I went to see "Dredd 3D" a few hours after finishing my fourth night shift, it was actually the first showing on the first day of release, grud knows how I stayed awake...
Actually the reason I stayed awake was that it was zarjaz! Scrotnig! Drokkin amazing!
I read 2000ad from issue 1 until the early 2000s, so I'm quite the Dredd connoisseur. I remember looking forward immensely to the debacle that was "Judge Dredd" and then being so so incredible disappointed with the Stallone non event.
This was the film I was looking forward to. Kudos to Karl Urban for taking a role that had so few lines, and hid most of his face. He nailed it, Urban is Dredd, at least until time travel is invented and a 40 something Clint Eastwood gets to play him, he was the inspiration after all. Dredd doesn't need depth, he has a singular purpose, he is the law.
The films low budget obviously dictated the rather claustrophobic story line (which is uncannily like "The Raid") but I think this rather helps. Low budgets often foster creativity.
Most films featuring such an iconic character are bogged down with the need for an an origin , often half the film is over before they can start being the 'hero' we want. Here Dredd is Dredd from the start, a cloned fascist law machine.
I usually avoid 3d films, they're so dark (literally, not in tone) and I've got funny eyes, terrible night blindness don't you know. Here the 3d worked extremely well (for me) and the 'slo mo' macguffin enabled some beautiful scenes.
Loved the lawmaster AI (but not so much the design), the lawgiver, the crooked Judges, the Judges costume (which actually looked practical and very intimidating) the spacing out of the city blocks (as compared to the comic book version), the little easter eggs (chopper?), and the bleakness and unapologetic gore.
Here's hoping for sequels, the Dark Judges would be most welcome, but perhaps a little fantastical after the tone of the 'original' (but please no Walter the robot), or maybe the cursed earth?
By the way, the auditorium had about 20 people in it. It's been a long time since I've seen such an assemblage of freaks, misfits and nut jobs.
I wonder if they thought the same about me?
(by the way night shift still stinks)
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