I watched the new Dredd movie today. It was actually pretty good, though a bit more gory than I care for. Karl Urban and Olivia Thirlby both were excellent, as were most of the bad guys. There were a few unnecessary extra gory deaths, but if I remember the comics right, that happened a fair amount in them.

The movie definitely had the right atmosphere. It was quite obvious that gangs were the day-to-day enforcers, but that Judges were feared (and kind of admired) by the general population. The tech was awesome (especially the pistols, which had voice commands to select ammo type).

I was kind of surprised that Karl Urban did not show his face even once. He always had his helmet on. I'd heard this before, but I really figured they'd find a way to have his helmet off for at least a little bit.

Olivia did a great job as a psychic. The movie is mainly about her first day on the job. I really liked how the movie dealt with her first field execution, and its affects on her. I won't go into detail, but it did not avoid the fact that she is judge, jury, and executioner, and she is aware of just what that means.

The bad guys were decent, though definitely more gangbanger punks and not some supervillain, like many comics movies would feature.

Overall, I recommend the movie, at least on DVD, for any gamer. Dredd fans will likely be pretty happy with this, as well. My only issue is that I think the ultraviolent deaths early on weren't really necessary. As the movie went on, most of it was toned down, but early on, be ready for some gross deaths and corpses.

I saw the movie in 2D. I really, really wish the studios would stop wasting money on 3D. Guess what, I will not watch a 3D movie. I don't need the headache. Sadly, the movie is apparently a flop, and the 3D is likely part of the reason. Overall, I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10.

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Dan

I did think the 3D looked really good in the slo-mo sequences. It didn't matter for the rest of the movie though.

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Victorious Grand Admiral

whilst not an avid comic reader, I do know that dredd never moved his helmet, so not sure why it's a surprise he didn't in the movie, yes i know stallone did, but that was an americanisation of it all.
Sadly not being an American movie, and not being about fopish brits in love (the usual britflick) it was always likely that it would be a bit of a flop, irrespective of whether the movie itself was any good. the only way a brit movie can be succesful is to employ Hugh Grant as a love struck dumbass.

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I AM RONIN!

I liked it very much, gory scenes and all. If nothing else they give a good impression of what happens when a bullet strikes a human. As to the helmet, Karl Urban mentioned in an interview that one of the Execs told him during an early script meeting that he would not be taking the helmet off for the duration of the movie. Urban, being a JD fan since he was about 16, said something like "if he did I wouldn't be here right now."

It is a shame that it didn't do well in N. Am. audience, and I have to say that I am surprised that the sequel caveat that was put on the film was that it had to pretty much pay for itself in the US market ($50M). That and the poor marketing, and really badly timed release date seemed to me that someone in management didn't want this to be too successful.