Dredd

StartFragment

Dredd stars Karl Urban as titular character and justice-serving merciless badass, Judge Dredd, in this dystopic action flick based on the comic of the same name. When he and a rookie, a female psychic on her first day of active duty, respond to a series of murders outside a large building complex, they detain a witness and proceed into the two hundred story setting of this really cool and extremely violent comic book flick.

When resident and crime lord Mama hears of the Judges presence, she hacks into the security overrides and locks the entire building down, knowing that witness is vital to her business and what is at stake with the law at her doorstep. What follows is a brutal game of cat and mice, and it is awesome. I really enjoyed this for what it was, and while I was not a fan of the original movie, and have never read the comics, I didn't care too much when I first heard of this reboot. Then I saw the first pic of Urban in the helmet, and I was sold.

I am a big fan of Karl Urban, and this movie is one of many reasons why. He nailed the character wonderfully, and his counterpart, rookie Judge Anderson, was a great sidekick and her characterization, well-utilized as a plot vehicle. One of my favorite uses of psychic ability in film; no 'finger to the temple' cornball bullshit here, folks, just a brief and unique visual effect and requisite dialogue.

On the subject of VFX, there is some really cool high-speed camera stuff done for the slo-mo scenes, one in particular I thought was great, that jumps between slo-mo and real time, and the music in the scene adheres to the time speed and it is awesome. Apart from that, I really loved he cinematography; while you'd expect dull, drab and gritty palette-drained shot after shot after shot, this one takes a refreshing left, in that it juxtaposes the drab with colors not frequently used in film, being a lot of high-contrast yellow, and pink, and it really pops amidst the darker colors to make for some really great shots.

Really enjoyed this movie, it was everything it needed to be, and I recommend checking it out on Blu Ray. It shines in HD, and I hope you enjoy it.

EndFragment

#Dredd #Review