In Dredd a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner is the home to a cop, (Karl Urban), who teams up with a trainee, (Olivia Thurlby), to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.
Unlike most people when I saw the trailer to Dredd 3D I thought it looked awesome. I can imagine most people didn't get the deadpan humor, self-aware one-liners, and obvious over-the-top brutality. I had moderate expectations for this film. However when reviews came in saying it was very good, I couldn't help but get SUPER excited for Dredd.
And I'm happy to say I was right all along: Dredd 3D is a perfect superhero film and overall is awesome.
The fact that all it strives to do is be a great B movie makes it easily reach its standards. The acting is better than what I expected. Karl Urban was fantastic as Dredd, his one-liners were hilarious and his screen presence was threateningly powerful. Olivia Thurlby was, (in my opinion), wonderful as Judge Anderson, providing the only character arc of the entire film. And while that might sound bad, that adds onto the excellence of the film. It is a popcorn action film with a real character arc. That is a very impressive feat.
The 3D is actually beautiful. All the SLO-MO shots are well done and the cinematography is fantastic. Director Pete Travis and screenwriter Alex Garland did wonderful work putting the film together. The writing is terrific, the visuals are wonderful, and they raise the bar for action films. This one not only had action and special effects, but perfect 3D, wonderful acting, character developement, and emotion. If you are a fan of Judge Dredd, GO SEE THIS. Chris Nolan's Batman is not the law...Dredd is the law.
{*****} A five-star low budget action film. Upped the standards to the over-the-top B-list action film genre.