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

[Lonemagpie]

Rico could work if, you know, he actually looks like his fellow clone this time...

Personally, other than Death and the other Dark Judges, I'd go with Cal or the Judda. or maybe Orlok.

 

[Reverend]

Sov Judges. he's always getting involved in conflicts with the Sovs...

Until he nuked them all, anyway. I freely admit, I'm no expert on Dredd, but I'm not aware of any significant recurring Sov Judge characters.

Rico could work if, you know, he actually looks like his fellow clone this time...

Personally, other than Death and the other Dark Judges, I'd go with Cal or the Judda. or maybe Orlok.

I suppose he could but lets be honest; was he ever really that much of an interesting character? I mean besides being a fellow Fargo clone who went corrupt and homicidal, what can we really say about him? When you get right down to it he's a fairly unimaginative attempt at an "anti-Dredd" arch nemesis. Death filled that role far better. Indeed, I think they've gotten more mileage out of Rico's daughter as a sympathetic character than they ever got out of Rico himself as an antagonist. How many times did he even appear anyway? Two or three times before Dredd put him down for good?

If it were up to me I'd rather they keep to a similar vein as this upcoming film. That is just Dredd being a Judge, with Megacity One as his perpetual antagonist/love interest. The danger with going with characters like Death is that the films might suffer from the Batman movie syndrome where the whole film is about the villain more than the (anti) hero. You don't really have to explain where characters like Ma-ma or P.J. Maybe come from because they're just like any other lawbreaking creep...a little bit more psychotic than the average citizen (or more sane, it's hard to tell) but you don't need to spend 40 minutes setting up that they got dumped in a vat of acid, joined the circus or got turned into a crazy sand monster after being mistaken for a pigeon.

To me, that story from a few years back where Dredd got busted down and assigned to the *worst* sector house in the Meg would be a far more interesting basis for a film than an attempt at doing an origin story, or even a cursed earth/long walk adaptation. It'd be like 'The Dirty Dozen' meets 'Assault on Precinct 13'. A large ensemble cast of misfits, plenty of interpersonal conflict interspersed with a lot of Judging.

 

[Skywalker]

Rico could work if, you know, he actually looks like his fellow clone this time...

I've never read 2000 A.D. Does Rico leave his helmet on all the time like Dredd, or does he take it off more often? If it's the latter, I imagine Karl Urban could probably play both Dredd and Rico.

 

[Reverend]

IIRC Rico only ever appeared once in the flesh (all the other times were flashbacks) and Dredd promptly kills him. By that point he'd been on Titan for a few decades where the prisoners are given some heavy cybernetic alterations (see for yourself.) So pretty much anyone with the same build could play Rico.

I think they generally kept the true appearance of Fargo and those other clones (there's at least another two as I recall) hidden too. It's all an extension of keeping Dredd's face hidden.

 

[Lonemagpie]

IIRC Rico only ever appeared once in the flesh (all the other times were flashbacks) and Dredd promptly kills him. By that point he'd been on Titan for a few decades where the prisoners are given some heavy cybernetic alterations (see for yourself.) So pretty much anyone with the same build could play Rico.

I think they generally kept the true appearance of Fargo and those other clones (there's at least another two as I recall) hidden too. It's all an extension of keeping Dredd's face hidden.

There's actually been one panel showing Fargo's - and, by extension, Dredd's - face, which was printed several months before they actually decided that Dredd and Rico were cloned from him. You can see it on his wikipedia page.

 

[Reverend]

^Hence my use of the word "generally".

I think it's safe to say a lot of details from earlier strips have been retconed. Indeed, wasn't that whole 'Origins' epic meant (in part at least) to straighten out all of the continuity errors and contradictions that had crept in over the years?

 

[Lonemagpie]

It was, but until they show that face again and have someone say "that looks nothing like Fargo" then...

 

[Lonemagpie]

Funnily enough I dreamed I was watching or in the Dredd movie last night, and was mightily surprised when it turned into a Game Of Thrones crossover... (no doubt due to Lena Headey being in it)

 

[Admiral_Young]

Brendon Connelly of Bleeding Cool saw "Dredd" last night, I guess they're doing a press screening at SDCC. Sounds like he wasn't too enthused by it, but what he describes is pretty much the leaked script so I remain excited.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07...d-last-night-and-i-want-to-tell-you-about-it/

 

[SalvorHardin]

Another review at io9

http://io9.com/5925364/dredd-is-a-brutal-action-flick-with-both-a-high-body-count-and-a-brain

 

[Captain Craig]

^^^
My work firewall filters don't like iO9, have to check that out at home.

Brendon Connelly of Bleeding Cool saw "Dredd" last night, I guess they're doing a press screening at SDCC. Sounds like he wasn't too enthused by it, but what he describes is pretty much the leaked script so I remain excited.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/07...d-last-night-and-i-want-to-tell-you-about-it/

This little snipet about sums up my expectations for the film. So if it can live up to that I'll be fine. I'm treating this as a guilty pleasure film along the lines of Resident Evil or Underworld. I just want a decent enough plot to move me along and show some cool moments. I'm not a Dredd expert.

Don’t worry too much about the plot though, because the pleasures of Dredd aren’t those of a ripping good yarn. With the exception of several smart manoeuvres around Anderson’s mutant psychic powers, and where that get us, the film is more concerned with tone, a sense of place, and carving out a portrayal of Dred himself.

 

[JD]

Daniel Krupa from IGN saw it, and gave it a good review.
The last paragraph from the review:

In many ways, Dredd feels like an action film from a simpler time, like Assault on Precinct 13 or Escape From New York. It doesn’t break the bank with escalating set-pieces, to the point where the character is lost amidst the explosions. Dredd is a character study, primarily, one fuelled by violence and action, and we can’t think of a better way to re-introduce this character to cinema audiences.

 

[Beagleman]

These reviews make it sound much better than I expected, call me excited.

 

[Admiral_Young]

"Dredd" 3D Red Band clip.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=92422

 

[captcalhoun]

meh.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

What's with all this slo-mo BS? At this point, it just looks hokey and overused.

What I want from Dredd is a big-budget re-creation of its whole milieu in all its insane mashed-up glory. With the low budget, that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

The last thing I want is a "character study." He's just an iteration of a Clint Eastwood character, he's not supposed to be studied! He's not a real person, he's a pop culture cliche, which can be a good thing as long as he's used for zany fun. But taking him seriously? Ech!

At this point, this is a maybe rental, if that.

 

[Reverend]

Yeah, it' pretty clear the slo-mo gimmick is something put into the script specifically to take advantage of it being shot in 3D (I mean the name is a bit of a give-away, no?) Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if that played a part in getting the suits to greenlight the film. If so then I think a slightly overused trope is a small price to pay to get a faithful portrayal of Dredd up on the silver screen.

In it's defence, you'll notice that when the slo-mo kicks in it's not just a slow motion effect; the colour saturation gets cranked way the hell up too. In context it should give one massively effective contrast to the rest of the film's grim and gritty realism...which I'm sure was also intentional.

 

[JarodRussell]

The slowmotion and color contrast is the effect of the drug they bad guys just took.

 

[sojourner]

I have to give the slow motion bit some credit. I don't think I've ever seen it used for gore like that before. The helmet still looks 3 sizes too big.

 

[Lonemagpie]

I have to give the slow motion bit some credit. I don't think I've ever seen it used for gore like that before. The helmet still looks 3 sizes too big.

the helmet is fine - it's Urban's chin that just isn't up to the job...