DreddIf laws are meant to be representative of the values of society, why do they change? Because the values of the people in that society changes. Dredd is a dystopian science fiction/cyberpunk action movie based on the "Judge Dredd" comic strip series from the "2000 A.D." comic magazine. It takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, where the only outpost of civilization is a vast megalopolis called Mega-City One. Everything outside of the city walls is the "Cursed Earth", a barren and uninhabitable wasteland. But our story is limited to one "block" of Mega-City One, a slum tower called "Peach Trees", where Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) and his judge-in-training, Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), have both their lives and values put to the test.
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Dredd is directed by Pete Travis and written by Alex Garland; it shares much with the films Garland would go on to direct afterward, like Ex Machina and Annihilation. As befits the film's title, Dredd is layered with a pervading sense of dread. Most of this comes after the criminal mastermind running Peach Trees--a hardened woman named Madeline "Ma-Ma" Madrigal (Lena Headey)--locks the law-enforcing duo into Peach Trees to prevent one of her arrested lieutenants named Kay (Wood Harris) from being taken to "Control" (police headquarters) for interrogation. This is because Ma-Ma and her ambitious gang are responsible for the production and distribution of a potent narcotic called "Slo-Mo", which has the effect of making time seem to be slowed down for the user. Dredd shares what these effects might be like with its audience by way of some sophisticated slow motion sequences that make the film perhaps the "dreamiest" of all cyberpunk movies. Dredd is not the first adaptation of this character and setting; that was Judge Dredd from 1995. Although both films feature the eponymous protagonist fighting crime in Mega-City One, the tones of both films couldn't be more different. While the former film felt compelled to dig deeper than its runtime could afford into the "lore" of the setting, and felt obligated to indulge in shallow comic moments--and yes, I am blaming Rob Schneider for that--Dredd is consistently tough, hard-edged, and cold, as befits its titular protagonist and the world he occupies. Dredd is lean and mean, and gives its audience a rewarding peek into a future nobody wants but everybody fears is inevitable.
Filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, Mega-City One is a sprawling vista of impersonal buildings, punctuated only by larger, impersonal skyscrapers, looking like a massive swell of grey bristles on the hide of some terrible beast. Only the briefest of glimpses are afforded at the Cursed Earth, because our story isn't about what came before or is outside of the city walls, but about the hardship of life on the inside of this horrible future world. What I found fascinating about Dredd was the way that it makes Peach Trees the predominant setting for the film's plot. The audience only gets one car chase during the prologue to see Judge Dredd in action on his "Lawmaster" motorcycle on the streets of Mega-City One before he and Cassandra respond to a call to investigate three dead bodies thrown from the two hundredth floor by Ma-Ma's goons--a warning to anyone else in her little kingdom to avoid crossing her. Peach Trees is a humongous residential block, with everyday people trying to live their lives in this microcosm within an unfeeling macrocosm. Judge Dredd represents the stone-faced ambassador of this larger framework. And while Ma-Ma is only feared (never loved) by the citizens of Peach Trees, she is their de facto "ruler", after having excised all other gangs. To secure her borders, she has enslaved a tech guru (played by Domhnall Gleeson) who she has deliberately blinded so as to give him artificial eyes, and keeps him under constant fear of death to leverage his talents. It is because of his skills that Ma-Ma is able to simulate a "war response" and lower the blast shields of Peach Trees, keeping anything--including Dredd's radio transmissions to Control--from getting in or out. She then essentially declares war on the two judges, hacking the PA system, and warning all residents not to aid her captives under penalty of death. This mirrors Judge Dredd's previous run-in with some joyriders on Slo-Mo who, after a hit-and-run, he judged guilty and sentenced to death. In other words, although Dredd describes himself as "The Law", like many other real world institutions, the practicality of the law becomes more and more remote the more and more that people are removed from direct involvement. Ma-Ma rules over Peach Trees because, like Dredd says to Cassandra, the judges can only respond to about "six percent" of crimes; what happens to the rest leads to tyrants and warlords like Ma-Ma gaining control of their domains.
Comparisons have been made between Dredd and similar films, notably RoboCop. This is unsurprising, if for no better reason than the way that both films portray their "heroes". Both mask their eyes--the windows to the soul--and both act with robotic precision in executing their duties; both films are also pretty violent. And both films are set in an undesirable future, where everyday people are treated like nothing more than obstacles to upholding policy. There are moments where this is apparent in Dredd, like when Judge Dredd threatens a vagrant with arrest for panhandling at the entrance to Peach Trees, rather than offering a helping hand. The naïve Cassandra failed her entrance exam to become a judge, but is given special consideration because she is a mutant--a telepath, to be specific. She tells Dredd that she believes that she can "make a difference" in the lives of the people of Mega-City One as a judge, to which he all but sneers. This speaks volumes about who Dredd is, even if we are told precious little about him as a person. He may have once held the same idealistic worldview as Cassandra, but has since become hardened by necessity and exposure; how can he not be in a city such as this? Cassandra represents the "yang" to his "yin". Although she tries to uphold the law as Dredd sees it, she always sees the greater impact of her actions...the consequences for enforcing harsh policy for its own sake; and she doesn't have to be psychic to do that.
Recommended for: Fans of a surprisingly brainy and, yes, dreamy cyberpunk action film. That Dredd was adapted from a comic book is barely evident. What the film feels like is an inheritor of dystopian science fiction classics like Blade Runner in how it handles the prevailing theme of loss of self in a giant city, and about finding one's place in a dehumanizing framework.
Filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, Mega-City One is a sprawling vista of impersonal buildings, punctuated only by larger, impersonal skyscrapers, looking like a massive swell of grey bristles on the hide of some terrible beast. Only the briefest of glimpses are afforded at the Cursed Earth, because our story isn't about what came before or is outside of the city walls, but about the hardship of life on the inside of this horrible future world. What I found fascinating about Dredd was the way that it makes Peach Trees the predominant setting for the film's plot. The audience only gets one car chase during the prologue to see Judge Dredd in action on his "Lawmaster" motorcycle on the streets of Mega-City One before he and Cassandra respond to a call to investigate three dead bodies thrown from the two hundredth floor by Ma-Ma's goons--a warning to anyone else in her little kingdom to avoid crossing her. Peach Trees is a humongous residential block, with everyday people trying to live their lives in this microcosm within an unfeeling macrocosm. Judge Dredd represents the stone-faced ambassador of this larger framework. And while Ma-Ma is only feared (never loved) by the citizens of Peach Trees, she is their de facto "ruler", after having excised all other gangs. To secure her borders, she has enslaved a tech guru (played by Domhnall Gleeson) who she has deliberately blinded so as to give him artificial eyes, and keeps him under constant fear of death to leverage his talents. It is because of his skills that Ma-Ma is able to simulate a "war response" and lower the blast shields of Peach Trees, keeping anything--including Dredd's radio transmissions to Control--from getting in or out. She then essentially declares war on the two judges, hacking the PA system, and warning all residents not to aid her captives under penalty of death. This mirrors Judge Dredd's previous run-in with some joyriders on Slo-Mo who, after a hit-and-run, he judged guilty and sentenced to death. In other words, although Dredd describes himself as "The Law", like many other real world institutions, the practicality of the law becomes more and more remote the more and more that people are removed from direct involvement. Ma-Ma rules over Peach Trees because, like Dredd says to Cassandra, the judges can only respond to about "six percent" of crimes; what happens to the rest leads to tyrants and warlords like Ma-Ma gaining control of their domains.
Comparisons have been made between Dredd and similar films, notably RoboCop. This is unsurprising, if for no better reason than the way that both films portray their "heroes". Both mask their eyes--the windows to the soul--and both act with robotic precision in executing their duties; both films are also pretty violent. And both films are set in an undesirable future, where everyday people are treated like nothing more than obstacles to upholding policy. There are moments where this is apparent in Dredd, like when Judge Dredd threatens a vagrant with arrest for panhandling at the entrance to Peach Trees, rather than offering a helping hand. The naïve Cassandra failed her entrance exam to become a judge, but is given special consideration because she is a mutant--a telepath, to be specific. She tells Dredd that she believes that she can "make a difference" in the lives of the people of Mega-City One as a judge, to which he all but sneers. This speaks volumes about who Dredd is, even if we are told precious little about him as a person. He may have once held the same idealistic worldview as Cassandra, but has since become hardened by necessity and exposure; how can he not be in a city such as this? Cassandra represents the "yang" to his "yin". Although she tries to uphold the law as Dredd sees it, she always sees the greater impact of her actions...the consequences for enforcing harsh policy for its own sake; and she doesn't have to be psychic to do that.
Recommended for: Fans of a surprisingly brainy and, yes, dreamy cyberpunk action film. That Dredd was adapted from a comic book is barely evident. What the film feels like is an inheritor of dystopian science fiction classics like Blade Runner in how it handles the prevailing theme of loss of self in a giant city, and about finding one's place in a dehumanizing framework.