New Judge Dredd Movie Teaser Trailer

Cafe Society
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Weird. I was a huge 2000AD fan back in the day (years’ worth of progs in boxes were my most treasured possession aged 19 before they got stolen) and I didn’t think Dredd was even partway the Dredd movie I’ve been waiting for. I’m still waiting, and this movie bombing makes it look like I won’t get another chance. I’ve been holding out for a Dead Man movie complete with a beardy-weirdy Chief McGruder, dammit!

Anyway. I saw this a week ago in a twofer with Looper. It was okay, not as fun or shiny as the Stallone movie, which I watch on an annual basis and always enjoy, even taking into consideration its Schneider handicap. But I doubt I’ll watch this one again unless it happens to be on TV. Dredd/Urban just seemed kind of blah. There was no sense of people reading his badge and cowering in terror of being judged. He was more lifeless than Robocop, no depth, no huge swinging balls, just someone marching about on autopilot. He wasn’t The Law, or any crim’s worst nightmare. He was, I don’t know, just kind of eh, with moments of occasional PMS. He didn’t feel as relentless, dark, resolute or powerful as I wanted. I wanted to fear him. Dredd always scared the crap out of me as a young reader. This one didn’t seem to intimidate anyone.

I didn’t hate the near-future setting, but it didn’t feel like the M-C1 I used to love, at least not to me. Although I LOVED the Kenny Who? and Chopper =) graffiti, it made me realise I’d much rather be watching a sky surfer movie than the one I was sitting in front of, though. The Lawmasters looked horrible, and I found myself really missing the big shiny kneepads, badges and shoulderpads from Stallone’s movie. This Dredd looked like they’d costumed him in a skate shop. I also found myself missing Hammerstein, and things were kind of dull without Armand Assante taking bites out of the scenery.

This time, I also had issues with the terrible 3D and the huge amount of visual noise in dark scenes. Sometimes I couldn’t see a damn thing that was going on without taking the 3D glasses off. However, I loved the slow mo effect. It was so pretty I doubt people would’ve minded much about being thrown off buildings while tripping balls.

Anderson was great. Otherwise, I found Dredd dull, to the extent that I came home and advised my husband (another huge 2000AD fan) that I didn’t think it was a real Dredd movie and that he should wait for the DVD release. Reading comments in here, maybe I was too hasty?

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I read it more that the Justice Department wasn’t as omnipresent as in the comics, that the city was still piecing itself back together after the Rad Wars, and the judges were a rare presence, pretty much a thin black line who just didn’t have the resources or manpower to be everywhere. Most blocks rarely if ever saw a judge, and Dredd himself didn’t have the recognition he did in the comics, where people would surrender at the mention of his name.

A different take on Mega City One than the comics, and obviously in a large part a constraint imposed by the budget, but an interesting one that the film made work. And I thought that - the wildly impractical helmets aside - the interpretation of the uniform from the comic strip was excellent: it kept the essence, with the badge, the shoulder pads and the huge boots, but really did make it look like a functional armoured suit not dissimilar to those of modern riot police.

For faithful adherence to the comic, thought, the Judge Minty fan film looks very impressive, especially when you consider its amateur origins: early footage here.