The Law Returns. This Time With His Helmet On! Judge Dredd!

[Reverend]

I liked Stallone's Dredd.

Me too. I liked that whole film, in fact. I hope it gets a decent DVD release someday.

I rather liked it too and as a film on it's own merits, it was OK. But that's all.
As an adaptation of Judge Dredd on the other hand, it was pretty damn poor and not because he took off the helmet or any nonsense like that (though it hardly helped) but as I've said before it was just a Stallone vehicle that bore only a paltry resemblance to the source material.

I would be interested in a decent DVD release though as I gather there was quite a lot left on the cutting room floor, some of it quite noticeably absent. The fight with the partially grown clones near the end for example; you see them hatch and then it just cuts away.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Stallone gave an interview recently...or maybe it was a few months ago where he talked about "Judge Dredd" and stated some of the things he regretted from the movie. It was pretty interesting and he seemed like he understood the criticisms the fans had from it.

 

[Nerdius Maximus]

I AM THE LAW!
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rVFi6qkPHE[/yt]

 

[Starkers]

Hmm, unsure. Like the oned down colour pallete, but I always envisaged MC1 as very bright and lurid, hopefully the film won't be too dark and gritty (that said getting Dredd's world as a curious mix of the ridiculous and the horrific would be a tricky balancing act--organ legger and Simps don't neccesarily go togeather.)

Glad to hear its a test shot, less worried about the stubble than the somewhat oversized helmet!

Lonemagpie, I always assumed Grud was futre slang for God. Drokk was Fuck and Stomm shit! I'm sure someone was once arrested for Drokking in public...

Can't wait to see Urban in character properly, and to hear his Dredd growl. Also can't wait to see Anderson in her outfit!!!!

 

[Reverend]

Mega City One's colourfulness really depends on who's drawing, who's colouring it and what story they happen to be telling at the time. Still, the pallet on a comic book strip is often meant to convey more of a sense of mood rather than the literal colours of the world, especially if the artist has a limit to what he can work with.

With that in mind I've always seen MC1 as a contrast between the lower street and sub-level dilapidation/warzone/toxic waste dump and the much cleaner and more decidant upper levels. This movie from what I gather takes place almost entierly within a single dive of a bloc, so I fully expect it to be dark, dirty and defiantly gritty.
I'm hoping for a similar feel (in terms of production design) as Children of Men, which quite effectively showed an advanced society in a perpetual state of decay.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Stallone gave an interview recently...or maybe it was a few months ago where he talked about "Judge Dredd" and stated some of the things he regretted from the movie. It was pretty interesting and he seemed like he understood the criticisms the fans had from it.

Indeed, Stallone on Dredd, from Digitalspy;

"I thought that could have been a fantastic, nihilistic, interesting vision of the future - judge, jury and executioner. That [film] really bothered me a great deal"

And Stallone from the Wiki article on the film;

"I do look back on Judge Dredd as a real missed opportunity. It seemed that lots of fans had a problem with Dredd removing his helmet, because he never does in the comic books. But for me it is more about wasting such great potential there was in that idea; just think of all the opportunities there were to do interesting stuff with the Cursed Earth scenes. It didn't live up to what it could have been. It probably should have been much more comic, really humorous, and fun"

Another point of view on filming Dredd;

In a way, the best big screen incarnation of Dredd so far has been 1987’s RoboCop. Paul Verhoeven took a lot of elements of the Dredd character, as well as his Mega City environment, and brought it to the screen in hard R-rated fashion. The satire, the violence, and ruthlessness of the lead character delivered a film that was more like Dredd than Danny Cannon’s lacklustre effort.

An article in either the Megazine or 2000AD said similar. That Robocop was so similar to the Megacity universe put some people off the idea of a Dredd film, IIRC in case it was seen as a rip off, or just paled in comparison.

As for the new picture, Urban looks pretty good as Dredd, I assume they'll shrink the helmet given that his chin isn't as awesome as either Dredd's or Stallone's

 

[Admiral_Young]

They will probably do a custom made helmet for Karl's head when they start filming. As was mentioned that was a test helmet.

 

[Captain Craig]

Probably, but the helment in the comics is a bit exaggerated on his head also.

 

[Admiral_Young]

I'm really excited for this!! The next two years are going to be jam packed with potentially awesome and epic films.

 

[Starkers]

Probably, but the helment in the comics is a bit exaggerated on his head also.

Depends on the artist, some are sillier looking than others!

 

[Skellington]

Depends on the artist, some are sillier looking than others!

Writers can be silly-looking too.

 

[The Squire of Gothos]

Some (tentative) first glimpses of Megacity One itself.

 

[Admiral_Young]

Very cool.

 

[Reverend]

Well to be more accurate that's just bits of Peach Trees Bloc, not the city itself. It's about what I expected though (a block of council flats on steroids) so everything is looking good so far.

 

[Starkers]

Depends on the artist, some are sillier looking than others!

Writers can be silly-looking too.

Ha! that'll teach me to post in haste.

As for the pics, as SFX pointed out, the sets will no doubt be jazzed up a bit before shotting starts proper (or enhanced after the fact)

One of the bits of the Stallone film that I really liked was the opening vista of MC1, and I really hope this film gives us a good idea of the scope of the city, even if its mostly inside one citi block (and I hope the block is more than just a tower block, it should be a literal city in itself)

 

[Admiral_Young]

Peach Trees is pretty much how Reverend described except in a futuristic decayed sense.

 

[Reverend]

If I recall there is a market at street level (if there is such a thing as street level) and a few other communal or commercial areas but yeah, for the most part it's going to be dilapidated squalor decorated with Bloc War proof re-enforced concrete. If anyone thinks that sounds too drab, go and watch District 9 or Children of Men.

 

[Captaindemotion]

More set pics, including a look at some vehicles.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/12/06/more-shots-from-the-judge-dredd-set/

 

[Starkers]

Not very 22nd century are they? I hope the Lawmaster looks better. At the moment justice dept looks more like the police from Escape from New York than MC1.

 

[Lonemagpie]

SUVs? WTF? Where are the H Wagons and other Justice Dept flying vehicles?