Dredd 3D

It was a real privilege to be present at a very early Dredd 3D screening at Soho Hotel last Thursday, hosted by 2000AD. About a hundred or so very lucky fans crammed into the small screening room and watched the film in the presence of Dredd co-creators John Wagner & Carlos Ezquerra. Support actor Domhnall Gleeson was also hiding somewhere in the corner of the room, and following a brief intro by writer/producer Alex Garland and Judge Dredd actor himself Karl Urban, the film got under way.

In this new adaptation of the iconic comic book (thankfully unrelated to Stallone's '95 film), legendary Judge Dredd (played by long-term Dredd fan Karl Urban) is given the task of evaluating Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie cop with powerful psychic abilities. When they answer a call to investigate a gruesome triple murder at a 200-storey vertical slum, they stumble upon a ruthless drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her gang. Trapped in the tower and low on ammo, they must battle against the odds to survive and bring the criminals to justice.

Combining the oppressive vibe and claustrophobic tower block setting of The Raid, with dystopian crime-ridden metropolis of Escape From New York and Robocop, along with a dark foreboding Terminator-style score, this is a gritty, brutal and fast-paced Sci-Fi thriller that ticks all the boxes. It's super-violent and unapologetically old-school, and I loved every minute of it.

Made on a modest budget, it's a beautifully shot film with stunning action scenes, vertigo-inducing high above ground shots and excellent use of 3D and special effects (watch out for bullets ripping through flesh in slow-motion). The violence is relentless but not that shocking (I've seen much worse 18 cert. films!), and although the plot is fairly light, Dredd-heads out there should be satisfied. A definite must-see!

Karl Urban (Dr. Bones McCoy in Star Trek XI) perfectly captures Judge Dredd with the grizzled cold-blooded grimace, husky voice and the sarcastic humour. He keeps his helmet on and delivers those crushing one-liners in style, channelling Snake Plisken and Dirty Harry. Olivia Thirlby is also very good as Judge Anderson, an academic failure but youthfully optimistic and determined to make a difference, a positive change in the world. Lena Headey's horribly scarred ex-prostitute drug lord Ma-Ma makes for a suitably menacing villain, with good support from Domhnall Gleeson as her terrified tech wizz-kid assistant.

Should this first instalment prove to be successful, there is certainly plenty of material to inspire further films or even a TV series. I certainly hope so.

UK release date: 7th September 2012