Dredd: Action Prevails Over Context

I watched Dredd as a viewer who is not at all familiar with the comic books that the story is based on. The film was dark, intense, and a little odd, but overall, well made.

Dredd is a sci-fi action thriller starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, and Lena Headey. It tells the story of Judge Dredd and his rookie partner who deal out judgment in a post-apocalyptic wasteland and must take down one of its powerful drug kingpins (or in this case, queenpins).

The post-apocalyptic theme is one that never seems to lose its popularity, and I enjoy watching the different perspectives of writers, directors, and actors on this theme. A lot of the elements in Dredd are very similar to other post-apocalyptic films: you have your futuristic legal system, futuristic living quarters, and the new “drugs of the future.” in this case, a drug called Slo-Mo, which is exactly what it sounds like. The movie is short on background – the writer, Alex Garland, and the director, Pete Travis, don’t spend any time on Judge Dredd’s background for example, or going over the events that led up to the development of this new world order. It made Dredd a little hard to relate to as a character and it took me a bit to warm up to him, and it took me a little while to adjust to the movie, since the writing just plunges the viewer right into the plot with very little warm-up. Overall, it didn’t hurt the movie, but a little background to ease the audience in would have been helpful.

The main focus of the movie is on the clash between Urban’s Dredd and his partner (Thirlby) and Lena Headey’s prostitute-turned-drug lord Ma-Ma. This struggle is what makes this movie really good: the battle is tense, and the parties involved unforgiving. I thought Headey did a particularly good job with the character of Ma-Ma, portraying her as a ruthless woman who’s definitely seen the darker side of life and has fought a bloody battle to come out on top. Thirlby’s character felt a little underdeveloped, and Dredd felt like he was played exactly as he was written, which isn’t bad, but I didn’t really think Urban brought enough brooding juice to the character as he could have. Characters aside, the fight to take down Ma-Ma and her gang is nasty and bloody; in short, just as it should be.

Apparently, this film wasn’t a financial success, but I think it’s one of those “not a box office success, but definitely worth seeing” type of movies. I liked Dredd, even if I did find it a little overly strange at times (probably because I didn’t read the comic book). I’d recommend it, especially if you’re looking for a sci-fi action thriller with an emphasis on the intense and the serious. The end of the movie sort of hints at the possibility of a sequel, and while the most recent news just says they’re in “talks,” I’d see the second movie if they came out with one. But could they include a little background next time, please?