Dredd

[palitoy]

Took the wife for a rare movie date on the weekend and caught Dredd (in 2D), at first I was sort of bugged by the different depiction of the Megacity and the hardware (the Stallone version seemed to me to be more accurate in at least that regard) but then the movie began and it just didn't matter.

Dredd isn't some epic sci fi saga, it doesn't really have much of story at all really. Dredd and his rookie partner Anderson run afoul of a drug lord who runs a housing complex. Drug lord traps Dredd and Anderson in the complex. Hilarity ensues.

The movie is more about Anderson's growth as a judge than it is about Dredd, you really don't get anything on him other than he's pretty comfortable with who and what he is.

It's visuals are excellent, a lot of directors/dps would struggle with making people running around a drabby concrete structure for an hour look interesting but it's done well here.

My only complaint was not enough of the dark humour associated with the character, the trademark over the top violence? That's there in spades but the movie isn't about it, it's just a part of it.

This movie didn't score high at the box office but it will find an audience. After we left, my initially reluctant wife said she couldn't get over how much she liked it. She wants to see it again.

[Bruce Banner]

Saw it a couple of weeks ago over here...

Not bad... certainly ultra violent and fast paced.

But the problem for me was that in removing most of the over-the-top elements of the Dredd universe and going for a more realistic tone, the fiilm-makers essentially robbed the story of the unique aspects that make Judge Dredd what it is.

In this movie, they pretty much could have replaced Dredd with any generic future-cop kind of character and it wouldn't have made any difference to the story.

But if they're going for a more realistic, less fantastic take on the source material, then fair enough, I guess.
It's just that I can't imagine they'll ever be able to comfortably incorporate the more out there elements like Judge Death, Satanus, Robot rebellions, etc. into this new realistic version of Dredd if they ever make any sequels.

But Urban was pretty good in the role, and the film seldom had a dull moment.

[Earth 2 Chris]

The movie took a severe beating at the box office, unfortunately. It's good to know its a good flick. Hopefully good word of mouth will carry it when it hits the home market.

Chris

[Hector]

It will find an audience on Blue-ray...not at the theaters...awful weekend box office opening...

http://boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/

I do wanna see Dredd...damn the box office...more spacious seating for me, lol.

End of Watch came out in first place...paltry numbers too (although not as bad as Dredd)...but End of Watch cost only 7 million to make...so it's already a hit...and that's the movie I wanna watch...it has received very strong reviews.

After watching End of Watch, I'm gonna sneak into Dredd...lol.

[Hector]

This has to be one of the slowest box office weekends I've ever seen on record.

[ctc]

Hmmmm....

My buddies Doak and Towers went and saw it; they're as hardcore about the comic as I am.... and they said it was actually really good. It wasn't dead-on to the comic, but it was close. Doak said it looked like they were planting the seeds for a film more like the comic. (Maybe to ease the average viewer into the setting?) Lots of little bits.... like the "Chopper was here" scrawl. The only real sticking points:

-I hate the armour, especially since they'd mentioned in a story why the Judges don't bomb up on all sorts of Gucci kit like that.
-The bad guys actually swear, with real swear words. This bothered Doak to no end, since there's a perfectly good established obsenity vernacular in the comic.
-The bikes looked like they were swiped from Megaforce.

Don C.