What I don't understand is if some studio head hands you his check book and says, "Go ahead and make that film you've always wanted to make" and then you go out and make something like this, I would think you should be working in Home Depot or something (in the garden gnome section no less). Directed by Pete Travis, this movie lacked ANYTHING original, I mean NOTHING at all. Not to mention it's utter nonsense like it's the future and people are still taking pictures with their cell phones? REALLY? There is supposedly a 94% unemployment rate and yet people are still shopping at the malls and (wait for it....) THERE ARE STILL MALLS???? Are you kidding me? This is Pete Travis' third movie and one of the three was the absolute atrocious Vantage Point so I should have known this would suck (but hey, at least my popcorn was good).
Mega City One stretches from Boston to DC and the rest of America is a nuclear wasteland. There are these megatowers known as blocks that rise into the sky and all the people that survived the war now live within Mega City One and in these "blocks". The only thing keeping anarchy from running wild are the Judges from The Hall of Justice. The most infamous of all the judges is Dredd and what's his assignment on this given day, train a rookie recruit. But wait, you know she just can't be ANY ordinary rookie recruit, she has to be special if Dredd gets saddled with her. Lo and behold, the rookie is a psychic (the producers pulled NO punches when it came to originality). Dredd, played by the talented Karl Urban takes rookie Anderson, played by Olivia Thirlby out into the madness of Mega City for her pass/fail evaluation. Yawn!
They soon find themselves in Peach Trees block with the responsibility of solving a multiple homicide. They are there accidentally (chasing down guys driving erratically and under the influence of narcotics) but wouldn't you know it, Peach Trees is the sole processing plant and distribution hub of the new drug on the street, the same one the drives were "high" on or "slow" on known as "slo-mo". Slo-Mo basically slows everything down but what you aren't told is why anyone would take the stuff. You aren't told if the drug makes you feel good, tastes good, makes good experiences more intense or not, you're just told that shit just lasts longer. So why anyone in their right mind would want to take a drug that slows shit down while your living in a hellish time makes NOOOO sense to me but I digress. Now that the cops are there, the slo-mo Queenpin Ma Ma wants Peach Trees locked down and the Judges eliminated because one of her top soldiers gets arrested in connection with the multiple homicide. Now the dim lit chase throughout the block ensues.
The surprise towards the end that involves more judges just screams even MORE lack of originality. On second thought, if I was one of the producers on Raid: The Redemption, I wouldn't sue. I wouldn't anyone thinking my movie and this Dredd crap had anything in common. The music by Paul Leonard-Morgan was the only redeemable thing about this film but if you don't like hip-hop beats and serious distortion in your movie scores, you might want to pass. All in all I say watch Raid: The Redemption. It's a much better movie and far more entertaining and just know that once you've seen that movie, you've seen this one. And as for us Judge Dredd fans, we'll just have to keep waiting for that GOOD Dredd movie because right now, we're 0 for 2. I'll see you at the theater!
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