Anti-Hero Week: Dredd

Hello all and welcome to Day 4 of Anti-Hero Week.  Today we view a man of the law in a hostile environment.   The Atomic Wars of 2070 causing the United States to be made a radioactive wasteland.  With only three Mega Cities left in the country but the lands outside of them is now known as Cursed Earth, a radiated infested badlands filled with hideous mutations forbidden to live in the cities.  With populations in the excess of 800 million people tallying 17,000 crimes daily, a new police force is created.  The Street Judges act as judge, jury and executioner.  This is Dredd.

That kid is on the escalator again!

Judge Dredd: I was wondering when you'd remember you forget your helmet.
Anderson: Sir, a spoiler can interfere with my psychic abilities.
Judge Dredd: Think a bullet in the head might interfere with them more.


A highly addictive drug called "Slo-Mo" has been on the scene altering the user's perceptions of time to 1% the norm causing...  bad things to happen.  I guess any rate.  The Judges are in full swing to break the back of this drug peddling when Dredd (Karl Urban of Xena: Princess Warrior, Ghost Ship, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Chronicles of Riddick, Doom, Star Trek, RED, Star Trek Into Darkness and Almost Human) is informed by Chief Justice (Rakie Ayola of Scarlett, Waking the Dead, EastEnders, Being April, Sahara and Doctor Who) that he is breaking in and evaluating a new recruit to the Judges, Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby of Juno, The Secret, The Answer Man, Uncertainty and No Strings Attached).    Three rival drug dealers caught dealing on Ma Ma's turf. Ma Ma (Lena Headey of Band of Gold, Merlin, Gossip, Laid to Rest, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, 300 and The Purge) has her boys skinned and doped up on Slo Mo, then hurled to the ground from the top floor.

I feel pretty... psycho!

Dredd backed up by Anderson are sent in to investigate and arrest if possible.  After a little observation the pair are soon hip to a drug den in the works which they hit hard in a two person raid, grabbing a thug name of Kay (Wood Harris of Committed, Remember the Titans, The Gold Cup, Joy Road, Dirty, Southland Tales and The Wire).  With a quick mind probe Anderson learns that that Kay does Ma Ma's executions and grunt work.  Dredd goes to take Kay in for a more detailed line of questioning but Ma Ma, wired into the surveillance of the building initiates a lock down procedure sealing the building from the outside,  Its blast shields completely cut our judges off from the outside.

With no help in sight our two judges have to rely on each other to see it through to the next day with limited resources, no back up and less than sympathetic civilians caught in the middle.   Will they make it and end up bloody and strewn all over the tower's floor?

Quick couple of comments about the film now.  To keep true to the comic book character, Urban stated he would not remove the helmet and emote purely by tone of voice and scowl.  Urban also insisted on riding the Lawmaster motorcycle himself.   The graffiti tagging through the Peach Trees complex is the names of two characters from the comic called Chopper and Kenny Who?   Our total run time of the movie is 96 minutes which is the exact same amount of minutes Judge Dredd tallied at.   Finally our balance of fictitious body count rounds out to 102.    Man, sounds like an entire suburb open for new occupancy.

Had to hide behind the barrels of midgets, dammit!