Judge Dredd (2012)

[DraconianOne]

A new Judge Dredd film is in pre-production and scheduled to start shooting soon. Pete Travis (Vantage Point and some TV stuff) is directing a screenplay by Alex Garland (Sunshine, 28 Days Later) and Karl Urban has apparently been cast as Old Stoney Face. Budget is reckoned to be in the region of $50 million.

I've read an undated version of the screenplay which appears to be closer to a shooting script and is definitely not a first draft. My (spoilered) thoughts:

[Bunk]

Well hey, after the first attempt, there is no where to go but up.

The description there sounds like it fits with the theme a little better at least. Judge Dredd was not supposed to be comedy, and does not require Rob Schneider. If there is anything comedic to do with Dredd, it should come from the fact that the Dredd comics were always an exageration (or even borderline satire) of current politics and culture.

Oh, and Judge Fish of course.

Very glad they chose to go with Anderson this time - she was always the best "sidekick".

[Sir T]

There was nothing borderline about its satire. It was full blown satire and some of the more classic Dread stories WERE satire. The Fatties. the Uglies, hell there was one great story where Dredd chased this guy halfway around Mega City one for littering.

Hell the Irish judges were fucking cool. And that story of a terrorist group who had figured out how to make "spud guns," guns that fired bits of potatoes at people. I literally laughed my head off at that one  

And then there was the one that Had some Mexicans trying to break into Dredds house, Dredd is there having a bath (still wearing his helmet) and watching them on CCTV footage. Hello?

Ignoring the satire and making it yet another violence flick will remove a lot of the charm and appeal of the strip. Dredd was a caricature in a caricature, and it was the sheer bouncing of Dredd hardheadedness off the insanity of the world he was in that provided a lot of the humour and appeal of the character. Without that, he's just another asshole cop.

[Bunk]

Ok, you make a fair point. Satire was obviously an import part of it. The problem is, the first movie jumped past satire and went straight to Rob Schneider slapstick. That needs to be avoided.

It's tough to blend a dark action movie and an intelligent satirical comedy in to one movie - without it ending up being lousy camp.

[Sir T]

Yeah, I agree, it would be tough to do, and the comic has has the advantage of a long time and several writers to build up its world.

If I was asked (and I'm not) I'd have them concider doing the Chopper Skysurfing story for at least part of the movie. That's a good, self contained Dredd story that would have the potential of some spectacular action racing scenes, Dredd doing his job no matter what and would introduce you to the world at large. And you could wrap it inside the first half if you wanted to do something else.

[DraconianOne]

I don't think they could do the Chopper story this early on (assuming you're talking about the time that he returns from the Radback to race in MC2) - you need to set up the world and the characters first. Also, Chopper would be the main protagonist in the story rather than Dredd. I say this as someone who would dearly, dearly love to see that particular story as a movie.

There's a high risk that Dredd will come off as another asshole cop in this although there's absolutely no doubt that he is an total badass. He's a very, very difficult character to make sympathetic, especially to a cinema-going audience who may only be familiar with him as a character in an old Stallone movie.

What does give me hope that this will be watchable and do the IP a good service is a) Alex Garland knows his stuff and is a 2000AD fan, b) the movie is being funded outside of the studio system  and c) Karl Urban is not Stallone and does not necessarily require "face" time in his movies (see Bourne Supremacy where he didn't speak English though the entire movie). I'm not sold on him being right for Dredd but there are worse options.

[DraconianOne]

Tangenitally related, a quote from Duncan Jones about the Judge Dredd movie:

I would have loved to do the Judge Dredd movie that is underway. I was in fact sent the script to look at. Its a great script, and I hope I will not rue the decision of passing on it. Thing was, I had such a strong idea of what I wanted to do with a Dredd movie, I could not bring myself to take it on and not do it my way! … and its not like I could do it as a sequel either; my Dredd would have been really weird, and dark and funny, but not your traditional introduction to a hero character. I dont even know if I could have made my version of the film pitch-able. It was maybe too off the wall.

[DraconianOne]

First shot of Karl Urban as Dredd



Jury's out but, personally, initial feeling is a little underwhelmed. Lawgiver looks fine and helmet design is spot on, albeit looks too big.  But... where's the chin, man?

[Ironwood]

Fucked up the shoulders again.

Why ?

Hell, First one was closer.

Agreed about the helm though;  Picture perfect.  The lawgiver's gone through so many different versions, that one's more like the Game one that was based on, er, Esquerra's Design, I think.  For me, the lawgiver will always be the Iconic Boland design.

Shoulders.  WHY ?

[Muffled]

I can cut him some slack for not being a comic book character and thus having to follow physical laws re: chin size and the possibility of moving around without looking like a fool in giant shoulderpads.

[Ironwood]

I agree and I'm just fanboi nitpicking.

For my vote, I think no matter how enjoyable a film it is, it's unlikely to capture Mega City One.  The whole Dredd Strip was always about the city and the pressures of the people living atop each other in a fascist state.

I don't really think any film will manage that.

(but, hey, I liked the first one !)

[DraconianOne]

I can cut him some slack for not being a comic book character and thus having to follow physical laws re: chin size...

Clancy Brown for Judge Dredd.



Comes with chin.

[Bunk]

Well, I'm still excited, so that's good.

IMDB lists some of the other characters, including Anderson (Olivia Thirlby). Can't say I remember a Judge Lex character from the comics, so I assume they are going with a mainly original story?

[Merusk]

Fucked up the shoulders again.
...
Shoulders.  WHY ?

Aren't you one of the lot usually bitching about WoW's shoulder pads?

[Ratman_tf]

Well hey, after the first attempt, there is no where to go but up.

I liked the Stallone version, but I never read the comics, and didn't have any expectations on that end.

[Sir T]

Stallone was actually a pretty good Dredd until he took the helmet off.

That Dredd is pretty underwhelming to me.

[Lakov_Sanite]

Can't wait to see if they have a three shells joke in this remake.

[Ratman_tf]

Can't wait to see if they have a three shells joke in this remake.

Demolition Man.

[UnSub]

The inclusion of Psi Judge Anderson raises alarm bells for me. I smell romantic interest.

Also, I wonder which Karl Urban will show up for 'Judge Dredd': awesome actor Karl Urban or human statue Karl Urban.

[DraconianOne]

The inclusion of Psi Judge Anderson raises alarm bells for me. I smell romantic interest.

There isn't.

[WindupAtheist]

Can't wait to see if they have a three shells joke in this remake.

So much fail.

[Azazel]

The inclusion of Psi Judge Anderson raises alarm bells for me. I smell romantic interest.

Also, I wonder which Karl Urban will show up for 'Judge Dredd': awesome actor Karl Urban or human statue Karl Urban.

I think Dredd really requires Human Statue KU.

[Ironwood]

Fucked up the shoulders again.
...
Shoulders.  WHY ?

Aren't you one of the lot usually bitching about WoW's shoulder pads?

Um...No ?

[Merusk]

Hm, carry on then.  I thought you were and it was ironic to see you asking for larger shoulders here.

So long as this movie doesn't have Rob Schneider trying to channel Malak in it, it will be worlds better than the first.

[Ironwood]

The Dredd shoulders weren't overly large though;  they just had this RIGHT look about them.



For example.

Not too big, but bigger than shown and, you know, some protection.

[Merusk]

The left I'll agree with (Depending on the artist.)  The right, however... it's still a gigantic metal eagle stuck onto the side of his body.

[Amarr HM]

Fucking shoulder pads are naff & agreed chin isn't prominent enough.

There are so many different variations of Dredd but I reckon this one would have translated the best



There was a lot of stories that had satire but it Dredd himself rarely if never camped it up.

[Bunk]

The inclusion of Psi Judge Anderson raises alarm bells for me. I smell romantic interest.

One of the consistent points in the comic has always been that there is no romantic interest around Dredd. There's like one story line about someone falling for him, which he ignores. With Anderson, throughout the whole comic series, it's considered huge when Dredd actually admits that he considers her his friend.

So if they are sticking to the heart of the comic (which they claim) I would expect we'll get a little bit of coy flirting - with absolutely no response.

[Ironwood]

Aye.  Bear in mind that the comics made it clear that the strain that the Psi Judges feel allows them quite significant leeway in the way they're 'allowed' to behave as Judges.  The issue where Cass and her friend went boogying in skimpy outfits I remember quite clearly.  I think Will Simpson was the artist.  He's a boy that knows his way around a pair of tits.

[Ingmar]

The inclusion of Psi Judge Anderson raises alarm bells for me. I smell romantic interest.

One of the consistent points in the comic has always been that there is no romantic interest around Dredd. There's like one story line about someone falling for him, which he ignores. With Anderson, throughout the whole comic series, it's considered huge when Dredd actually admits that he considers her his friend.

So if they are sticking to the heart of the comic (which they claim) I would expect we'll get a little bit of coy flirting - with absolutely no response.

Kind of like how one of the core features of The Avengers was that Mrs. Peel and Steed scrupulously never went beyond harmless flirting, right?

Just sayin'.

[Amarr HM]

You can't water down Dredd because particular writers were given free license for an episode or two, even if they were particulary favourable and memorable. I remember there was even an episode where he started to be nice to perpetrators after banging his head, but it's not contextual and damn after 1500 episodes I doubt if every single one was true to the essence of the character. The real Dredd always came out for the epic storylines Judge Child, Damned City, Oz etc. basically a futuristic Dirty Harry, I know cliche but that's what he was, at times you even hated him. The only other absolute consistent thing about Dredd was that you never saw his face. It would be almost better if they didn't credit an actor for him, although I know far-fetched.

[Pennilenko]

Someone open a window, it's so nerdy in here you could cut it with a knife.

This movie will be awesome if there is a lot of explosions and people die in many violent ways. It wont even need dialog, seriously.

[schild]

Judge Dredd just sucks. In every form, it'll always suck. I don't even know why it ever got made into a movie the first time around.

[Amarr HM]

Dredd is definitely not the best strip to come out of 2000ad but every so often a good story arc  would appear. Last good one I remember wad Oz, Jamie Hewlitt did the artwork and that was mindblowing for the 80s.

[Amarr HM]

I forgot I wasn't in the Comics subsection