Judge Dreddful

Upon it's original release in 1995, media students at my local university made a request at my neighbourhood video store for peoples opinions on the new Judge Dredd movie. Being a long time fan of the comic strip, emanating from the pages of the British Science Fiction weekly publication 2000AD, I duly obliged. Very much so, in fact, as I informed them that this adaptation sucked.

There are two astounding problems with the film. The first fault is down to director Danny Cannon who totally botches the tone. Instead of the serious action thriller, with large helpings of satirical black humour, Cannon interprets this as a kids comic book; over the top and brash...if Americas made pantomimes..this is what it would be like. No subtlety, no wit, no intelligence just LOUD, BRIGHT and DUMB! Most of the performances are hammy at best (Rob Schneider is just obnoxious and Stallone should be ashamed for such a large caricature of a performance) while the score, although gloriously composed by Alan Silvestri*, is woefully misjudged for this particular movie and bombastically headache inducing. What's even odder is that although it largely plays like a young kids comic book, it's also Rated R, meaning it's laced with profanity and uber-violence. Which is all very nice but it underlines that Cannon had no idea how to adapt this material. Rather than use RocoCop or Stallone's own demolition man as a template for hard hitting satirical social comentary in a near future science fiction city environment, the screen writers take the Commando route with direct to DVD style dialogue, corny one liners and unintentionally hilarious posturing.

The other big problem is that while the screen writers took great care to adhere to Dredd's comic book mythology, it deviates on the one plot point which undermines the whole of the material; Dredd takes his helmet off. Now this may be down to the weak director, pushy studio executives who don't have a clue or a vain, egotistical movie star who wants to show off his ugly mug. Either way, removing Dredd's helmet destroys the iconic enigma of the character and humanises him in a way that utterly destroys what makes Dredd, Dredd.

But it's no all bad. The story is faithful to the comics using references to Dredd's origin, his brother Rico, the Angel Gang (who are criminally under used) as well as the history and characters that inhabit Dredd's universe. Max Von Sydow wisely plays it straight, as does Diane Lane as a fellow Judge, bringing a welcome mix of vulnerability, strength and scene stealing sex appeal. The production, massive in budget is fantastically designed and the glossy photography is ahead of its time. The action sequences, when they're not ruined by cliched quips or ropey special effects are impressive as well, while the costume design for the judge's uniform, while not perfect, are spine tingling faithful to the comic strip.

At some level this Judge Dredd adaptation was working...until the point somebody thought that comic books are only for kids and decided to dumb it down. It's a pretty fun action adventure film, but as a Judge Dredd movie, it's a miserable failure. Roll on the reboot, with Karl Urban now confirmed to be playing the iron willed lawman due to start shooting soon.

* Silvestri replaced Jerry Goldsmith on the project due to scheduling difficulties. A shame as Goldsmith's theme, a far more serious and relentless piece of music (see below), would have been much more appropriate...