a
victim, not a criminal. Dredd is about justice without mercy, although he
does notably hold back in one scene. If Judge Dredd is tough, at least Dredd
acknowledges that we ought to have some qualms about the system depicted here
even while we’re enjoying the ultraviolence.
Do
you ever read the reasons given for the MPAA ratings? If all you know about
Dredd is that it’s a reboot (not a remake) of the character from the
2000AD comic book previously brought to the screen by Sylvester Stallone,
you might want to play closer attention.