A darker knight
Dredd 3D
★★★ (out of 4) Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey. Directed by Pete Travis. 95 minutes. Opens Sept. 21 at major theatres. 18A
It may not have the gravitas of The Dark Knight or the popcorn thrill of The Avengers, but Dredd 3D is a grim and satisfying take on the famed British comic book character who, as a cop in a crumbling society of the future, serves as judge, jury and executioner.
If it has a comics-to-film antecedent, it is not the 1995 misfire Judge Dredd starring Sly Stallone. Rather, it might be the first two Blade films of the early ’90s, which remain underrated yet fan-pleasing adaptations featuring that vampire-slaying Marvel character.
This is a solid, sometimes surprisingly smart action film in the locked-building-caper mold of Die Hard, with Dredd (an always helmeted Karl Urban) assigned to show the ropes to rookie judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) who also has psychic powers, as they battle a drug gang in a 200-storey slum.
Anderson is the audience’s proxy in the dark, concrete world where everything has fallen apart. More time could be spent on developing her character’s story, to actually create something close to empathy, but that’s not this film’s bag. There is just enough setup so we can get to bad guys skinning bodies, and that’s when the action really gets rolling.
It’s a simple cat-and-mouse story — where the mice are very well armed — but the production design of the dystopic Mega-City One and the massive yet still claustrophobic concrete tenement setting adds a great deal.
The performances are effective, if at times a little one-note — Urban sports a perma-scowl — with Lena Headey ( Game of Thrones) partic- ularly good as Ma-Ma, the cruel, scarred prostitute turned leader of the drug gang. If there are missteps, they come from the use of 3D, which right from the start is shown off with scenes that feel as if something was placed in the foreground just as an excuse to add depth. As well, the futuristic drug in question is called Slo-Mo, which makes its users perceive time at 1/100th of its actual flow, but also gives an excuse for some egregious bullet-time sequences. Some of these scenes were meant to be artful, but end up being unintentionally hilarious. Still, with a runtime of 98 minutes, it zips along, taking no prisoners and leaving a large body count. It’s not as darkly funny as the source material, but is a movie that fits the character and one that existing fans should appreciate, as should new ones looking to enjoy a grim futuristic thrill ride.