150 Word Review: ‘Dredd’ (2012)
In this sci-fi dystopia, the hero is a psycho cop with a voice-activated gun
Judge Dredd is the law in a lawless post-apocalyptic future where humans crowd behind the walls of an endless, crumbling city—he's a one-man justice system. The character was first seen in the British sci-fi comic book 2000 A.D. in 1977. In 1995, Hollywood produced a lavish, cartoonish adaptation starring Sylvester Stallone that barely understood the original Dredd was a dystopian police state satire. It bombed.
But 2012’s Dredd is the real deal: leaner, grimier, more violent than Sly’s movie. Low-budget, high body count. It takes the source material seriously. Dredd is played by gruff character actor Karl Urban, who never once removes his iconic helmet. His Dredd is a fascist, but a fascist with heart—a futuristic Dirty Harry. The plot is simple: Is evil drug lord Lena Headey and her gang trapped in a locked-down fortress-like high-rise with Dredd and his psychic partner, or is it the other way around?