If you like graphic violence porn and pretentious slo-mo effects, Dredd is for you. But not for me.
I really wanted to like it, partly because of the Training Day meets Die Hard potential**, but mainly the parts of it where people get to, y'know, act?, are pretty good -- what Karl Urban does just with posture and the lower half of his face should be required viewing***, his rapport with Olivia Thirlby made me forget my wish to see their roles gender reversed, and Lena Headey makes a great villain.
** Instead, all too often I felt like I was watching a rip-off of The Raid: Redemption.
*** I'd really like to see the alternate reality in which Karl Urban was the Batman in the Christopher Nolan films.
I saw this in the theater, essentially by accident -- the movie we wanted to see was sold out. "How about we watch this one, I always thought the comic book was really funny, I doubt it's that violent." Oops.
ReplyDeleteAccording to fanboy sites, The Raid: Redemption is a ripoff of this, that made it to theaters first. Both punishingly violent movies I haven't felt like recommending to anyone.