Yeah, I’ve tagged this as a Fuck Mondays post even though I’m pretty sure it’s Wednesday. Fuck Mondays is a state of mind and when it’s -30 and dropping in our lovely city I feel like it’s time for a Fuck Mondays post. Also, there’s no comic today and there hasn’t been a post since last Thursday, so I’ll blow the dust off my keyboard and hit it with my fingers until this bitch is done.
I saw Dredd 3D (only I saw it in regular 2D since DDR doesn’t have a 3D TV like a cheap skate) on Monday and here’s what sucked and what was awesome.
Why it sucks:
The story line is really pretty straight forward. Without spoiling a thing I can tell you that there are some bad guys who need to be arrested by Dredd and don’t want to be, so instead they try to kill him. He is opposed to being killed so he fights them with guns and explosions. You probably could’ve figured that out from the trailer. There really isn’t a lot more going on than that, so don’t expect more. If you do, you will be disappointed. Absolutely none of the characters have any depth or deeper motivations. Dredd is Dredd (enforces the law to an obsessive degree), the rookie is a rookie (trying to prove she’s good enough to be a Judge), the psycho main villain is psycho for almost no reason (though Lena Headey is padding her resumé with being psychotic female villains, you know her as Cersei Lannister) and so on. There is also no one scene that makes you go “holy shit this is awesome.” Just a lot of straight shooting action and straight forward characters.
Why it rocks:
Dredd sort of succeeds by not trying to be more than it is. It’s not packing the big budget of a film like Avengers and is not nearly as ambitious as Dark Knight Rises, but at the same time , Judge Dredd was never Batman or The Avengers in the comics world either. For all their simplicity, none of the characters are poorly acted. The dialogue didn’t offer any depth but the actors did their best with what was given. The action scenes were not jaw dropping, but also weren’t cheesy. It was also almost entirely devoid of shaky-cam, which is refreshing in an action flick these days. It also is almost wall-to-wall action, never slowing down long enough for you to think too hard about how silly and simple the story is.
Does it suck?
If you want a simple action film that isn’t super slick or super deep, than no, it doesn’t suck. If you’re a fan of the comics, it doesn’t suck the way the Stallone apocalypse of 1995 did, it’s a lot more faithful to the pulpy source material so don’t worry too much. I would recommend this film to anyone who’s interested in seeing a good Judge Dredd film or anyone who wants a gritty cyberpunk action film and isn’t expecting too much. I think this film would’ve done a lot better at the box office if it didn’t come out the same year as Avengers and Dark Knight Rises and the same few weeks as Argo and Looper.
