Dredd (2012)

In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.

Director:

Pete Travis

Writers:

John Wagner (characters), Carlos Ezquerra (characters),

Stars:

Karl Urban, Rachel Wood, Olivia Thirlby

2 wins & 8 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Karl Urban	...	Judge Dredd
Rachel Wood	...	Control Operator 1
Andile Mngadi	...	Passenger
Porteus Xandau	...	Driver
Jason Cope	...	Zwirner
Emma Breschi	...	Hostage
Olivia Thirlby	...	Anderson
Rakie Ayola	...	Chief Judge
Lena Headey	...	Ma-Ma
Tamer Burjaq	...	Ma-Ma Bodyguard
Warrick Grier	...	Caleb
Wood Harris	...	Kay
Shoki Mokgapa	...	Woman with Child
Yohan Chun	...	Girl in Window
Eden Knowles	...	Girl in Window

Storyline

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One - a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge - a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of "Slo-Mo" experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed. During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson, a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture - a 200 storey vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan's inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound's ...

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Plot Keywords:

judge | drugs | jury | rookie | executioner | 

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Taglines:

Judgment is coming

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Genres:

Action | Sci-Fi

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong bloody violence, language, drug use and some sexual content

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

UK USA India South Africa

Language:

English

Release Date:

21 September 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Dredd 3D

Filming Locations:

Cape Town Film Studios, Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa

Box Office

Budget:

$35,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$6,278,491 (USA) (21 September 2012)

Gross:

$13,401,683 (USA) (26 October 2012)

Company Credits

Production Co:

DNA Films, IM Global, Peach Trees

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (3D Stereoscopic)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The large building with shutters over its sides that Dredd drives past in the initial chase, is John Vorster Square police station. It is the station where the political activist Steve Biko died during police interrogation in 1977 and the shutters are bullet traps to stop terrorist attacks. The Hall of Justice is actually the inside of the main campus for The University of Johannesburg - the old Rand Afrikaans University campus. Its massive Concrete Hallways are notoriously cold during wintertime.

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Goofs

When Dredd throws Kay across the room, he rolls over a desk and his arms come apart even though he is handcuffed.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Judge Dredd: America is an irradiated wasteland. Within it lies a city. Outside the boundary walls, a desert. A cursed earth. Inside the walls, a cursed city, stretching from Boston to Washington D.C. An unbroken concrete landscape. 800 million people living in the ruin of the old world and the mega structures of the new one. Mega blocks. Mega highways. Mega City One. Convulsing. Choking. Breaking under its own weight. Citizens in fear of the street. The gun. The gang. Only one thing fighting ...

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Connections

Referenced in Special Collector's Edition: La carrera del siglo (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Poison Lips"
Performed by Vitalic
Courtesy of Citizen Records/
Different Recordings
Published by Strictly Confidential

User Reviews

Perfect Dredd

I'm a huge fan of the comic 2000AD and the character Judge Dredd since 1979, and this film completely satisfied me. They changed all the right things and kept all the right things. Director Pete Travis tackled the problem of filming a comic book by making something that looks nothing like a comic book and more like an action movie shot on location, with a simple linear plot that keeps rolling and never slows down.

Megacity 1 is made markedly less futuristic than the comic in order to become so believable that it is hard to tell where the real slums of Cape Town end and the CGI kilometre high city blocks start. I have an uncomfortable feeling that in less than a hundred years cities like this may actually exist.

The comic Judge's uniform works on paper but can't in real life - giant golden eagles, shoulder pads and bronze name badges hanging off a leather one-piece body suit would sag, wobble and look daft. The movie gives us body armour that looks like it actually gets used whilst keeping the helmet exactly the same. The effect is striking and believable, like everything else in this film.

The plot revolves around a drug which makes time seem to slow down a hundred times, the perfect excuse for scenes of ultra slo-mo explosive bloody (and beautiful) anatomically correct violence that earn this film its 18 rating. Not a kid's movie at all. Every supporting actor looks like they came out of a gang documentary, scarred, nasty, sweaty and mean. Lena Headey totally kicks ass as the ruthless gang lord Ma Ma, calmly relishing the deaths of her enemies, eyes sledging from narcotic addiction.

In a way this is Olivia Thirlby's movie, since she gets the character arc, rookie judge Cassandra Anderson assigned to Dredd for evaluation and finding herself on a very steep learning curve. She is vulnerable, spikey and tough as called for, vital to the movie in order to balance Dredd.

How do you play Dredd? He is the opposite of a character. He has no personal arc, never changes or grows. He has no sense of humour, the comic finds that by placing utterly deadpan 'ol stony- face in ironic situations that reflect off him. And where do you find an actor prepared to wear a helmet obscuring everything but his mouth and chin for the whole 95 minutes? Karl Urban must be a huge fan himself to play the part so right. One reviewer described his performance as "ego-free" and it is. I didn't see Urban anywhere in this movie, all I saw was Dredd.

Me and Dredd-heads everywhere thank you Karl. You smashed it.