Superhero Media: Dredd

Man did Dredd come out of nowhere or what? Even I, who's willing to sit through anything involving superheroes and comics, missed this one at the cinema and had to rent it on DVD when it came out. It seemed everyone missed it, as it didn't make much money, even on its small budget and now we live for scraps of news of Karl Urban maybe coming back to the role for Netflix. It's strange to think that Judge Dredd (1995) actually has more references and a style closer in look to the 2000 AD comics, but is pretty poor overall, but Dredd strips a lot of it down to basics and works really well. Let's be fair, Dredd borrows a lot from Die Hard, The Raid and even Punisher War Zone, and dresses it up in Judge Dredd clothes, rather than try to adapt "The Day the Law Died" or "Mechanismo". Taking the framing of Judge Anderson's first day, Dredd and Anderson are quickly trapped in Peachtrees Block and have to fight their way to the top through the Ma-Ma clan. 

This "day-in-the-life" approach to Judge Dredd works because the dry humour and hyper-violence of the comics are retained, but the more grounded look somehow suits the tone well. The language is heavily peppered with 2000 AD references, from Iso Cubes and Resyk to Muties and Med Judges, but the background also provides lots of fun nods to the comics, like a Fatty with bellywheel and the word "drokk" spray painted everywhere. For a while, Dredd was something of a regular watch for me, as it's a tight 90 minutes and can be very satisfying when a good bit of action is needed. However, the more I watch Dredd, the more I notice just how cheap the film is. Much of the foreground costuming and props are excellent, but all of the cars, costumes for extras and misc-en-scene look scavenged from the studio and mates' garages. Little things like a couple of the one-line extras being a bit crap, or odd wigs on actors to hide the fact they die more than once or the same corridor looking like the same corridor no matter how they vary the lighting. 

I'm a bit torn on seeing more of the Dredd universe. On one hand, more of Dredd would provide a chance to explore some deeper elements of the setting, like the Cursed Earth, Muties or the East Megs, but it could just as easily be even cheaper and more generic. Dredd seems destined to be something of a cult classic, with fans lamenting that it never went further, and I don't think that's a bad thing to be. Much like with Mystery Men, having more would be nice, in theory, but being a stand-alone film, rather than a franchise, has its own merit. Part of me is just a little too cynical to not picture a potential Netflix series having too many episodes and too tight a budget to really be allowed to shine. For now, Dredd is a treat, flaws and all and I would be up for Urban donning the helmet again, if the circumstances were right. Mega City One and the rest of Judge Dredd's Earth, as well as the other wonderful stories from 2000 AD are ripe for adaptation with the right team and it would be a shame for the trend to end here.