Dredd (18) 96 mins ***
Here’s a
turn-up for the comic books. On paper, and even in trailer form, a 3D reboot of
2000AD’s hardnut perennial looked far
from promising – this despite the fact it only had to better 1995’s Sly
Stallone vehicle, source of countless “Dredd-ful” headlines, to seem
worthwhile. Rather than rehashing multiple strands of character mythology,
screenwriter Alex Garland and director Pete Travis keep their adaptation appreciably
simple. Here, we spend one day in Mega City One, watching the aftermath of a
bloody triple murder playing out in a tower block put on lockdown when ruthless
drug-pusher Lena Headey decides she’s had enough of the law sticking their
helmets into her business.
What
follows is something like The Raid
redux, as Dredd (Karl Urban’s nose and chin, skilfully suggesting an entire
character) attempts to escort a witness from the building, aided by Olivia
Thirlby’s ultra-empathetic probie, and hindered by Headey’s many minions. The
96 minutes of agreeably pulpy, shrewdly paced action that follow are further
elevated by the dabs of slo-mo beauty cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle lends
to the mounting carnage. Too grungy to count as an unqualified blast, perhaps,
it’s nevertheless a very sound franchise-builder, sketching a universe where
stories and crimes remain to be investigated. For once, sequels would seem
necessary, even welcome.
Dredd opens nationwide today.
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