Star Rating:

Dredd

Director: Pete Travis

Actors: Domhnall Gleeson, Olivia Thirlby, Karl Urban

Release Date: Monday 30th November -0001

Genre(s): Fantasy

Running time: 95 minutes

Dredd has arrived with a lot of good buzz and although the feedback is saying 'Well, it's better than Stallone's'- which isn't saying much - it'll have to do for now. This Dredd is violent and takes itself seriously, which should keep the fans happy. What will disappoint them? There are few things, unfortunately.

Dredd's opening narration introduces us to the future and Mega City One - a vast metropolitan that stretches from Washington to Chicago - so I was more than a little disappointed when instead of getting lost in this maze of dark alleys and super highways, the action was condensed Raid-style to one building. This also renders Dredd's Lawmaster obsolete, but it looked a little naff anyway.

This building wherein much of the action takes place is controlled by a vicious drug clan, (headed up by the scarred Lena Headey) who are pushing a new drug called Slo-Mo. Slo-Mo slows down time to such an extent that if you were to be thrown from the top of one of the two-kilometre high Mega Blocks that dominate Mega City One's bleak skyline, the fall would seem to last for hours. Headey's psycho demonstrates this by dispatching three underlings thusly, but not before skinning them alive first. Yeah, she's a bad 'un.

So in steps Karl Urban's chin and Olivia Thirlby's helmetless Anderson - a rookie with psychic powers. They're not in the place five minutes when Headey orders Domhnall Gleeson's twitchy techie to lock down the building and again, Raid-style, calls on all occupants to take out the two judges quick smart. Chaos quickly ensues.

This Dredd is meaner. When he walks, his leather creaks and his heavy footsteps thud. Urban might not have that chin, but he's got the downturned mouth, the surliness and the one-liners. Dredd was always the logical conclusion of vigilantism: a remorseless and mean judge, jury and executioner. He's Dirty Harry with a Lawgiver instead of a .44 Magnum, dispensing 'justice' from a moving bike. Director Pete Travis (Vantage Point), working from Alex Garland's (The Beach, Sunshine) script, isn't too worried about the right wing nature of the film; the bad guys are so irredeemably bad, they justify his actions. Robert Redford wouldn't be a fan. Rather, Travis is more concerned with splattering blood from exploding heads (there are a few) and his use of close ups and garish colours not only evoke the look of the comic but also create an unsettling atmosphere.

However, there are no BIG action sequences, at least not on the scale you'd expect from a Hollywood actioner. The plot might be mirrored with The Raid, but the action doesn't measure up. Sure, there are sporadic outbursts of violence - shootouts that are over too quickly - but most of the time Dredd and Anderson skulk about looking to avoid trouble; Travis never gives the feeling that it's building to one kick-ass showdown. There's never a feeling that they're cut off or that they're on their own. The cavalry, one feels, is only a phone call away.

Roll on a sequel, but one that utilises the potential of Mega City One and gets Dredd on a chase down a super highway on a proper Lawmaster. It's not a big ask.