Blu-Ray Review: ‘DREDD’

In the late 80’s and early 90’s, I began my infatuation with the character of The Punisher from Marvel. To me, The Punisher was a character that felt very grounded in reality and I could actually see the drive for this poor lost soul to seek justice in his own way. After conversing with friends, I was told to check out some 2000 A.D. comics and that I would probably dig Judge Dredd as he was sort of an anti-hero personality by being the Judge, Jury and Executioner – yes, that is the tagline of 1989’sThe Punisher starring Dolph Lundgren as well. In the world of Dredd, the law still had boundaries and was to be followed, the justice system wasn’t as convoluted as reality. This is where I always found the character of The Punisher as a true hero. If you were guilty, you would be punished. Dredd’s criminals usually ended up in the same fashion and while it was a character I didn’t follow as much as The Punisher, it was still one that I always had back in my mind. 2000 A.D is a British comic that had the Judge Dredd character sadly adapted in American cinema by Sylvester Stallone. The previous adaptation could be why Dredd didn’t do so hot at the box office in the States but I’m here to tell you that there is a lot of good in this film.

The Movie

Judge Dredd exists in a world where “America is an irradiated wasteland” but there is a new concrete city that contains 800 million people. That city is called Mega City One. There are huge structures, known as Mega Blocks, that house 75,000 citizens. Imagine city project buildings multiplied by 1,000. Judge Dredd and a mutant trainee named Anderson respond to a call in the Mega Block of Peach Trees which is controlled by the Ma-Ma clan and, as it turns out, houses the main factory of a new drug called Sl0-Mo which when used, slows down time to the user while giving them a state of ecstasy. Once the Dredd and his trainee are discovered by Ma-Ma she overrides the security system of the Mega Block and locks in the judges while putting a bounty on their heads for the whole block to take advantage of.

Writer Alex Garland has worked on this script for years now. The world of 2000 A.D. and Judge Dredd is a big one as evident given the population of Mega City One. Instead of trying to tell a grandiose tale that involves the whole city, he takes the approach of using the low budget and confining it to one building with most of the film shot indoors. Director Pete Travis does an adequate job with telling the story but it is obvious that the strengths here are Karl Urban as Dredd, the script and the cinematography. Garland doesn’t paint this future as one too out of reach. Footage of street violence and protest are able to ease viewers into the state of this landscape and offer a certain grounded reality to the film which makes it succeed. Cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle employees some unique techniques with the stereoscopic 3D, which we will get into a bit with the presentation, that are to be commended if not admired. Using two Red cameras in a stereoscopic sense makes the essential camera a bit of a bulky beast. Therefore, Dod Mantle had a special rig made to take the film handheld to execute some amazing shots we wouldn’t normally see in 3D. There is a gritty look to Dredd once we are inside Peach Trees. While futuristic, the environment still seems familiar. There are times where some shots seem very noisy in low-light (again, we will address this in the presentation portion) that add a sort of voyeuristic surveillance view to the story.

Actor Karl Urban might have the toughest job of them all. While Stallone cheated in the previous film adaptation by taking off the helmet, Urban remains in the helmet the whole time yet is still able to convey emotion and a sense of relationship with the viewer. Sure, Dredd isn’t a complex character but what makes him complex for an actor is the fact that we only see the lower half of his face. Peter Weller in Robocop was in a similar situation yet his acting relied on a stone facial expression and body movement to convey his portrayal – again, until he took off his helmet. Urban puts on his best grizzled Clint Eastwood-esque impression – which is fine as Dredd was modeled off of Eastwood’s Dirty Harry character – and is still able to be a very likable guy. By using this sensibility, we do get some wise cracks and chuckles from some of his lines which generally leans the audience to like him. However, we don’t get a lot of Dredd’s own personality in the performance but that is because Dredd is a by-the-books judge. By the end of the film, we see a bit of emotion out of him due to the events that happen prior and his relationship with Anderson, his trainee played by Olivia Thirlby. Lena Headey plays the villain Ma-Ma which will leave an impression to the viewer. She isn’t the best villain I saw in 2012 but she was a highlight.

There should be something said about the Slo-Mo drug as well. Sure, it feels gimmicky and I don’t think the filmmakers really want to try to pass it off as a non-gimmick. It is gorgeous to look at in 2D and 3D. After two initial scenes of the audience experiencing these scenes we are then introduced to violent shootouts complete with blood spurting in the Slo-Mo effect. Some may feel that it is a bit pornographic to show violence in this matter, it felt like a moving comic book to me which is what Dredd is supposed to be, a moving comic book. There are some jaw-dropping scenes using this effect that really do need to be seen to be believed. If you have 3D capability, all the better but if not, don’t worry, you will still have a good time.

In the end, Dredd is a very entertaining film that I have watched a couple times now at home. I really hope it finds its audience in the home video crowd as I would love to see more of this universe. Sadly, since it is all a numbers game, it will be a uphill battle to see another entry which is a shame because this is a good, fun action film with enough grit to please hard boiled action fans.

The Presentation

Lionsgate brings Dredd to a Blu-Ray 3D/2D + Digital Copy + Ultraviolet package. If I ever upgrade to 3D, it will be nice to see this at home in the third dimension. There will be some controversy to this release but since seeing this in the theaters I can tell you that Lionsgate has faithfully brought Dredd home in a faithful transfer. Since the feature was shot digitally there is no loss here when it comes to putting it on the Blu-Ray format. The image is crisp with barely any crushing of the blacks. With that said, the controversy will be about digital noise, more specifically videographic digital noise. While it does look like there is some digital grain added to the picture to give it a more filmic, gritty look, there will be some questions raised on the transfer because of videographic digital noise popping up at what seems like some random scenes. This noise was apparent in the film itself in the theatrical presentation and is generated from the handheld rig that DP Anthony Dod Mantle had created. There is one shot of Ma-Ma and her right hand man walking down the hallway once they learn about the judges executing some drug dealers in Peach Trees that is littered with this multi-colored noise (imagine a poor webcam resolution) and the picture lacks a certain definition. However, once that shot transitions to a different one, you will see quite a bit of difference in quality. The scene itself maybe lasts 15 seconds but I wanted to note that this scene in particular could be the result of the original source and a bad transfer as other scenes have videographic digital noise and don’t look as bad in comparison. Viewers will only see this digital noise on certain shots, mainly handheld. The whole film is pretty dark and in most of these scenes where the noise is shown, it will be in the black sections of the image. However, this was the original intention and other than the scene mentioned above was definitely evident in the theatrical presentation and is not a result of the transfer.

Dredd boasts a 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio mix that elevates the low-budget feel of some of the imagery to what feels like a Hollywood film. When the action hits, it hits and there is plenty to show off here with your sound system. The Blu-Ray also comes equipped with Dolby Digital 2.0 for “Late Night Listening”.

Special Features

There are about a good 50 minutes of Special Features and while it would have been nice to see more, as I’m curious given some of the rumors I heard about Garland taking over some of the directing from Travis, you get a healthy 15 minute featurette that explains the comic and how the character has developed over the years with artists & writers like Jock and Mark Millar along with the original creators of 2000 A.D. and the Judge Dredd character. The other 15 minute featurette covers the visual effects and some of the camera work of the film. There are four more featurettes which include some of the same material from the two longer featurettes but still have some material that is worth taking a look at. There is no commentary here which would have been great to hear from Urban, Travis and/or Garland.

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Overall

I would highly recommend people check out this Blu-Ray. Dredd was a film that came in and out of American cinemas too quickly. While it has style that you would see out of big-budget action films it also carries substance and a sensibility of a personal tale.