Dredd is told that he has a new recruit to evaluate. Rookie Anderson (Olivia Thirlby, Juno) isn't like most rookies, she has failed her various tests and evaluations, but her one outstanding trait makes her a desirable new judge. It's up to Dredd to make the final call. So what is this trait? Well, she is a mutant, something that Mega-City One is teeming with, but she looks perfectly normal. In fact, the only thing that makes her stand out is the fact that she is a powerful psychic, and as we learn in this film, that can be a handy talent for a judge.
It seems Anderson is thrown in the deep-end though when she and Dredd take a call at the Mega-Block called Peach Trees, a massive 200-floor tower that contains some 75,000 citizens, most of which are unemployed and living in poverty. The judges are called to the scene to investigate the murder of three people, apparently drug dealers. After busting a distribution point for the new drug Slo-Mo, the leader of the gang, Ma-Ma (Lena Headey, Game of Thrones, The Sarah Conner Chronicles, 300) locks down the Mega-Block and calls upon her army of goons to take down the pair of interlopers.
So, not only do Dredd and Anderson have to shoot their way to the top of the tower, but they are doing so with one of Ma-Ma's lieutenants handcuffed and in tow. It seems that Kay (Wood Harris, Remember the Titans, The Wire) has some information that Ma-Ma doesn't really want getting out. When Anderson and Dredd realize this, they make full use of the Rookie's abilities to find out exactly what it is that Kay knows.
Quite frankly, Dredd is a fun action flick that seems to have a lot in common with some first-person shooters I've played. You take two characters, one that is big and powerful with a lot of guns, and the other with some other crazy ability, and you stick them in a place where they have no choice but to shoot their way to the exit. That being said, Dredd plays the part of the fun action flick well, especially when you consider some of the film's special effects.
The drug Slo-Mo will slow down your brain so you are processing everything at 1% of the normal speed, and the filmmakers show this off beautifully. Not only do they take advantage of some major high-speed cameras to slow everything down, but added visual effects just make every Slo-Mo scene a sight to behold. My only real regret is that I didn't get a chance to see these awesome effects in 3D. While I typically frown on 3D viewings, I never saw any of the standard gimmicks or gags that most filmmakers use with this technology and I can only imagine how some of these scenes play out with the added depth.
One of the Blu-ray's special features covers the 3D filming of the movie and goes into a lot of detail about what the filmmakers were going for, while another talks extensively about the special features, including the effects used for the Slo-Mo sequences. Another featurette covers the Mega-Block Peach Trees and has a little of the same footage seen in the other featurettes, but the one I found the most interesting was the segment that talks about the comic Judge Dredd is from and how it has both changed and stayed the same over its 35 year life. Rounding out the list of extras is a motion comic showing Ma-Ma's rise to power, a featurette on Dredd's armor and gear, the theatrical trailers, and another segment that seems little more than a trailer with a couple of minutes of behind-the-scenes footage.
While a fun movie, Dredd is little more than a rental. Sure you get to see a lot of action,. but I can't see going back to this film and seeing it over and over again. Urban plays the part well and mimic's Dredd's scowl just as well as Stallone did back in the 90's, plus this time, we don't have Rob Schneider's comic-relief to deal with. Even so, rent before buying.
