Movies You Missed: Dredd

Suspension of disbelief is when you silence the internal critics of your mind, and make concessions in order to increase your enjoyment of something, typically movies. For instance;

  1. Transformers movies have groan-inducing songs stuck into them, to deflate tension.
  2. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Return of the Jedi have dodgy special effects for some reason, that’ll pull you out of the movie if you let them.
  3. In The Empire Strikes Back, Han Solo and Princess Leia are more or less in the vacuum of space, inside a giant slug, equipped with little more than snorkels.
  4. In even the grittiest, most violent color films of the 60s and 70s, blood looks like red tempera paint. Even Death Wish.
  5. Sylvester Stallone had to reveal his whole face in Judge Dredd (1995), even though the “real” Judge Dredd never has. The movie wouldn’t have seen the light of day otherwise. (It shouldn’t have.)

For the 2012 version of Dredd, I didn’t have to suspend my disbelief. At all.

It was the home run of that year, and for some weird reason, everyone missed it.

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Look how mad he is!!

The only real criticism I could levy against Dredd is that it takes itself very, very seriously, whereas the classic British comic strip it’s based upon often dabbled in humor and satire. But the casting is so astute, and the visual innovations are so appropriate, Dredd excels indefinitely. Even if it didn’t reopen the franchise (yet), it makes an indelible self-contained experience.

The opening titles are weirdly and perhaps coincidentally similar to Irréversible. I’m noting this because I guarantee I’m the only one who noticed. No one is supposed to have watched Irréversible as many times as I have, that’s why. I think both films utilize some of the same SFX personnel, because the effects in Dredd are just about flawless. Purely conjecture, though.

The effects in this film are nuts.

The effects in this film are nuts.

Karl Urban, excellently cast as Dredd, narrates the opening minutes, describing the “Mega-Blocks” housing millions of people. I don’t know if there’s a Rifftrax of this movie, but if there is, I bet you money that after Dredd says “Mega-Blocks”, Mike Nelson says “I like them more than Legos” in the same gruff voice. I bet you money!!!

In case you’re unfamiliar, here’s a copied chunk from Wikipedia:

Judge Dredd is a fictional character who appears in British comic books published by Rebellion Developments, as well as in a number of movie and video game adaptations. He was created by writer John Wagner and artist Carlos Ezquerra, and first appeared in the second issue of 2000 AD (1977), a weekly science-fiction anthology. He is that magazine’s longest-running character.

Joseph Dredd is a law enforcement officer in the dystopian future city of Mega-City One in North America. He is a “street judge”, empowered to summarily arrest, convict, sentence, and execute criminals.

I would lay odds that New Zealander Karl Urban was familiar with Judge Dredd comics before he was cast. He understands that he’ll be emoting with only half his face; he’s filling in the human aspect of the Judge (what little there is). It works beautifully; Urban is unmistakably Dredd every second he’s on screen. Olivia Thirlby, as Dredd’s new partner Anderson, is instantly recognizable as well. The film’s visual aesthetic isn’t as detailed as the comics, but it looks striking, and since Dredd was released to theaters in 3-D, the writers built a terrific plot device to take advantage of the technology.

There is a new drug in Mega-City One called slo-mo, which slows brain activity down to 1%. This might sound like a dumb idea, and it is, but here’s why it’s great: whenever someone uses slo-mo, the movie shifts to 3000 frames a second.

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What could have been another Max Payne bullet-time disaster becomes an exhilarating, ultra-violent spectacle of exploding heads, blood geysers, and death. The environmental damage is almost Rube Goldberg-level complexity. The effect is consistently inventive and creatively used, even though it’s a gimmick based around a fictional drug. Even in standard 2-D, it’s pretty mesmerizing.

Judges are only able to respond to about 6% of crimes reported, but they can execute criminals on the spot. Anderson has clairvoyant abilities that make her an effective counterbalance to Dredd’s brutality. Lena Headly, seen previously in The Sarah Connor Chronicles, plays the deadly gang leader Ma-Ma. She does a nicely understated job of being extremely unpleasant.

She feminized a guy with her teeth.

She feminized a guy with her teeth (not pictured).

For a shootout between Judges and slo-mo-addled gang members, the crew blasted the actors with air cannons, then later added in digital blood. Despite being some of the goriest sequences I’ve seen on screen in a while, these scenes also achieve a sort of strange beauty. (Note: Dredd earned its R rating. I’m talking Eli Roth levels of gore here.)

OW!

OWIE MA MOUF!

One of the captured gang members is the murderous Kay, played by Wood Harris. I know you probably skipped Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales, but Wood Harris completely stole that movie with Amy Poehler. Unfortunately they’re then shot by Jon Lovitz, immediately after delivering the funniest scene in the film, and then The Rock tents his fingers and bugs his eyes out.

By the way- go rent Southland Tales.

Let me see if I can put this into words that won’t rankle anyone. Wood Harris is great in Dredd not just because he can act, but because he’s got a face that literally looks like it was drawn by 2000A.D. artists. If Wood was a drawing, someone would remark “wow, that’s a really good rendering of a black guy.” I seriously wish there was a high-budget live-action adaptation of Heavy Metal magazine, so Wood Harris could play a lead role. I don’t think he was born. I think Angus McKie drew him.

Or Richard Corben.

Or Richard Corben.

That’s a face made for the silver screen. Olivia Thirlby has one as well, plus extremely kissable lips, with a tiny bump that would be invisible if not for the super high-resolution. There’s a scene where Anderson deals with the widow of a gangster she executed earlier, and were I the director of this fine film, I would have instructed the two actresses to start passionately making out. “It’s for a private reel- uh, ‘dream sequence’. No, it is germane to the script. Your motivation? ‘What do this girl’s lips feel like against mine’, how’s that grab you? Where are you going? This is a closed set!”

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Thirlby makes a fantastic Psi-Judge Anderson, and her being appropriately and painfully hot does not hurt matters. I have the feeling she is a petite lass inside a suit of armor, but again, that’s not inappropriate for the character. Look; British bottle-blondes with brown eyes and eyebrows are always gonna be a handicap for me. I barely made it through Shaun of the Dead because I wanted to cuckold Simon Pegg for his girlfriend.

Okay, I’m way off base at this point. This is an action-heavy film, centered around the Peachtrees Mega-Block complex. Ma-Ma takes over, Judges Dredd and Anderson obliterate wave after wave of gang members (and citizens), and the comic’s themes of fascism and class division are reasonably well-represented. I screwed up finishing this review because I keep watching the movie and forgetting to comment on what I’m seeing. I suppose you could call that a strong endorsement.

It’s a strange thing, but concealing the eyes of an actor has unusual effects on moviegoers. Consider Peter Weller in Robocop. When you call him to mind, do you picture him with his full face exposed? Another example is The Blues Brothers, where Dan Aykroyd never takes his sunglasses off, but John Belushi does. See how it affects your recollection of the actors?

That’s why producers balk at properties like Judge Dredd, who never reveals his eyes. It can possibly result in the audience not engaging with that actor. Karl Urban did a splendid job as Dredd, but I think folks didn’t notice because it’s such a “faceless” character, like Darth Vader.

Dredd’s entire face is never shown in the strip. This began as an unofficial guideline, but soon became a rule. As John Wagner explained: “It sums up the facelessness of justice − justice has no soul. So it isn’t necessary for readers to see Dredd’s face, and I don’t want you to”. [Wikipedia]

I suppose Dredd was too successful a portrayal for its own good. In my opinion, one could argue that it belongs next to pillars of sci-fi like Blade Runner, The Terminator and District 9. Hopefully it will garner a cult following in time, like they did. It deserves one, just like the comics.

In the film’s stunning climax, which I’m spoiling nothing by describing, Ma-Ma plummets hundreds of feet, after taking a lethal slo-mo dose. Almost her entire descent is shot from ground level. She hits the pavement face-first and becomes art. You have to fucking see it to believe it.

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After this awe-inspiring spectacle, Judge Dredd steps back from the ledge, and calmly exhales, “yeah.” This movie fucking rules. 

Do yourself a favor and do not miss it.

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