A superhero movie that doesn't suck.
82/100
Original Release: 2012
Directed By: Pete Travis
Written By: Alex Garland
Cast: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirby, Lena Headly, Wood Harris
Favourite Quote:
"Save that shit for the rookies. 20 years I've been on the streets. You know what Mega City One is, Dredd? It's a fucking meat grinder. People go in one end, and meat comes out the other. All we do is turn the handle."
Favourite Shot:
Think of your modern day superhero movie. The same monotonous structure, the tedious backstories, the forced romances, the end of the world stakes, the hanging by a thread plots, the gorgeous leads, the fifty different locations, the same boring action we’ve seen a hundred times. It never ends. And now think of a movie which seemingly goes against each and every one of these components and still remains to be a superhero film. And you have Dredd.
Directed by Pete Travis and written and produced by Alex Garland (although Urban has stated this should be regarded as Garland’s film), Dredd is a refreshing watch for those who have felt endlessly bored and depressed with the more recent superhero movies.
Based on the comic book Judge Dredd, the film is set in a post-nuclear war world in a violent city called Mega-City One. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is a part of the force of judges who act as judge, jury and executioner in the city.
The story begins with Dredd being given the job to evaluate new recruit Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirby). Cassandra is a mutant psychic, which is never really explained (which I love). For Cassandra’s first trial, she and Dredd set out to a 200 storey slum tower block called Peach Trees to investigate a triple homicide.
And almost immediately the action begins as both judges are put in a Die Hard type situation when drug lord and criminal kingpin Ma-Ma (Lena Headly) locks them inside the tower and orders all of the citizens to kill the judges on sight.
At this moment you realise the movie isn’t going anywhere. It is staying right here, and for the next 70 or so minutes you are going to be holding your breath, filled with anxiety about how these two are going to make it out alive.
The film gives very little context on characters and situations. And it’s just so thrilling to be able to just start a movie and do so little work before the excitement begins. Not to say that the characters are two dimensional or boring at all. You just get to learn about them on the go. Or Garland and Travis rely on universal cliched characters to get the point across quickly.
A highlight scene is when Cassandra’s psychic abilities are shown as she tries to go inside Wood Harris’ character, Kay’s, mind. Kay tries to intimidate her by showing her some dirty thoughts inside his head and she fights back by sort of torturing him inside his own mind. Such a creative idea. Instead of simple gun fight they fight inside Kay’s head.
How they visualise her abilities is very creative and this is accentuated by Thirby’s performance. You really get to understand how these abilities have shaped her as a person, and start to think her powers may be just a metaphor for empathy (which seems like a lot of people in this city lack - including Dredd).
As the film builds to the final showdown, it feels as if only five minutes have flown by. Garland’s script cuts all of the fat out. And this doesn’t mean there isn’t time for cool slo-mo scenes which emphasise the effects of the slo-mo drug that Ma-Ma deals. Or quirks such as the prosthetic eyes that Domhall Gleeson’s character wears or the colourful shots, sets and sequences.
Garland just manages to do in 90 minutes what certain recent superhero films fail to do in double the running time. He is able to do this because of a simple, effective plot. A single location where the movie takes place. Two lead characters, and two major villains. No love plot, no backstories and a thrilling structure.
The actors (all are sensational), cinematography (quirky, beautiful and creative), action (not one of the many deaths are shot in the same way) and characters (two of the best female characters I’ve seen in a superhero movie) are allowed to shine.
And another reason why Dredd manages to succeed, and also differentiate itself from the rest, is its low stakes. Dredd isn’t saving the whole world. He is saving himself, his partner and trying to bring justice for a crime. That is it.
And it makes the breathless, claustrophobic film even more effective when we reach the end and realise that Dredd sees this as just another day. It’s not a situation that threatens the entire world, but when situations like this are happening everyday, in multiple locations, then things are complicated for this world.
But none of this is told to you on screen. This is all shown, and at the end you come to this conclusion on your own. And you realise the meaninglessness of Dredd’s job or perhaps you see why he takes it so seriously.
Pete Travis and Alex Garland’s Dredd is a film about judgement, empathy and corruption and how these three things collide and relate in a broken world. And it is one of the most effective superhero movies I’ve ever seen.
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