After a mid 90s big budget effort that drowned the character in a sea of aimless excess, this take on UK comic stalwart Judge Dredd is a lean mean justice dispensing machine.
Firmly B movie in approach but with A movie smarts, it keeps the focus small but the "day in the life" approach pays off with a whole lot of carnage as Dredd (Karl Urban, who never takes the helmet off – a vital point for fans) and psychic rookie on assessment Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) take on vicious crime boss Ma-Ma (Game of Thrones’ Lena Headey) in her 200 story high home base.
This is no-excuses gritty action that plays to the core of Dredd’s appeal – being able to legally gun down people at will – while making sure the questions about his style of law enforcement are never glossed over.
Everything here is better than it needs to be: the cast is all great, with Urban’s chin acting a stand out while Thirlby balances Anderson's doubt and resolve perfectly, the action well handled, the setting deftly sketched (with plenty of in-jokes for fans of the comics) and the gore splashed around with gleeful – and at times, oddly beautiful – excess.
Dredd is what it is, and if you’re not a fan of hard-edged big screen violence this isn’t for you.
But if you are, all your Christmases have come at once: Dredd is one of the best trips down the dark end of cinema in a very long time.
4 out of 5
Dredd Australian release: 25th October, 2012 Cast: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby, Lena Headey, Wood Harris, Langley Kirkwood, Junior Singo, Luke Tyler Director: Pete Travis
