So, I just saw Dredd (2012 of course) today, and I have to say that I really rather enjoyed it.
I haven't actually seen the Sylvester Stallone version, or had anything to do with older Dredd stuff (it's a comic and a cartoon isn't it?), but this one as a stand-alone movie was pretty awesome.
As Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz) put it, it's "a no-holds-barred, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride"; there's not much in the way of story, for one thing, and it's basically just a long string of gratuitous violence.
The lack of story can be justified by saying that it's basically a really violent movie-length episode of a cop show; Dredd's a cop (more or less) and he does this every day (more or less), so it's hard to have a definitive beginning or end, except to the case in question.
There was even some character development on Anderson's end, at any rate; around the middle, when she's just been in the apartment and seen the family photo, she doubts herself, but by the end, she's a miniature Dredd.
We even see that Dredd's only human when
But I appreciate the movie more for what isn't in it.
The violence is... I can't put tasteful in the same sentence as violence with a straight face, but it's restrained.
For example:
A lot of the heavier stuff is either super brief, indistinct, or implied;
Speaking of implied, there's also a psychological thriller buried somewhere under there, most obviously
If you look at the movie like that, they really don't emphasise the violence;
Admittedly, there's still more than is strictly necessary, but that's the nature of the beast.
I was also left with a couple of questions about Dredd by the end.
As for the actors, they did a good job. Karl Urban had a good voice and bottom-half-of-a-face for Dredd, Olivia Thirlby was a little bit wooden, but that's believable for her character and she was pretty, and Lena Headey was a good, half-insane villain. I felt like she was almost channelling Cersei.
I could go on about examples and whatnot, but you get the idea.
In summary, good movie, and an excellent example of what testosterone-powered action blockbusters can be.
So, anyone else seen it? Any thoughts to the contrary/other stuff to add?
(Also, this is my first post - sorry for all the spoiler tags, call me paranoid. Also also, like captcha says - take it with a "grain of salt", I'm no Movie Bob.)
I haven't actually seen the Sylvester Stallone version, or had anything to do with older Dredd stuff (it's a comic and a cartoon isn't it?), but this one as a stand-alone movie was pretty awesome.
As Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz) put it, it's "a no-holds-barred, adrenaline-fueled thrill ride"; there's not much in the way of story, for one thing, and it's basically just a long string of gratuitous violence.
The lack of story can be justified by saying that it's basically a really violent movie-length episode of a cop show; Dredd's a cop (more or less) and he does this every day (more or less), so it's hard to have a definitive beginning or end, except to the case in question.
There was even some character development on Anderson's end, at any rate; around the middle, when she's just been in the apartment and seen the family photo, she doubts herself, but by the end, she's a miniature Dredd.
We even see that Dredd's only human when
he gets hit by that armor-piercing round. Sure, he barely bats an eye, but we still see he's not actually an untouchable demigod.
But I appreciate the movie more for what isn't in it.
The violence is... I can't put tasteful in the same sentence as violence with a straight face, but it's restrained.
For example:
After the minigun scene, the walls aren't splattered with blood, there aren't entrails everywhere, and honestly, there aren't that many bodies and they're all in good nick.
Alternatively, when Ma-Ma hits the ground and the blood spreads across the camera, that wasn't violence or gore, that was art.
Alternatively, when Ma-Ma hits the ground and the blood spreads across the camera, that wasn't violence or gore, that was art.
A lot of the heavier stuff is either super brief, indistinct, or implied;
When the henchman dude blows his own arm off, we only see the stump for a split second before Anderson kicks him; all the images of the guys getting tortured/skinned etc. are really brief as well, and the skinned bodies are just covered with red, rather than being all nasty.
Speaking of implied, there's also a psychological thriller buried somewhere under there, most obviously
when Anderson's reading the dude's mind and he comes up with something really nasty, or when Anderson's interrogating said dude - we don't see the ole' john getting bitten off.
If you look at the movie like that, they really don't emphasise the violence;
when Anderson shoots that one survivor of the flash-grenade scene, we don't see him get shot, we see Anderson's face; her reaction - same with the dude blowing off his arm, we mostly just see his kinda pained, shocked expression.
Admittedly, there's still more than is strictly necessary, but that's the nature of the beast.
I was also left with a couple of questions about Dredd by the end.
When he asks the other Judge to 'wait', and at the start how Anderson senses something in him, it suggests to me that maybe he's psychic or at least mutant as well; maybe that's why he doesn't take the helmet off (in the movie anyway, I don't know about the Dredd canon).
As for the actors, they did a good job. Karl Urban had a good voice and bottom-half-of-a-face for Dredd, Olivia Thirlby was a little bit wooden, but that's believable for her character and she was pretty, and Lena Headey was a good, half-insane villain. I felt like she was almost channelling Cersei.
I could go on about examples and whatnot, but you get the idea.
In summary, good movie, and an excellent example of what testosterone-powered action blockbusters can be.
So, anyone else seen it? Any thoughts to the contrary/other stuff to add?
(Also, this is my first post - sorry for all the spoiler tags, call me paranoid. Also also, like captcha says - take it with a "grain of salt", I'm no Movie Bob.)