So what did you think of Dredd?

[DyN]

I saw it this evening and thought it was very well done. I was worried that the city may not feel quite like the MC-1 of the comics but I soon lost myself in it - it's more the bleakness of Day of Chaos than the humour of Fatties storylines.

I don't want to give any spoilers, but it seems an excellent and simple scenario/mini-campaign to translate into a table-top game - although I'm not sure how anyone could really wargame Anderson's rather memorable mind-games! There were enough 'hidden' references to the wider Dredd-universe to keep me happy and as for the soundtrack - definitely an album I'll buy: perfect music to wargame to.

I really look forward to a sequel - one that maybe can go a bit more for plot, maybe toning down the violence and drugs just enough to make it a 15 rather than an 18 so draw in a bigger audience - but if it stays true to this movie it's true enough to the comics to keep me happy.

My biggest concern: it was opening night and the theatre I saw it in was a lot less than 20% occupied - so I do wonder whether this is mainstream enough to earn the makers enough to invest in sequels. Hopefully that was just my cinema...

So what did you all think?

 

[Whitehaven]

Saw the film this afternoon,
Does everything that you would hope,While the city has undergone a little re-imagining from the comic and the previous outing, that`s not really important, What is is that it has the feel of Dredd,
Some people will compare it to `The Raid` To them i say so what.....go and enjoy this,it`s the Dredd movie we have been waiting for.
I am a little concerned about the 18cert, simply because it restricts the audiance, i saw it in a cinema that was about a quarter full,granted it was a 12pm showing on a hot sunday afternoon so later screenings may be better attended, i hope so, because i have read that it needs to make around 50million if Old Stoney face is to make a second outing.

 

[Davros1]

Yeah saw this on a sunny afternoon after work last week . Not many bods in but maybe due to the early showing .

Def a fantastic portration of Dredd true to the 2000AD comic and Wagner's vision . Love Karl Urban as Dredd better than Stallone by a mile .

In 3D was a pointless gimmick for me but the story was like a good read from the comic in the same visual style and I was hooked . Def a film for Dredd addicts I think the 18 certificate will affect ticket sales and will have to scrape on DVD sales to get a sequel . But none the less a great action sci-fi movie with a pounding soundtrack and fluid action sequences .

 

[Ben2]

It very much had the grim dark Dredd feel that the Stallone movie was lacking.

I quite enjoyed it.

 

[Da Boss]

It was, as I keep saying to people - "proper Dredd".

in every respect except the bikes, I was extremely happy with the film.

 

[Haree78]

For me it was an evolved Dredd, for an audience that has got older and putting the character in a new medium they decided to take it a bit more seriously.
There wasn't the humour of the comics by a long shot although I did laugh at the Dredd saying "Why?" bit. But in the end I was really happy they decided to modernise and un-comic the uniforms and the look of the city and make the same characters from the comics appear in this new improved and cooler version of Megacity One.
From the story it seems this is the early days of Dredd as the people didn't seem to know him, only the other judges so I really hope they keep the same people on board for sequels and we see a lot more of this Dredd in future.

The best part of the movie is it didn't feel the need to have a moral stance, it didn't feel the need to over explain itself. It was like, "this is the world, these are the characters, now watch this". We didn't have to see a Stallone Judge Dredd seeing the error of his ways being a totalitarian Judge, or the girl kiss him in the end as he overcomes his zero emotion. It was 2 judges in a shit situation, in a shit world, and one of them happens to be an uncompromising bad ass.
[spoilers]And what happened at the end could have been done so badly, you knew what the outcome of the evaluation might be but I thought the acting and the way the scene was shot of the uncompromising bad ass Dredd conflicted and deciding to pass the rookie was brilliant.[/spoilers]

For the sequel I hope they don't decide to overdo some of the stuff from this movie, the slow motion was ok as a plot device in this one but it's done now and I hope they don't decide they need to top the amount of gore we see every movie like the Saw or Hostel series!

 

[havercake lad]

As a fan of some thirty odd years I was hugely impressed with the movie and hope that enough people see it to ensure sequels. No comedy side kick, dark and gritty action throughout and no implausable martial arts or similar CGI effects.

Worth a second look for Dreddheads as there are plenty of 'easter eggs' tipping the wink to us. I noticed several tags from the comics and a map of Dredd's world, but missed the fattie with a belly wheel and goodness knows what else !

A better recommendation is that Karen, my Mrs, enjoyed the filmimmensly despite not being a reader of 2000AD or other comics.

Only glitch for a purist was the law being even more draconian than the source material.

 

[lastbesthope]

It was, as I keep saying to people - "proper Dredd".

in every respect except the bikes, I was extremely happy with the film.

I diidn't like the look of the bikes in the trailer, and that is from the standpoint of being a biker, rather than a Dredd fan

Also not a fan of the Bat-bike in the recent trilogy, it's just not how bikes work

LBH

 

[Elysium]

It was lower budget, that's why the storyline was as it was (location). Various scenes were alluded to, but then they didn't need to be seen. The city was not as expected, layout or vehicles, but they were likely limited due to budget. I expected the high rise blocks to be closer together, but maybe they are in other areas of the city. Also the roads to be ulrtrawide with whopping vehicles but then I can put that off (as a fan) as it was in the outskirts of the city. I'd have preferred uniforms as per the comic, but it did not take anything away from the film for me. He played it as a Clint Eastwood style, truly well, and very in keeping.

There was no sex, which I thought was great, for various reasons. Often something is added in, just for the sake of it, but it just wasn't needed, or relevant to the plot and the Stallone clunker just took away from what Dredd was (2000AD should have contractually put their foot down!). I'm not a 3D fan, but it worked well, and was the best 3D I've seen. I liked it for a lot of different bits, those little fan items added in the scenery, even the end, with the sun on his visor, top stuff.

They didn't put it all in, you didn't need to see inside the Great Hall of Justice, just to know of it. that's something for later. A bit like not seeing the monster till near the end of the film, do you really need to see it?

Not as much humour as the comic, but then that humour is usually from the other characters (it's just not for dredd himself) so maybe the other characters later will have a few things to add. I'm not referring to James Bond quips, but the play on words that's in the comic, very clever. Whether that would translate to film, I don't know.

I did note a gun firing, but nothing coming out, unless that was me settleing in, also the skateboarders seems jerky at a distance? Maybe just me.

A friend stated if they make $50 million, then they'll do another, i hope they do. I can see them going on and on. This was a low budget starter movie, but then so many films have gone on to be big. Mad Max was cheap, but look where that went. If they don't get 50 mill, thenhopefully there'll be some sort of Kickstarter, and fans putting money in, will get a dividend out! It could work, I'd be in for a few hundred. Genuinely.

All in all, I was happy to spend my cash, and will be (unusually) buying it on DVD as soon as it comes out, to support, and assist, any future releases.

 

[GamerDude]

I haven't seen it yet, been occupied watching Top Gear U.K. from the beginning on Net flicks. 8)

Al B. [B-}

 

[torus]

Just saw it. Better than I expected. However while I enjoyed it, I'd be surprised if it made it to a sequel. The main positive: Karl Urban gets Dredd's badass attitude spot on. I don't think he has the chin for it (who does?), but he overcame that.

It's pretty clear they were limited by budget in recreating Mega City 1, so the decision to downsize it may have been primarily for that reason. And once inside the block it didn't matter so much. But actually if I could have had just one visual element restored, it wouldn't be expensive: the Judge's shoulder pads were too small. Even without going the full 2000AD, they would have looked less like bikers with one larger pad. The helmets were pretty authentic but they could have gone with the less rounded, more flared style which many artists drew (e.g. http://tearoomofdespair.blogspot.co.uk/2011/03/consider-mccarthy-dredd.html), which would also have looked less like a motorcycle helmet. I'll pass over the lawgiver and lawmaster (lawnmower more like), and the lack of helmet respirators.

The other thing they dropped is not so much the humour as the surrealism, the craziness of the citizens and perps in the comic strip. Instead they wanted it gritty, and maybe that was a sensible decision. What doesn't make sense is why they went for a cert. 18 rating. Surely that must have hurt the takings, and what little gore there was could easily have been toned down without hurting the movie.

 

[cfirpi]

frankly I loved it. There was enough there that I could skip on a few things like the shoulder pads, respirator etc. Tehre was also little things that had my griend asking about all the times that I snickered or scoffed. "All hail Chopper" anyone? Or a very daring juve to scrawl Kenny Who? on the balcony wall.

I loved it. and it was close enough to the real thing to make my friends realise just how far off the Stalone version was with its portrayal.

My biggest gripe I had was the "ahem" mercs.... iguess you could call them, for a million creds.... really??? and four of them???? really..... for a mil......psh. bologne.

The best part was coming back home afterwards and everyone wanting to make some Judge characters and "get to know" the world a little better.

 

[cheetor]

The tone of the movie was spot on, even if costume and production design elements strayed from the source material. I dont think that the movie or the franchise suffered from that.

There are elements of the uniform and hardware that I would prefer if they tweaked if they ever make a sequel, but nothing really bothered me that much. I could cope with the costume and Lawmaster elements being left entirely as is in a sequel just as easily.

Although there is always a risk of diluting the source material by changing too many elements, I think that it was handled masterfully in this case. Extreme aspects of Dredds environment like Boing, Mayor Dave, stookie, Umpty, organ leggers etc are definitively Dredd, but you dont need to know about them to establish his character and his world, so they skirted those sorts of things. I am glad that the creators did so, as anything that made people recall the spectre of the dire, shenanigan filled Stallone movie was to be avoided.

To be honest I was surprised that Anderson was as overtly psychic in the movie as she was. I thought that the creators may have been wary of adding psychic powers to the setting for fear of making it too removed from reality. Again it was an issue handled very well, and gave plenty of the science fantasy flavour of Dredds world without compromising the grittier, more adult nature of some of the stories (which many viewers may never have been aware of before).

Speaking of which, I am glad that the movie had an R or 18s rating. Despite originating from what was ostensibly a comic for children, Dredd stories have always been heavy on gore and fatalities. That Dirty Harry element is a core part of the characters appeal.

Making Dredd an enjoyable (albeit not terribly highbrow) adult sci-fi action movie places it in a different bracket to the usual Happy Meal friendly summer movie fare that has made supposedly dark characters like Wolverine unrecognisably sterile. The 18s cert gives the franchise an identity that Batman and co do not have, even though it does hurt box office to an extent.

Even if box office takings are not sufficient to warrant a sequel, Dredd has finally got the movie that he deserves. At worst it will be a cult favourite that sells well on DVD that Dredd fans can be proud of.

 

[Elysium]

I forgot to put that earlier, but yes, I'm totally in agreement that it was an 18. Top stuff. All too often they dumb down films to make the bucks, and it's a shame. I'm hoping there will be a sequel, and will be buying it on DVD ASAP. I'll have to look up how much it's made so far, hopefully it's doing well.

 

[Haree78]

It's doing terrible in USA, for a variety of reasons I guess. Real shame that we need the US box office for any chance of the franchise evolving.
I'm going to see it again next weekend and looking forward to it.

 

[Surtur]

I really liked it. Visceral, brutal and uncompromising. A great action movie. Trying to get all my friends to see it.

 

[nozza_uk]

It's currently in 6th place on the US box office with a return of $6.3m.

So far in the UK its grossed £2.7m.

So only another $40m to go!

 

[Elysium]

Hmmnnn. Then there's DVD sales etc. Not much merchandising though for it. A brief search on E-Bay only turned up a few T-shirt designs. The merchandising is the biggie, but then there's DVD, cable etc, so maybe??? Seems a long way to go though.

Of note, do Mongoose advertise in 2000AD? I read it ad hoc, but havent noticed any adverts for the game or miniatures. might be worth a look for them, for future sales.

 

[Greg Smith]

These days movie releases for smaller films serve very much just as adverts fro DVD releases.

 

[Elysium]

Good point, DVD sales must add quite a bit to the pot. Time will tell.