Dredd

"I am the law." The phrase you do not dread hearing from Dredd.

DREDD - You might start to.

Judge Dredd rebooted, or however else you might want to phrase it. Karl Urban is the judge, and he's back being the law and slightly above it, only this time with a female psy'd-kick. The rookie, Cassandra Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby, has a mutant power where she can read and interact with peoples' minds. Awesome right?

Dredd is asked to look over Anderson in the field for a day, as she didn't quite pass all the necessary exams that she should have. Obviously Dredd is not too happy about the underachiever joining the elite force of judges that defend the Mega City.

I know that Judge Dredd comes from comic book land, and therefore I might be missing some very interesting references in places but, this film doesn't do much for a character that could be so cool. Silvester Stallone had a shot at being the judge before and like the newer Dredd, there's something lacking, somewhere.

The judges are locked down within the Megacity 1 building where Ma-ma (Lena Headey) runs the show. She is the brains behind a big narcotics production line and has a huge army of residents who would do her bidding, because she asks impolitely.

Most of the action takes place within the building, and there are some cool stylistic scenes when people use the 'Slow-Mo' drug to slooooooow eeeeeeeverything dooooooown. The weaponry is also futuristic, voice-activated and multi-functional which makes for some explosive fire-fights.

So there are elements in place to make it a good film, but it just isn't really. Dredd doesn't do much talking, Anderson seems too stiff as a character and there is nothing really that memorable that stands out. The endin especially feels a bit anti-climatic.

More action outside and on motorbikes next time?

:-)

Elky