Dredd: A Quick Review

Dredd has a longer history than people might think. Many won't even remember the poorly made Judge Dredd with Sylvester Stallone back in the 90s. Even less probably remember the comic book that dealt as much with social commentary as it did with killing people.

Well Dredd is back and it's gone a direction that I highly approve. Skipping almost completely over the social commentary, Dredd has been remade into a good old fashioned violent shoot em up.

For those who don't know the deal, Dredd lives in the ruin of the old world where Judges are given on the spot judicial power. That means if they see you kill someone, they can kill you right then and there with the pretty awesome line "Judgement is final, the sentence is death." When investigating a triple homicide in a 200 story building, Dredd and his partner are locked inside with a homicidal drug kingpin known as mama (Lena Headey). So now they must fight their way to the top if they want to get out alive.

Karl Urban stars as the titular Judge Dredd. And he is badass. Never once taking off his mask, Urban puts on his best scowl for the audience and avoids any sort of inflection except anger in his voice. He grunts, he says one liners and more importantly he kills people with slow motion violence. I loved it.

At the same time, all though this was a stand alone story there were many hints about developing a larger back story and universe to play in. Judging by box office receipts that looks woeful but I for one would enjoy a little more Dredd.

3 out of 4 stars.

-Christopher O'Connell