Let Action Chick go ahead and drop a wisdom bomb on you guys: Dredd is good! Yay! I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve seen a new release that was good, but Dredd entertains with a ton of action and decent story line…nothing like the 1995 Sylvester Stallone movie Judge Dredd. Still not convinced? This film is like The Raid: Redemption, only with two good guys in the fight and a crazy, evil woman as the big bad!
Lena Headey is incredible as the totally evil, totally nutso Ma-Ma,a drug lord who locks two Judges (law enforcement officers) in her 200 story resident building so that they can’t bust her drug operation. She tells the residents of the building that the lock down will end when the two Judges, Dredd (Karl Urban) and Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), are dead, creating 200 floors of residents thirsting for some Judge blood.
Dredd is a good example of how an action film can develop a story while keeping the action going. Though the plot wasn’t complex, enough was there to keep you rooting for the good guys and keep you interested. The action itself kept up a strong pace, complete with occasional bouts of extreme violence.
The only thing I was a little disappointed with was that Ma-Ma wasn’t much of a fighter, nor did she seem particularly bright. She was instead content to send her men to do all the dirty work and relied on her poor toady to come up with ideas to keep the reinforcement Judges off their case. She eventually locks herself in a safe room, and in the film’s climax, makes a very poor attempt to negotiate with Dredd and doesn’t fight him at all. I wanted to see a fight! I guess she just has the attitude and confidence to make other baddies follow her despite her lack of fighting skills or intelligence. Sometimes, all you need is a mean face and a meaner snarl.
That’s not enough to detract from the film though. It was balls-to-the-wall law-fest sure to please fans of the original Judge Dredd comic. Dredd’s portrayal was much more in line with his original character, as he’s a dark, brutal enforcer of the law. Also, Dreddy boy never took off his helmet, and delivered the requisite “I am the law.” with much aplomb. If you’re looking for some heated sci-fi action with a flair for direct story lines and direct violence, you could do a lot worse than Dredd.
Time Until Action: ~ 2 minutes
Action Rating: 5 “I am the law!” out of 5!
This is the Action Flick Chick, and you’ve just been kicked in the ass!
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I completely agree about the Raid:Redemption comparison. It was a good mix of that and the first Robocop movie.
I liked that the story was small: No grand conspiracies; no secret pasts; no system getting overthrown. Just a problem: How to get out of the building? Also, for once the good guy has to deal with ammo shortages, just like every other FPS hero.
I also appreciated that the setting wasn’t a technologically magical future, like Stallone’s version. People driving vans in a city made up of buildings that look like our buildings (except for the Mega Blocks).
ARGH, I tried watching it on this side of the world last weekend but the tickets ran out despite being out for over a week now. I’m really looking forward to the new Dredd. The Stallone version was painful to watch, like pulling teeth.
I LOVED this movie!
While I understand comparisons to The Raid: Redemption, I kept seeing people calling ti a rip off which annoyed me to no end as Dredd was actually shot in 2010.
It also makes me mad this movie wasn’t more successful. I just hope that after it comes out on home video and everything is totaled up, it makes enough to get sequels. I guess I never will figure out what makes people go see movies. I’m not even saying it needed to do as well as Taken did opening weekend… But an entire run of that first week gross would have been nice.
But I digress.
This was one of my favorite movies all year and I wish it was still in the local theatre so I could see it again. As it is not, I will be buying it first day on blu ray. I really hope we get more (I want dark judges).