In the future, a massive stretch of land on the Eastern Seaboard is dubbed Mega-City One. Corruption and cruelty runs rampant. To bring order to the chaos, Judges have been created, people who enforce the law in violent and upfront ways. The best of them is Judge Dredd (Kal Urban) who takes a telepathic rookie named Cassandra (Olivia Thirlby) under his wing on a routine mission to cover a homicide. It soon escalates to an all-out war against a malicious drug dealer named Ma-Ma (Lena Headey). Dredd will face his toughest battle ever as he takes down brutal thugs in hopes to bring order to the world.
Dredd is not a character that evolves: he doesn’t change his ways, never relents in his violent approach to the law and very rarely shows any signs of depth. In a rare move, however, this isn’t the script writings fault: these guys have intentionally made sure that, like in the comics, Dredd is just a guy who prefers to use brute strength to uphold the rules he holds sacred.
Karl Urban plays him brilliantly and there are tons of moments where Dredd just gets to do stuff that’s, for lack of a better word, awesome. Luckily, a more even handed view of the world is given by Cassandra, who’s telepathic ability allows her to feel more sympathy for the crooks she kills. I can appreciate that kind of depth in a B-grade movie like this, even if that depth is momentary at best.
The movie may have only short moments of emotion, but it’s definitely not lacking violence. Good god, this movie goes crazy with blood and brutality, making something like “The Expendables 2” look like mere childs play. That’s to be expected in a story involving drug dealers and trigger-happy judges, but the level in which it’s used here is both fascinating and creepy. There are still many moments of violence that’ll ignite fist pumps in audiences (primarily anything involving slow-motion, which is employed wonderfully here) though more squeamish audience members will likely be turned off.
The script is a mild mess (especially the climax, which feels more abrupt than satisfactory) and they go a bit overboard on the gore and violence, but Dredd is played perfectly and it really feels like the world of the comic itself comes to life like it never did in Sly Stallone’s version. With just a little bit more work, “Dredd 3D” could’ve been something worth your judgement time.
