Trying to write a review of Dredd is sort of difficult. In some ways even more so than Batman or Superman. Just about everyone knows the two DC characters so what about ol' Stony Face?
Well rather than pick a random point in it's history I'm going back to the beginning of the comic that spawned him, 2000AD, and going through a much condensed summery of his background both as a fictional character and how he came about. I'm fairly sure if the almighty Tharg finds out about this he's going to give me an enema with a Rigellan Hotshot for my impudence, but I'll have to learn to do with out sitting.
2000AD kicked off in 1977 when a bunch of writers for the British comic book industry were disillusioned at the lack of any serious story telling in the countries comic industry. The US had a recent boom in underground horror comics that rebelled against the stifling Comics Code Authority (Long story short, an independent group in the US that kept anything more graphic than a bruise locked away where innocent children couldn't learn about them) and we in the UK were still stuck with things like Korky the Cat. Well the boys were, for some bizarre reason comics aimed at girls were far more adult.
That's not to say there hadn't been adult, intelligent and serious stories in the British comic book industry for boys. Eagle magazine being the most legendary and beloved, unfortunately it's first run only lasted from 1950 to 1969. It was originally a rebellion against the formulaic and stilted children's literature of the time. It smirked (with a devilish eyebrow raised of course) at writers like Enid Blyton that it saw as altogether too whimsical. In many ways Eagle was the most progressive comic of it's time, unfortunately it was bought out and it's founders, Frank Hampson and Marcus Morris, left. With a succession of blinkered, and un-enthusiastic, editors following on from their departure the magazine was reduced to a joke, until it's eventual collapse.
Amusingly my mother had a subscription to Eagle in it's hey day, pouring over the technical drawings and cross-sections right up until her mother picked it up, read the first page and cancelled her order in disgust. Changing it to Girl magazine without telling her. Making one of the best christmas presents I could get my Mother the collected Dan Dare so she could finally read the end of the adventures!
Still back to the point; 2000AD was written for and by those people that missed Eagle at it's best. Intelligent Science Fiction, genuine suspense and nerve wracking fear were the order of the day. Published weekly this anthology comic often has four or six separate stories on the go at any one time and anything can happen. The recently completed three way crossover, for example, came completely out of the blue as Dredd literally kicked his way from his regular strip into the Film Noir musings of The Simpering Detective.
I could go on but the fact is the line up of heroes and anti-heroes in the worlds greatest comic would take far too long. As well as it's regular line up that cycles every often there are immense multi-part stand alone epics, surprise guests, over arching plot threads that come out of nowhere and the most dangerous tool of all great storytellers:- continuity.
Many of the early writers, artists and just about else everyone involved in the comic over the years have been poached by that American lot, DC Comics. These include Alan Grant, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Grant Morrison and of course Alan Moore. Marvel also saw the profit in headhunting the seminal comic's creative credentials and dragged people like Mark Millar, Ian Edginton and Ian Gibson kicking and screaming (alright, more likely via a lot of actual money) to the US. Still over the years 2000AD has pulled great young creative minds from all over the UK and given them a dynamic and ever changing platform with which to excite and entertain readers for nearly 37 years
2000AD itself is overseen, and has been since it's inception, by Tharg The Mighty, Editor in chief and commander of the, according to him, under worked and overly lazy, Artist and Script Droids employed in the Sub-Sub-Sub basement (most likely room four, entrance behind the used methane toilets) of the ever mobile and changing 2000AD offices. A green skinned alien from the planet Quaxxann that saw Britain as the best place to forge weapons to destroy his enemies, the opponents of all that is exiting and thrilling in the universe, the Thrill-suckers
In another fun aside the writers and creators (including Tharg, of course) never expected their comic to last to the heady and impossibly futuristic date of 2000AD, let alone still be going today, hence the name. So it came as shock to all but Tharg when it powered on past that milestone year and is still going, even today, from strength to strength. Continuously winning awards, accolades and readers over with it's unpredictable mix of satire, parody, political commentary, action, horror, social and economic commentary, self parody and out right insanity.
If you have never picked up copy in your life, get one NOW! It's relatively easy to catch up on what is going on as new stories start every few weeks, if one doesn't take you're fancy the others will. That is until the one you weren't sure about kicks into high gear and you need a winch to get your jaw off the floor.
This has nothing whatsoever to do with Dredd or the film. Just with a background like that you have to revel in it. Alright on to Judge Dredd. Since his introduction in the second issue Judge Dredd has been the only constant strip in the comic. He lives a rich and vibrant universe, well alright; for story telling it's rich and vibrant. Mega-City One is a nightmare. Originally meant as a one-off strip Dredd was a black comedy satire of the darker side of american culture. The idea was basically what happens after the third world war when America abandons the failed Grecian experiment known as democracy? In the midst of anarchy and chaos arose the judges. In effect the law governing all aspects of life without any of that pesky morality.
One of the obvious inspirations for Dredd was "Dirty" Harry Callahan. Not only for the character, but the satire. Basically America, a country founded on high ideals of equality and proud of its just and fair laws, saw a man that broke everyone of those as a hero. In some ways Dredd's universe of Mega-City One is still the American dream. People can eat what they want, worship who they want and don't have to work. Armies of robots and automated machines serve their every whim, most of the population is unemployed, happy watching the never-ending cavalcade of strange and disturbing shows on the endless number of TV Channels. However this is all for naught, hundreds of millions of people are crammed into this thin sliver of civilisation, squashed between the bottomless pollution of the old Atlantic ocean and the endless radiation scorched desert of what is left of mainland America.
Sorry I'm just setting the scene. Basically think Blade Runner like architecture with the worst parts of a dictatorial state where the people are all fat and lazy and you've got Mega-City One. With that much humanity squashed into so small a size literally anything can happen, from attack by alien crocodiles to armies of mystically animated undead. Hell, there's even invasions from parallel worlds and demons side by side with bank robberies, assassinations, and jay walking. While most Street Judges deal with the more standard crimes special Judge teams are trained in Exorcism and telepaths with strange unnatural powers predict the future with varying degrees of success. Dredd's world is a place where anything can happen and more often than not does. In spades.
All the while Dredd polices the streets, never overlooking even the smallest infraction while absently shooting a three headed alien in the crotch. The ultimate cop as the early tag-lines proclaim. He's a hard man to like, as even sugar and caffeine are illegal in his world and he comes down just has hard on your morning brew as he would a Slo-Mo dealer. The thing is you do like him.
As inflexible and immovable as he is in obeying the letter of the law he does try to keep it's sprit in the forefront of his mind. There is the rare occasion you can see that stone face of his crack, just a fraction. Just enough to show however unstoppable he really is, deep down inside, still a man. A violent, ridged, unflinching man who will readily shoot a kid between the eyes if he thought for moment it was necessary, but like I said there's that rare shining moment where he'd miss, look the kid in the eye and report it as an accidental firing. The kid would crap himself and probably rethink his life.
So that's the comic book Dredd, a hard as steel, inflexible hard arse with hidden depths. So let's look at the film:-
The year is 1995 and comic book movies are on the way out. The first wave, brought about by Tim Burton's Batman, is all but spent and people are beginning to look elsewhere. Into this environment comes Judge Dredd, a film long term fans had been waiting for for years. There had been rumours, sketches and even suggested cast lists with the likes of Clint Eastwood and Harrison Ford named as possible people to wear the iconic eagle shoulderpad. Instead we got Stallone, Sylvester Stallone gurning his way though the part like Jim Carrey if he was cast as the Joker. The script was made by throwing three separate, legendary, storylines and dropping them into a blender. Had a director that thought he was making a sequel to Blade Runner (that hasn't been near a big budget film since) and to round off the pain Rob Schneider as the comic foil and side kick.
We should have known walking into this thing it was going to hurt.
But this was 1995, we were still innocent. We had no idea that things like The Phantom Menace were coming. We were safe from Michael Bay explosion-fests and bad films could be enjoyed as silly fun just as much as good films could be admired. In short; they weren't supposed to hurt like this. Hell the Dredd character had already been ripped off twice into two different movies. The first was Robocop and the second John Spartan in Demolition Man. One a sharp satire on corporate America and the other a dumb popcorn flick with some fun action. Dredd should have been easy, just hail the source material and do what 2000AD does best. Sharp, punchy, action based stories that have three dimensional characters you like despite their attitude.
Now there is one thing I haven't touched on, it is so one dimensional it's not true but at the same time gives such a perfect metaphor for who Dredd is. The helmet never comes off. In the 1995 film the damn thing never stays on! With the Helmet Dredd is the faceless, impassible and unreadable letter of the law. You can't see his, bionic, eyes, a metaphor for justice being blind, and he is just one of thousands. Impeccable unstoppable, featureless. The law in human from. But at the same time he's human underneath. Just a man, flawed, weak and like any other. Well supposedly. The helmet is a death mask, it's reflective visor the last thing you're going to see when you brake the law in his city. It's not all about the helmet, but it's important. Would you have Luke Skywalker without a Lightsaber? Batman without the Bat-Mobile? No, so you shouldn't have Dredd without the grud-damned helmet!
The film is crap. It didn't come close to fulfilling the promise Dredd had, but it made a lot of money. You can have fun with it, playing a drinking game for example. Just don't do it if you're a fan of the comics, you'll want to drink yourself into a coma. Stallone has no idea what he's doing. The Director, Cannon, is inexperienced and Stallone walks all over him as the big name star. Schneider, as ever, needs to stop acting and take up clearing abandoned minefields. That, or get abandoned in a minefield. The supporting cast ham it up to the point where you can't take anything seriously and the effects were dated even for the time.
Why have I brought this film up? Well every professional reviewer that's looked at Karl Urban's Dredd holds this as a mirror to it. They compare it. This is like comparing the original Star Wars to Battle Beyond the Stars. Yes you can do it, but it's just not worth it. This has been it's biggest problem and why Dredd 2012 didn't make it's own money back.
This is, in my opinion, a crime. Stallone's Dredd pretty much guaranteed a still birth for this valiant attempt and that's what it was, valiant. It's budget was significantly less (20,000,000 less in today's money, estimated of course) and it marketing was almost non-existent. It only opened in four hundred and fifteen screens in the UK and the US advertising consisted of a few ads on You Tube.
With nearly every sodding reviewer too busy bashing the 90's version and not enough of them looking at Dredd for what it was it didn't stand a chance. The 2012 film is fantastic and here's my honest opinion why.
Dredd 3D was beautiful. An art film masquerading as a mindless thriller. Urban did a fantastic job with the role. Looking at his body of work, from The Truth About Demons up to Star Trek you can see he has it in him and then he gets acting. Stallone never really got the role, then again 80's action stars never got the concept of subtly or layers. Urban might not have the legendary chin, the one thing Stallone did get right, but sold me that he was Dredd by his acting alone. Just the right levels of anger, drive, determination and enough hints of his dark humour to have me grinning from ear to ear. It felt very much like the character I've been reading for more than a decade leapt off the page to make a movie. No comic book film has ever been able to do that before.
By focusing only on one mega-block and leaving the vast city beyond as a backdrop we got a greater appreciation of the people we were seeing. The scenery wasn't distracting and despite it all you got the feeling this was a normal day for the protagonists. Dredd and Anderson sell the atmosphere more than anyone else. Pushing through the day as crap piles on top of them. Things go from bad to worse and the pair of them struggle on through.
Speaking of Anderson, she's another hard character to get right. Often disillusioned by the actions she has to take to save people's lives and serve the law. She doesn't have Dredd's unshakeable faith to guide her. Olivia Thirlby pulls off her rookie version nicely. Putting just the right amount of inexperience and insecurity in while at the same time able to really make use of her powers. A lot of sci-fi stories pull out the psychic card, but few are as nasty and inventive with it as some of the things she does. The sequence where she "Questions" a perp is down right unsettling.
And with that we move on to Lena Headey's Ma-Ma. This is a villain and we see it. There is psychotic, there's dangerously psychotic and then there's this woman. You honestly get the feeling she'd pluck out your eye, crush it and then smear what's left on a round of toast. As Dredd's inescapable progress continues she gets more crazy, more dangerous and more deranged. She was a threat and you feel it
Along with a stellar cast the script is sharp, punchy and very cleaver. Littered with homage after homage to the comic every shot dripped with the amount of effort put into it. For the first time I can remember the 3D wasn't a gimmick shoved on, made an important art of the plot it was essential they got it right. They did, with dozens of little tricks you might not notice at first. Best of which was the use of the black boarder around the film, debris and smoke would bleed off the shot. Almost as if the screen isn't big enough for what you're witnessing. A fantastic little nod to a comic panel, when the action bursts out and overspills to the others.
Dredd 2012 was hacked off at the knees by the previous film and then shot in the back by the Raid. Another, very similar, film made after but released first due to less special effects work needed. With little to no support Dredd, like the character, stood up and fought on. Many end of year summaries from none mainstream critics hold Dredd to be one of the best in 2012. Those of us that know and still remember how to enjoy a film for what it is love this thing and it is a crime that rubbish on par with Twilight and the Transformers franchise make millions, near Billions, in profit when a film like this is sacrificed to the doldrums.
I hope that it's release on DVD means that, like Firefly before it, the fans show that good films with a passion and love for the subject will live on.
Thomas
PS actually that's exactly where I'm going to put this film on my shelf. Right next to Serenity. Two great, under appreciated, films that deserve respect.
PPS If you haven't seen this, it is the best way to watch the 1995 film. Without the drinking game.
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