DREDD: What Are The Critics Saying So Far?

After the abysmal 1995 film which starred Sylvester Stallone as the iconic 2000AD character, Judge Dredd is finally getting another shot at big screen glory with Pete Travis' DREDD. After a screening at the San Diego Comic-Con last month, the reaction to the remake has been a positive one from fans and critics alike. With Karl Urban (Star Trek) in the leading role, and the promise that he won’t take the helmet off, this might just be the film that fans have been waiting for. Screenwriter Alex Garland has already revealed that he has ideas for two more films, so its fate now lies at the box office. Well, if the first wave of reviews are anything to go by, the film might just be successful enough to warrant those sequels, although the majority of UK and US critics have yet to weigh in with their thoughts. However, a lot of the major sites have posted their reviews of DREDD and you can read the highlights below. Be sure to check back on Friday for my verdict!

The 3-D looks okay. There are some vast empty spaces that go deep into the screen, and a few fingers pointed out of the screen and some splatters. Maybe some of the slow motion shattered glass wouldn’t look as pretty in 2-D, but I don’t know if it justifies the whole movie being in 3-D. Dredd hits that perfect sweet spot of filmmakers isolating an audience and totally serving that audience. I hope sci-fi fans will appreciate this as a throwback, an homage or just damn awesome.

There’s certainly enough here, despite the clunky action and oppressively dour tone, to make the prospect of a sequel intriguing. With a bigger budget, Dredd could get to play in a bigger sandpit. There’s a whole Cursed Earth out there, just waiting to be explored. But, if it doesn’t come to that, this is an honourable attempt at giving an iconic character the adaptation he deserved. Just don’t double-bill it with The Raid. There was much to dread about this new iteration of Dredd, but it’s a solid, occasionally excellent take on the character, with Urban’s chin particularly impressive.

All told, everything about Dredd is pretty good, and it should appeal to both action film fans and 2000 AD readers alike, even if Old Stony Face seems to take a little too much pleasure in punishing the wrongdoers of Mega City. It does however, lack the conviction, originality and sadly the budget that would take this from being a good movie to an excellent one. It’s perfectly enjoyable and worth watching for Urban, Thirlby and Headey if nothing else, but its hard not to wonder what might have been had Garland and co been given a little more money. Hopefully if it does well enough to get a sequel it will have a little more ambition, and we’ll end up with a film set in Mega City One rather than District 9.

Alex Garland’s sparse, suspenseful script gets to the core of Dredd’s complex character, and pushes the story along with swift economy. Mega-City One is a feasible day-after-tomorrow horror, full of neon graffiti and bizarrely tattooed gangs, perfectly complimented by a grinding industrial soundtrack. The relentless stream of action sequences feel frenetic, dangerous and creative, making imaginative use of 3D and keeping the heart pounding. Slo-Mo, the drug that has the residents of Peach Trees hooked, is a handy device used to bring a balletic, hallucinatory quality to the carnage, psychedelic colours tracing rounds as they slice through bellies and faces. Be in no doubt, Dredd earns its 18 certificate – it’s brutally violent, detailing the human cost of Dredd’s deadly efficiency with a Lawgiver. Lovingly ripped from the pages of 2000AD, Dredd is an adrenaline-fuelled thrill burst that does Tharg’s finest justice, stays true to its roots and leaves you battered, bruised and hungry for more.

For fans of this summer's real breakout action movie The Raid, it's a familiar story - and in comparison, Dredd predictably pales. A thrifty budget (in Hollywood terms, at least), and a threadbare plot mean that Dredd is occasionally hampered by its own limitations (there are only so many grungey urban corridors they can run around before the whole thing starts to feel like a Laser Quest). Within the confines of its limitations though, it's an undoubted success. Garland and Travis have crafted a fully believable sci-fi landscape - replete with some great production design, thunderous action scenes and entertainingly realised characters. Throw in a cracking Tron-esque bass-thumping soundtrack, some gorgeous, beautifully executed (albeit superfluous) 3D slo-mo, and a steady supply of gory and joltingly graphic violence (courtesy of Dredd's nifty Swiss Army Gun), and you've got a formula for a reboot of the best possible kind.

They are writer Alex Garland (The Beach, 28 Days Later), producer Andrew Macdonald (28 Days Later) and director Pete Travis (the underrated Vantage Point). Happily, they’ve succeeded in burying memories of that earlier kitsch atrocity and crafted a visually impressive and exciting dystopian action thriller. The story is unoriginal but there’s enough action and visual inventiveness to keep fans of the comic book happy.

It’s possible to make a good film from mediocre material, but it’s an uphill battle. Alex Garland’s script for this return to Mega City One is lazy and derivative: the characters are slight and the twists unconvincing, while a presumably accidental but highly conspicuous similarity to the plot of this year’s ‘The Raid’ robs it of any sense of surprise. So respect is due to director Pete Travis, who from these humble beginnings has fashioned a dynamic, entertaining and visually sensational action romp.

We’ve been here before. Trouble is, Urban and Thirlby grimly battling waves of henchmen in a concrete rat-trap of corridor-to-corridor combat never comes close to matching The Raid’s sensational floor-to-ceiling carnage. Stomping forward like an old-school Verhoeven movie, Dredd keeps you hooked with blunt charisma and some deadpan mega-violence. Bullets split faces, brains spill like dropped porridge and, at one point, Urban flattens a man’s windpipe with his fist. Grungy, compact and delightfully violent, Dredd wants to hit you as hard as it can. The sequel may be the movie you really want, but for now, justice has been done.

Grim, gritty and ultra-violent, "Dredd" reinstates the somber brutality missing from the U.K. comicbook icon's previous screen outing, the disappointing 1995 Sylvester Stallone starrer "Judge Dredd." A reboot as drastic as Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins," this hard-R, sci-fi actioner from director Pete Travis and screenwriter Alex Garland should find an appreciative audience among serious-minded fanboys and gorehounds, while the pic's more extreme elements will likely limit its potential of crossing over to the superhero mainstream when Lionsgate releases it domestically Sept. 21.

The production design is exceptional and the 3D effects are used inventively throughout, with blood literally spilling out of the screen on numerous occasions and a key set-piece using 3D-enhanced depth to great effect. The only problem is that the film literally overdoses on slo-mo; having established a trippy slow-motion effect for when the Slo-Mo drug is used, it then overuses the effect on non-drug-enhanced sequences too, so it eventually wears thin. Stylish, exciting and impeccably designed, this is an extremely enjoyable action thriller that's commendably faithful to the source material. Essentially, this is the film Judge Dredd fans have been waiting for. Highly recommended.