Judge Dredd movie (2012)

[316what]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

And I don't mind. Really. I deserve it from time to time.

It only bothers me when it gets down to a personal level. Like...you know...me as a human begin, rather then an online persona.

Dats it.

You're a human begin?

Consider yourself reported.

 

[Frank]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Okay, he at least admitted badassery. I'll let him go with a technical.

 

[Ramatuelle]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Hey you're the one who blamed yourself for thinking TPM wouldn't suck. Get off your little dramatic soapbox. TPM and Dredd were disappointing. The end. No need to get all philosophical about it.

Comparing the new Dredd to the Stallone Dredd sort of ratchets things back into perspective. The new one was freakin' "King Lear" compared to that.

 

[DiFabio]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Khev sounds like how I am with TDKR.

 

[snoop101]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

That's not a good thing.

 

[Niltusk]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

No that was not mentioned. Like I said earlier in this thread - I think Lionsgate dropped the ball. I saw zero advertising for this before it was released (not one commercial - and I always have my tv on when I am home), so I think that hurt. When it didn't do well after it opened, I think Lionsgate decided to cut their losses and pull it and hope they would make their money back through DVD and Blu Ray sales.

This of course is pure speculation on my part. But I am truly puzzled at the lack of advertising for this. And why didn't they have a legitimate panel for this at Comic Con...seems like that would have been their target audience. Oh well...I'm glad DVD/Blu Ray sales have been good and hope that encourages a sequel.

I'd love to see a sequel greenlit, but its just too bad it probably won't have the same director. I think he probably feels hung out to dry, for the reasons you mentioned and probably a few more.

 

[snoop101]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

 

[fosing]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Khev sounds like how I am with TDKR.

 

[snoop101]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

 

[DiFabio]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

I don't remember that scene in the movie.

 

[snoop101]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

It's in the Directors Cut.

 

[Khev]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Apparently, we don't need much elaboration on his character, as you walked away feeling that Urban as Dredd was a "badass"...which was how we were supposed to feel about him.

I think you are over thinking this a bit much. But I felt they established his reputation enough in the film. He's more than capable of dealing with the guys in the van on his own. He is very effective in his position as Judge that his superior asks him train and evaluate the rookie. Also the bad judges do get to ask for a million to kill him...because of who he is. That was more than enough for me to understand that you don't mess with him. He is the law and takes his position very seriously. Considering the high crime rates and destitution of the city - you know any judge has to be tough...especially if he is honest and not corrupt.

Could another Judge have done what he did? I don't know. Doesn't really matter to me.

Yes Urban owned the role and he was "badass." But isn't he supposed to be uniquely badass? That was my point. For all we know he's just another judge. But then we get that guy asking for the million dollars yet the movie never made a point to show Dredd doing anything that makes him better than any other judge.

Look at John McClane. He proved himself more capable than LAPD, SWAT, FBI, etc. It was great. Die Hard clearly showed all throughout the movie what made him "special," even with his "everyman" demeanor throughout.

What else is Dredd supposed to do to kill people? He's in a building...not a lot of options but to shoot them or throw them over the ledges. He's not a torturer or trying find new creative ways to kill people. He gets the job done and does it effectively.

Oh I'm not saying that every common thug should have gotten a unique death but it would have been nice if Mama's death in particular wasn't old hat by the time he got to her.

 

[Khev]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Khev sounds like how I am with TDKR.

If I'm still here seven months from now complaining about the movie then you'll have a point.

But actually I think we're just the opposite regarding Dredd and TDKR. If not for your perceived setup of TDK I believe you'd admit that TDKR is a decent movie with a hero that is too wimpy if I'm not mistaken.

With me and Dredd he isn't wimpy at all, he's a total badass that is wasted in a very pedestrian narrative. But I'm not furious or anything because I never really cared about the character to begin with. And before people start going off about how I wanted the movie to be Inception or some such silliness I've already outlined my main beefs with the film.

1. No establishment of the main hero being unique or unusually competent.

2. Smut that actually undermines what could have been a gruesome scene if left to the imagination.

3. No real payoff with the main villain.

If you disagree with my take on those three points that's fine, hopefully he's put to better use in a sequel.

 

[CelticPredator]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

If I'm still here seven months from now complaining about the movie then you'll have a point.

But actually I think we're just the opposite regarding Dredd and TDKR. If not for your perceived setup of TDK I believe you'd admit that TDKR is a decent movie with a hero that is too wimpy if I'm not mistaken.

With me and Dredd he isn't wimpy at all, he's a total badass that is wasted in a very pedestrian narrative. But I'm not furious or anything because I never really cared about the character to begin with. And before people start going off about how I wanted the movie to be Inception or some such silliness I've already outlined my main beefs with the film.

1. No establishment of the main hero being unique or unusually competent.

2. Smut that actually undermines what could have been a gruesome scene if left to the imagination.

3. No real payoff with the main villain.

If you disagree with my take on those three points that's fine, hopefully he's put to better use in a sequel.

1. They did. But they did it in a way that didn't feel cliche. The movie isn't about Mega City 1. It's about Dredd and Anderson. The story just puts you right in there. You can clearly see Dredd take down everyone in that building with ease up until he runs out of bullets. And that's only when his almost equals arrive. Plus....like Jen said, the other Judges know Dredd. They know he's damn good. Hence why, more money.

2. They barely showed anything. So I don't get this. They show just a fragment just to make you wince a bit.

3. That's the point. Welcome to Mega City 1. What did killing MaMa do? Is it going to stop drug trafficking? Is it going to help citizens of Mega City 1 realize the consequence of their actions? No. It does nothing. MaMa was brought up with violence in this violent world, she was killed by a violent police force which deals in absolutes.

You're supposed to feel empty when she dies. You're not supposed to be happy.

 

[Khev]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Oh and then there's:

4. CG blood splatter. Really made it hard to be immersed with the fake cartoon blood throughout.

 

[DrQ2]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Well I have to give into the GF, watching "The Help" I will try not to fall asleep again this time.

 

[snoop101]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

If I'm still here seven months from now complaining about the movie then you'll have a point.

 

[CelticPredator]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

Oh and then there's:

4. CG blood splatter. Really made it hard to be immersed with the fake cartoon blood throughout.

Not all was CGI. But the ones that were, weren't that good.

It's the main reason why The Expendables have no rewatchablity for me.

 

[Khev]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

It's the main reason why The Expendables have no rewatchablity for me.

Expendables did that too? What is wrong with action directors today?

 

[King Darkness]

Re: New Judge Dredd movie

I was trying to pin down why I found this film to be particularly lacking compared to other films of its kind.

I'm curious as to how fans of the film respond to these points:

1. No establishment of Dredd being unique among Judges. In films like Cobra, Robocop, Last Action Hero, and so on the film typically sets up the bad guys as being incapable to deal with by regular cops...until the super badass arrives on the scene. We didn't get that in Dredd. He's the first one called to apprehend the criminals in the van and he dismisses backup but for all we know it's because he doesn't care/has a death wish/is a super badass--we don't know. He dispatches the bad guys but what about his success sets him apart? No other judge could have shot the van with the motorcycle machine guns? Or casually shot the guy with the head frying heat round? We have no context to his badassery.

Even in Peachtree all we know is that they've never had a judge called there before "but they've got one now." Okay, so does that mean *any* judge would have had the same success as Dredd but he just happened to be the first to make an appearance? His tactics and skill don't seem to be altogether unique. Everything is by the book, he even lets his rookie partner quote procedure (that he then follows) as various bad guys approach.

Sometimes "supercops" are unique because of their tactics (Cobra and Jack Slater,) sometimes they're by the book and simply can't be stopped (Robocop.) With Dredd, neither is established.

Even the other judges who show up to stop him seem to approach him the same way and other than the one guy demanding $1,000,000 because "he knows who he is," again, we never see what sets Dredd apart from them. One guy uses the same voice-activated gun tricks to shoot Dredd through a wall and could have literally defeated him if he didn't get too cocky at the last second. That's it? Dredd is special because he would never stop to gloat? Okay, that's cool and all but it's kind of a lacking defining characteristic, IMO (though Dredd actually did seem to pause himself when facing the "hothead" guy at the beginning. Good thing that guy didn't have a buddy waiting to shoot Dredd in the back.)

Anderson actually had the more interesting tactics (sorry Celtic, she was still a supporting character) what with the way she uniquely read the female judge's mind before blowing her away.

2. Showing their captive's imagination of having sex with Anderson just came across as smutty, nothing more. I didn't even realize that was supposed to be particularly violent or a "rape" until she described it as such when repeating it back to him. Usually rape victims aren't stripped head to toe, it just seemed like they were doing it rough. I actually would have considered that to be *more* offensive to her, that he was imagining her *liking it.* And if that really was supposed to be a "violent" encounter, then how tame compared to what we'd been led to believe the bad guys were capable of!

If he just said "what am I thinking" and then she got pissed about some "violent sexual liaison" I would have assumed something much worse was going on in his head. As such it just seemed like gratuitous smut.

3. Nothing really unique in the escalation of action. When Hans Gruber fell to his death that was something special the movie reserved just for him. But sending Mama off into a freefall? The fifth time we'd seen that happen in the movie. But she was under the effects of "slo-mo" so it took forever for her. So, that's exactly what happened to the three guys at the beginning and they were skinned alive first! All Dredd did was shoot people or throw them off the building (or both as with the guy that was set on fire and THEN went over the side) and finally he gets to Mama and what does he do? Throws her off the building.

Urban was such a badass and I really did love both his performance and his chemistry with Anderson but it just seemed to be lacking in some really crucial areas to make it a truly worthy entry into this genre of films.

More words in this post than in Dredd.....