Dredd 3D

After the British comic book character Judge Dredd by author John Wagner and cartoonist Carlos Ezquerra was already brought to life on the big screen in 1995 with Sylvester Stallone, but largely disappointed both fans and critics, director Pete Travis now ventures again to an adaptation of the dark vision of the future. In Dredd, Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings, Star Trek) dons the uniform of the Judge to enforce law and order in the metropolis of Mega City One. No easy feat, as criminal gangs, such as drug lord Ma-Ma's (Lena Headey, Game of Thrones) cartel, control much of the city. Al his new drug, which lets its users experience reality in extreme slow motion, makes the slum Ma-Ma rules unsafe, Dredd is tasked with taking on the drug lord along with new recruit, the telepathically inclined Cassandra Anderson (Oliver Thirlby). But no sooner have Dredd and Anderson entered the apartment block in which Ma-Ma resides than it is hermetically sealed off and a merciless war begins in which the number of victims seems to increase by the second. An escape is not to be thought. But Judge Dredd will do everything in his power to do justice to his task as judge and enforcer even in this bloody chaos.

Dredd is clearly trying to avoid the mistakes of the Stallone adaptation and stick more closely to the comic book template. Dredd not taking off his helmet, characters like Cassandra Anderson being carried over, or even the look of Mega City One are all aspects that this interpretation is trying to win fans favor with. The problem, however, is that the good aspects of the production are built into an extremely weak story. Ultimately, the story ends with the apartment block on lockdown, because from there on out, Dredd is one long shootout. Dredd and Anderson have to fight their way up floor after floor until they finally get to the heart of the complex, Ma-Ma's headquarters. This is very reminiscent of the Indonesian action surprise The Raid. This one undoubtedly had the better fight choreography and more effective moments of tension to offer, but still seemed quite tedious over time. With Dredd, this state of affairs sets in about halfway through its running time.

Admittedly, there are some quite excellent action and fight sequences that work quite well, especially in 3D. The monstrous skyscraper, the trist-futuristic look and a wonderfully over-the-top evil Lena Headey, aided by a handful of amusing one liners, keep the rather boring brutality entertainingly broken up. Also, the fact that the film is absolutely consistent not only in its depiction of violence, but also in its departure from the rather epic narrative structure of the first film adaptation, must definitely be credited to the makers.

Although Pete Travis and his team have really made excellent use of the rather low budget they had at their disposal, that doesn't change the fact that Dredd rarely manages to truly captivate, surprise or visually impress. Some good ideas, like the extreme slow motion sequences, are overused too much and other aspects, like the city outside the apartment block, are given too little time for there to be some nice showmanship here. So, all in all, the comic adaptation has a decent entertainment value and should be more convincing than Stallone's version. But this attempt to bring Judge Dredd to life on the big screen is not a big hit. For this there is only one in the end: Still worth seeing with cutbacks!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp