DREDD 2012 is an Underrated Masterpiece of Action Sci-Fi
Denver Harrington
I recently rewatched Dredd 2012 on TV and forgot how much this film slaps. Gone are the days of pastiche Stallone-styled action heroes of the eighties, the 2012 called for a tonal shift, a dark and edgy aesthetics.
When it released in the cinema, I must have been one in a very small crowd of people who got to see the spectacle in its full deserved glory. From the opening of the 2012 film Dredd, the viewer is given some short exposition before being flung Lawgiver MII first into a dystopian world of cutthroat crime, enormous concrete archologies and individual agents of law delivering a swift and bloody service of judgement, jury and execution. When I was a kid, the dark allure of the 2000 AD comic illustrations, enticed an amygdalin reaction, promising a world chaos, violence and a twisted justice.
Sure, the old 1995 Judge Dredd film staring Sylvester Stallone, was fun, embedded with unintentional comedy and hackneyed character archetypes. The 1995 Dredd wasn’t just existing in his Mega-City One, but sometimes presented himself as a near-invincible super-hero. But they gave Dredd a human face, something the comics never reveal. Dredd 2012, captures the spirit of his mystery, containing the character’s identity in the ironclad armour.
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Written by Alex Garland and directed by visual genius Pete Travis, Dredd 2012 launched with the intention to reignite the Dredd universe. However, the 3D gimmick back then was all the rage, a means of filling cinema seats during the rapid nascence of Netflix. Personally, I never liked 3D cinema, a sentiment I sense is shared by most movie goers.
The Judges are cracking down on a synthetic drug called Slo-Mo, which gives the user a lagging sense of time. Under its influence, this narrative tool immerses viewers into a scenes where time is prolonged, transforming the grungy world into a glistening, swirling, beautifully dark and saturated experience — complementing the ultra-violence. Seconds elapse into minutes as bullets soar through the air, and all we can do is witness the bright crimson aftermath of scintillant bloody orbs suspended in time.
Karl Urban Dredd is assigned a rookie, Cassandra Anderson played by Olivia Thirlby, who is gifted with the auspices of psychic powers. The plot follows Dredd to one of the enormous towering concrete projects, homes to some sixty-thousand people. While investigating a homicide, the archology gangster boss, Ma Ma (portrayed by the amazing Lena Headey), locks down the building, trapping everyone inside. Her terms? Kill Dredd and lockdown will be lifted. Fuelled with the same quiet rage as Dredd, Ma Ma’s ambition is to enact her own brand of law and order. With no back-up and no way to reach Mage-City One, Dredd and Anderson find themselves confronted with a countless onslaught of gangs and terrified affiliates. With a suspect in their possession, the due of forced to survive Ma Ma’s endless arsenal a expendable human resources.
Initially cynical, I didn’t expect much from Dredd 2012. I had no expectation that it would stand up well. Even Karl Urban has gone on recording claiming the film was a flop due to marketing problems. And he’s not wrong.
The film was rated R, ensnaring it with difficulties finding the right demographics from the get go. People weren’t sure if the film was a sequel, a re-boot, a one-shot launch or even if it would represent anything the comics stood for. In my opinion, it did. Sure, there were marketing problems, but the script understood the character. Karl Urban’s Dredd remained a stoic, fearless and mysterious legend, his vulnerabilities exposed, raising the stakes for the characters survival.
Yes, Dredd failed at the box office, but it lives on as a cult classis. There’s a theory that the public lacks an appetite for violent films but, if Deadpool’s ratings have anything to go by, I would have to disagree! Deadpool is a superhero with a cynical-comedy edge, also R-rated and ultra-violent. It did well because it was marketed well and knew its audience. Despite all this, as a Dredd fan, I’m glad the cast and crew were able to produce a thrilling, visually exciting and colourful take on a classic comic character’s story, representing the world as it is without leading us on any long-winded expositions. I would have loved to have seen more. Yes, I’d have loved to have seen Garland’s version of Judge Death, a character likely unexplored to benefit an audience unprepared for a story with such a supernatural villain.
Despite it being lambasted by a few, Dredd 2012 is what it is, a fun, standalone take on a dark foreboding world. Reviews are mixed, but in my opinion, you should judge for yourself.
