About Dredd (2012)

Thank you, James, for all your trouble.

I watched Dredd. Finally.

Dredd is one of the movies’ name repeated annoyingly on the comment section about how underrated it is. It’s quite fascinating, isn’t it?

First, there’s something about me (I’m not Mary) that you should know. I’m not a movie geek and I never will be. I watched some movies, knew some basics facts, learned some extraordinary actors’ names, never understood some cult classics and still don’t know how to edit a video. Because I don’t have what it takes to become a youtuber, I do the easiest thing to express my opinion, I write a fucking blog. How loser is that! So forgive me if what I’ll say is against your mind. I’m not sorry for being normal and honest though.

The only reason I avoided Dredd for so many years (7 years exactly), well, was I thought Dredd was RoboCop. Yeah, yeah, I can hear all the nerds in the world are creaming for my blood. Guess what, I don’t read your western comic books. I didn’t know Dredd is based on comics and RoboCop isn’t. I’m old and only have time to read 1 manga chapter every week and Dredd is no One Piece (Hope I’ll live till the day Oda finishes it. We all know Japanese live a long ass life so there is big chance I may never know how Luffy’s journey ends).

Anyways, don’t try to tell me Dredd is different to RoboCop. In my mortal normal ordinary eyes, they look the same with a ridiculously blind helmet, a hard-to-move body armor and a shiny, cartoony armed vehicle. I guess they’re supposed to look badass to sell toys, but for me, they just look hot as hell. And what do they do? Dredd and RoboCop are both lawmen fighting against criminals in a “Gotham-like” city, when the technology in the future is so weird and lame and doesn’t make any sense. The way they fight is quite similar when they move slowly and rely on heavy weapons. They both love to shoot people in a brutal, violent, entertaining way, say all the cheesy lines with a serious mouth and a threatening voice. And of course, they have an uneasy past making them become who they are now. How unique!

My impression about RoboCop was bad, no no, worse, I don’t remember much about it except the feeling “Meh” and “Why?” the whole time. You might think “That clueless girl must watch the remake and thought she knows everything”. Joke on you, I watched the 1987 movie and it totally ruined my intention to watch anything related to it. Yes, it is a sci-fi action classic by putting some creative standards on the board, giving the cinema history a glorious, iconic death scene, winning some awards and was well-received by both critics and audiences, it has to be good, right? People love it, I just don’t. Well, maybe I did put high hopes in this movie and it didn’t meet my expectation, or maybe, I didn’t know anything about it so I thought it was a low budget movie with dumb plot and child-like actions. The worst thing is I just can’t remember, that’s how bad it is.

Because I thought Dredd is another RoboCop, which is no good, why should I bother to watch it anyways? I guess that night, the timing was right. I had nothing to do and just wanted to watch a brainless action that isn’t so annoyingly stupid (which is Fast and Furious franchise). And this “Dredd” comes to my mind with a slight curiosity.

Did Dredd blow my mind for being phenomenon? No, absolutely not. I had a wonderful surprise because it wasn’t RoboCop and it was entertaining, but it still not so great like all the comments said. Dredd, in deed, is underrated, but not THAT underrated.

Dredd’s plot is a rip-off of an Indonesian action movie The Raid (2011). Never heard of it? It’s your lost because The Raid is one of the best action film in this decade. I remember the time I watched The Raid, how I was amazed at all the things my neighbor country could do, how brutal and bloody and graphic and beautiful all the fight scenes were and still now, The Raid is the most stressful movies I’ve ever watched. The tension of this movie is the most unforgettable thing about it when I was literally on the edge of biting all my fingers (I had already bit all the nails). The Raid is a movie about a young cop locked up in a building full of criminals who all want him dead. Sound familiar? With my limited knowledge, I don’t know if The Raid is a rip-off of anything else, I’m just sure that Dredd is no original.

While I did feel unsatisfied when my favorite movie being copied, Dredd has its redemption when it’s a decent rip-off and still have its own things. The movie is quite special when I think about it. All the elements in Dredd are so lame, old-fashion, cheesy and wrong that I thought they will never work in any other movies. But in some magical ways of randomness and human brain, when they were combined together in Dredd, it worked and it worked well.

First, I talk about the name, the heart, the rock, the gun, the “everything” of the movie, Dredd. He is not a new type of character. You can’t open your mouth and say that you never see anyone quite like Dredd before, you just can’t. He’s everywhere and really old. But still, being an ancient character doesn’t mean it’s not great.

A lot of fan praised the movie for let Dredd put his helmet on the whole movie, which the 1995 movie Judge Dredd had failed. When it came to Sylvester Stallone, I think he’s way to expensive and ego-centered to just cover his face like that. And he isn’t talented enough to be Dredd just by using his lips, chin and voice. Well, certainly not talented like Karl Urban.

 I don’t know how important it is to have Dredd wearing a helmet, I’m sure he’s not that ugly. Maybe it’s a comic thing that have to be respected, maybe it is Dredd’s signature. Maybe, in the deep, pretentious, profound reason that I make up, putting  helmet on is the rule for all Judges (except for Anderson, apparently) to become the law. It’s just like why police have their uniforms, judges dress the same with each other so people know they are the ones who protect the law. But policemen don’t have a helmet, judges do. I can tell those policemen are different people because of their faces, I can’t do the same with the judges. In the scene with 2 judges hitting each other, my Asian eyes only saw two white men with helmets on wrestling. I believe the helmets destroy their identity as a human, Judges shouldn’t be viewed as separate individuals anymore, they should be seen as one and only one, the symbol of the law.

 Karl Urban is a wonderful choice for Dredd. You can tell what exactly what Dredd is thinking just by looking at his lip and listening to the tone of his voice. Let’s face the fact, Dredd is no Michael Corleone, he didn’t have to act subtle. Even though Dredd’s feeling is predictable and quite clear, it’s still not an easy thing to show his emotions just by a pout.

Dredd’s Batman voice is a thing that could go wrong easily. Just my humble opinion, I think the Batman voice is ridiculously lame. I know Bruce doesn’t want people to recognize him so he uses that weirdly, unnaturally deep, raspy voice to threaten criminals. I think it’s unnecessary to have a scary voice. Have you ever watched Christoph Waltz in Inglorious Basterds? Hans Landa makes people shit their pants just by his smile, his calmness, his not-so-macho voice and a rat story. I don’t know why, I was so scared of that man even though he was just sitting on his chair and changed the way he looked at his prey. See, not a cuss word, not a loud voice, not even a gun pulled out, he becomes one of greatest villains of all-times.

Dredd is not a villain, he’s a hero in a freaking comic book, so I shouldn’t ask for much. What I want to say is that it is hard to use the Batman voice correctly. Batman’s voice should be only allowed in Batman’s movies. If you do it wrong, it could be a tragic joke and totally ruin all the characters.

Now I’m about to tell you a truth that everybody knows. I don’t know if it came from comics or not, Dredd has some embarrassing, puking cheesy lines. It’s not 90’s pop ballad boy band cheesy, it’s 80’s Japanese Power Ranger cheesy. Some lines go like this:

“… Ma-Ma is not the law. I am the law…… And as for you Ma-Ma… Judgement time”

“Negotiation’s over. Sentence is death.”

Who said something like that? It’s an R-rating movie, not a cartoon. And Dredd said that with a confidence by his Batman’s voice, despite he’s no Batman and it’s not a Batman’s movie. It was like a perfect recipe for disaster. But then again, stranger than fiction, it fucking worked. Karl Urban used his voice just right. Somehow it’s not lame anymore, it’s threatening, powerful and really intimidating. He naturally showed Dredd’s strong and fearless mind and magically turns his a-five-years-old-write-this lines to decent and quite badass lines. To be fair, it’s not totally Batman’s voice, it is way easier to hear (my foreigner ass thanks Urban for that).

Not all his lines are laughable though. Some of them are quite good for showing Dredd’s personality. I enjoyed Dredd’s sharp humor when he commented on Anderson not wearing her helmet or the moment in the end of the movie. All the troubles, dangers, betrayals, dead bodies, all the hard work and injuries of this near-death experience, Dredd just sums up by 2 simple sentences: “Drug bust. Perps were uncooperative.” For him, there’s nothing special about this, nothing big enough to talk, to brag, to complain about. It is another working day for a judge, who is quite impressive.

Beside Dredd, Anderson is a memorable character that showed her potential to have her own movie.

It’s actually quite typical in movies to have a female character being a “sidekick” for the hero. Nowadays, it’s a must that all the female characters have to be beautiful, strong, independent, badass, reasonably, smart, can shoot, can hack, can drive, can fight, can lift 500 kg above her head, otherwise the whole society will rage. Well, in the old time, the bar is slightly lower. Of course, all of them were beautiful (they’re actresses after all), but they were also weak, useless, standing in the way or making a dumb choice and soon becoming a damsel in distress. The worst thing about both eras Is that most of them tend to love the hero. It’s so annoying that most of the female companions want to bone the Doctor (that’s why Donna is my favorite), all the women are so horny for Bond despite Daniel Craig’s face looking like an old grape. It was 2012 so I’m pretty sure that Anderson wasn’t the first female sidekick didn’t fall in love with the protagonist, but it was nice to see she has no intention, no googly eyes, no touching moment and no sex vibe with Dredd.

To be honest, Anderson is the most clichéd character in the whole clichéd movie. She has everything you saw before. She’s one young, hot, blond rookie who didn’t have enough points to pass the test to become an official judge. But because of her psychic abilities and her young, hot, blond beauty, she was allowed to be an apprentice judge so Dredd could be Donald Trump to tell her “You’re fired”. With an old-fashioned orphan tragic past, of course Anderson has a dream that she can change the world to a better place. But what makes Anderson memorable is that she knows people think her dream is unrealistic and childish but she believes in it and does it anyways. And not like some of the rookie sidekicks trying their best to prove themselves by screwing things up, Anderson always follows protocols and Dredd’s direction. She didn’t talk back or go alone without order, quite helpful with her abilities and able to free herself after being taken away. It’s rare to have a supporting character that doesn’t have a love interest with the lead and also isn’t annoying. The last time I check that was Mad in Mad Max 3, he was so helpful to Furiosa.

While the two judges are quite good at their job, Dredd’s villain, Ma-Ma, is a so-so evil one. Lena Headey and her famous bitch face is doing a very good job, but the script doesn’t give her any smart moves that make me impressed.

Well, Ma-Ma is an ex-hooker with a tragic past (again with a tragic past, I guess nobody is happy in this town) who became a King Pin (or Queen Pin) in her block. After seeing her “employee of the month” Kay captured by Dredd and Anderson, she’s afraid that Kay will not handle the torture and spoil all her criminal activities to the judges. So what does Ma-Ma do? She locks her building down so Dredd, Anderson and Kay couldn’t leave. Then, she’s openly telling all the criminals in her block to kill 2 fucking armed judges so no one know her dirty secret. Think about it, that is a really bold move, and of course, so dumb. Ma-ma’s name is in the system, the judges know she’s guilty of something but they let her be. Now, even if she could manage to get both Dredd and Anderson killed, I doubt that the judges will ever forgive for 2 judges missing in her building. And you know what, Ma- Ma, just tell a sniper put a bullet in Kay’s head, you can solve all your problems in 2 seconds and this movie will end in 20 minutes. Dredd may have suspicions but what could he do when his lead is gone? Don’t tell me Kay is irreplaceable.

It’s a shame that Ma-Ma is an idiot because it makes her death is not as glorious it should be. The slow motion scenes were shot beautifully, when you can feel a million thoughts are crossing Ma-Ma’s mind before hitting the ground. It’s tragic and creative in a horror way that I should give a compliment for anyone came up with this idea.

The action scenes in this movie are below average, they were there to introduce judge’s amazing guns, I guess. I didn’t feel anything special about it, sorry for being picky.

In spite of being an entertaining movie, I had no thrill while watching Dredd. It’s not like The Raid, when I worried sick about the fate of the main character, I have no concern about Dredd or Anderson. Not that I don’t care about Dredd, I do, but he looks so tough and reliable that I think he couldn’t die like that. And for Anderson, the director will never let her young, hot, blonde face get killed before achieving her dream. The fact that they make the characters so cool, so badass is hurting the movie. They aren’t vulnerable enough and way too powerful for Ma-Ma evil’s plan, therefore, predictable ending.

With a little common sense, you know Hollywood produced 2 Sex and the City, 2 Baby’s Day Out, 3 Alvin and the Chipmunks, 4 Shrek, 5 Ice Age and countless Meade’s movies, that means they aren’t ashamed to send out horrendous movies. So it a real question why we had to suffer the third Expendable movie and still have no sequel for Dredd? In the end, Dredd is no RoboCop, it is better. It’s still cliché, cheesy in a ridiculously good way and it brings a feeling of satisfaction to everyone watching it. You can’t tell the plot is stupid while watching because the action happens so fast and excitedly, and it’s quite logical in its own rules. The violent scenes are bloody but not so cartoony, not so expensive but artistically stunning and it doesn’t have an ugly dark color theme or an eye-hurting CGI.  It’s a decent action movie and deserves a sequel. Because of the great amount of comments about Dredd, I’m pretty sure this movie is no longer underrated like they said, but it should be more popular than those money-grabbing superhero movies though. Dredd proved that a good movie doesn’t need big budget, A-class stars or an adorable cat to be remarkable

Then again, there should be a Dredd’s sequel, I’ll watch it.