Dredd 3D
Direction: Pete Travis
Voices: Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby
Rating: *1/2
First filmed back in 1995 under the title Judge Dredd, the campy Sylvester Stallone version of the cult British comic book series was justifiably derided. The
bad news is that Dredd 3D is only marginally better.
The unapologetically gory second big screen adaptation finds the hard-nosed law enforcer (Urban, reduced to grimacing behind a giant helmet which covers most of his face) and a clairvoyant rookie (Thirlby) trapped inside a 200-storey residential tower ruled by a sadistic drug dealer (Lena Headey, barely menacing).
The justice dispensing pair… judge, jury and executioner rolled into one…. must battle a battalion of bad guys on their way to the top floor of the tenement block. The Raid: Redemption, anyone?
Set at a lethargic pace, the wannabe thriller unleashes a barrage of explosions, gunfights and bone-crunching stunts. There's nothing in the video game-like carnage which we haven't already seen before in a slew of mindless actioners. Moreover, the recurring slow motion shots (discourtesy Slumdog Millionaire cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle) are wearisome.
Just another pointless genre exercise, Dredd 3D makes for joyless viewing. Avoid.