Dredd. The box office bomb of 2012 that has become a cult classic has just went on Netflix streaming, and me being an intense Judge Dredd fan I had to give it a watch, two actually. Each time I've seen the movie it got better and better the first time when i saw it in February I gave it a 8. Now after a second and third viewing it has gotten a ton better.
The movies plot is an incredibly simple one, just an average day in Mega City One, Judge Dredd investigates a regular murder case in a Mega Block (giant apartment) when him and a rookie (Judge Anderson) get locked in and must be forced to get to the two hundredth floor of the block all while fighting the Ma-Ma clan in order to take down its drug empire. The story is very simple and most would criticize it say it copy's The Raid, but for the record Dredd's script was finished first, and the simplicity of the script really helps the movie you don't have to think too much about how our protagonist got were they are. The action is incredibly violent and intense, this is needed in order to show why Mega City One needs to use the Judges and there hyper-violent way of justice. Now the action may be violent but it is extraordinary not so much in scale but in the fact that it relies on suspense, intensity and the danger the characters are in. Also for a film as violent and dark as this it still has it's moments of true beauty when people use the slo mo drug it all looks very beautiful even when your seeing faces torn apart by bullets, with the slo mo it still looks enchanting.
The characters in this movie are the most important part because this movie isn't action driven it's character driven, our two protagonist are Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson. Karl Urban's performance as Judge Dredd is in my opinion the best ever in a comic book movie (yes better than RDJ as Tony Stark), he s fully immersed in the character of Dredd and thats something needed when portraying Dredd, because unlike most comic book heroes Dredd has no secret identity he's just the best at his job, he has no mask, the helmet isn't a mask its the face of Judge Dredd. Dredd is the humanized form of justice. Now our second protagonist, Judge Anderson is a strong female character who changes heavily throughout the movie, starting as a weaker rookie Judge and with all the events that happen that day she comes out as a very strong full fledged Judge. The villain Ma-Ma, is a pretty good villain, evil and relentless. Now for a movie like this you wouldn't be expecting any twists but there is one roughly an hour in, I'm not going to spoil it but just see the movie and you'll know what it is, and boy is it a good one. The movie was also able to stretch it's small budget to its full potential with great looking skyline CGI and the Slo-Mo effects. The music also helped this movie a lot, it really fits with the hyper violent feeling of the movie at times like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_mkNPvb5C4, when it can also enhance the moments while the slow mo is being used like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyxC5eVO2GE.
Dredd is above all one of the greatest comic book movies of all time, and in my opinion one of the greatest movies of all time. It is full of action and intensity but is still maintained by strong great main characters. It's music, the performances, the violence and the beauty of the movie make it this great. What sets Dredd apart from all other comic book movies is that Dredd isn't a hero he has no secret identity, and what sets it apart from all action movies is that it doesn't rely on explosions every second. Dredd is one of my 10 favorite movies that I'm giving a solid 10 out of 10.
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