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Judge Dredd Movie
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Join Date:Posts: 30501
DirkVoodoo wrote: »My only gripe, which I have just been reminded of now, is that I am unable to watch this movie with my brother as he starts chuckling every 5 minutes and quotes Dark Place:
Youtube isn't playing ball, skip to 1:17.
I take it Zack Snyder movies are a no no too
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Join Date:Posts: 10309
Having missed the original theatrical release due to being on holiday abroad (it only got a very short release as far as I could see, even in London) I finally got a chance to see Dredd recently in a triple-bill with Robocop and The Raid. Despite my reservations of being straight after The Raid (which I loved), it worked really well. I had great fun with it and will be picking up the DVD once it's released.
I'd really like to see sequels to this if they make enough money, but I suspect it'll have to do really well on home media to justify them. I'd gotten myself confused and thought that the production budget was less than £10M but with costs of $45M and an R rating, it's non-trivial to be profitable
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johnny_ultimate wrote: »Have it beside me to watch tonight.
Y'all better not have been lying about how good it is :shakesfist:
Hope you enjoy it man. The pressure is on! :pac:0 -
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Join Date:Posts: 34397
No pressure! :Pjohnny_ultimate wrote: »Have it beside me to watch tonight.
Y'all better not have been lying about how good it is :shakesfist:0 -
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johnny_ultimate wrote: »Have it beside me to watch tonight.
Y'all better not have been lying about how good it is :shakesfist:
You can Judge all of us if you don't like it.:pac:0 -
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Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 29,442 CMod ✭✭✭✭
Join Date:Posts: 28153
All that hype for that?
Didn't care for it at all. Might have actually straight-up disliked it. Rather mindless and repetitive for the duration. No sense of tension, pace or excitement - just one hyperviolent, noisy and dull gunfight after another. Dreddfully (ho-ho pun!) written - I know the character is meant to be serious, but it just presents its ludicrous action without a hint of irony. I think that's probably what appealed to a lot of people, but I personally tend to like my action films to at least have a sense of humour about themselves given their inherent silliness (and I thought this was a pretty silly film). Grimace-inducing dialogue and it's been a long while since I've seen a script with such an embarrassing fondness for the word '****ing'. Pretty blandly directed. Wasn't fond of the slo-mo (bar the nice touch of jumping between slow speed and normal speed) and was glad when they got it over and done with early on barring its climactic reappearance.
Urban didn't have to do anything other than deliver lines in a monotone, so his performance is basically a whole heap of nothingness, although at least that's by design. The one point I did crack a smile was when he did an amusing little badass growl at an off-screen adversary. Lena Headey was decent if underused. Thrilby frowned her way through proceedings relatively gracefully. I would have liked to see Anderson's telepathy expanded upon, actually - the sequence in the prisoner's mind was an interesting idea that should have been built on, and hopefully with less of a fondness for sexual violence. Also have to single-out the soundtrack - hated it.
Don't think its going to linger in the mind for very long, TBH - its already a bit of an indistinct haze of bland corridors and general nastiness. Glad people liked it and are willing to support it, but most definitely not for me.0 -
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johnny_ultimate wrote: »All that hype for that?
Didn't care for it at all. Might have actually straight-up disliked it. Rather mindless and repetitive for the duration. No sense of tension, pace or excitement - just one hyperviolent, noisy and dull gunfight after another. Dreddfully (ho-ho pun!) written - I know the character is meant to be serious, but it just presents its ludicrous action without a hint of irony. I think that's probably what appealed to a lot of people, but I personally tend to like my action films to at least have a sense of humour about themselves given their inherent silliness (and I thought this was a pretty silly film). Grimace-inducing dialogue and it's been a long while since I've seen a script with such an embarrassing fondness for the word '****ing'. Pretty blandly directed. Wasn't fond of the slo-mo (bar the nice touch of jumping between slow speed and normal speed) and was glad when they got it over and done with early on barring its climactic reappearance.
Urban didn't have to do anything other than deliver lines in a monotone, so his performance is basically a whole heap of nothingness, although at least that's by design. The one point I did crack a smile was when he did an amusing little badass growl at an off-screen adversary. Lena Headey was decent if underused. Thrilby frowned her way through proceedings relatively gracefully. I would have liked to see Anderson's telepathy expanded upon, actually - the sequence in the prisoner's mind was an interesting idea that should have been built on, and hopefully with less of a fondness for sexual violence. Also have to single-out the soundtrack - hated it.
Don't think its going to linger in the mind for very long, TBH - its already a bit of an indistinct haze of bland corridors and general nastiness. Glad people liked it and are willing to support it, but most definitely not for me.
Im not surprised0 -
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johnny_ultimate wrote: »Might be hard to believe, but I was rather looking forward to watching it for the last few weeks. And I would agree with two points: a) that every cent is on-screen, for better and worse and b) I see why people want a sequel. I don't think its too much of a stretch to say the events of this film could have been a brisk prologue in a bigger, more elaborate production.
I stand by my opinion that the film left a very sour taste, but I can certainly see where others are coming from.
Oh, and forgot to mention in my first post: while I understand that such a concept is keeping with the purposeful uniformity of the Dredd world, I don't think having three identikit judges facing off against each other made for an interesting cinematic action scene. Some things alas just don't translate to screen.
You should have seen it in 3d
While the movie isnt perfect (none are) For me it was the best movie they could have made considering what they had to work with. They introduced you to Dredd and thats basically what the movie does. I guess its why so many (me included) want a sequel. I love the movie but I left wanting more because I could see that there is so much more to be explored.0 -
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It was certainly not a blockbuster and I suppose "low budget" might be fairly subjective, but to me, in 2013, a low budget movie would be less than 15 million, give or take a few dollars.
And to be clear, the present value of $15,000,000 in 1985 (when the budget would have been set I guess) is only about $30,000,000. So still less than Dredd.
But apology accepted
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Join Date:Posts: 10309
johnny_ultimate wrote: »All that hype for that?
Didn't care for it at all. Might have actually straight-up disliked it. Rather mindless and repetitive for the duration. No sense of tension, pace or excitement - just one hyperviolent, noisy and dull gunfight after another. Dreddfully (ho-ho pun!) written - I know the character is meant to be serious, but it just presents its ludicrous action without a hint of irony. I think that's probably what appealed to a lot of people, but I personally tend to like my action films to at least have a sense of humour about themselves given their inherent silliness (and I thought this was a pretty silly film). Grimace-inducing dialogue and it's been a long while since I've seen a script with such an embarrassing fondness for the word '****ing'. Pretty blandly directed. Wasn't fond of the slo-mo (bar the nice touch of jumping between slow speed and normal speed) and was glad when they got it over and done with early on barring its climactic reappearance.
Urban didn't have to do anything other than deliver lines in a monotone, so his performance is basically a whole heap of nothingness, although at least that's by design. The one point I did crack a smile was when he did an amusing little badass growl at an off-screen adversary. Lena Headey was decent if underused. Thrilby frowned her way through proceedings relatively gracefully. I would have liked to see Anderson's telepathy expanded upon, actually - the sequence in the prisoner's mind was an interesting idea that should have been built on, and hopefully with less of a fondness for sexual violence. Also have to single-out the soundtrack - hated it.
Don't think its going to linger in the mind for very long, TBH - its already a bit of an indistinct haze of bland corridors and general nastiness. Glad people liked it and are willing to support it, but most definitely not for me.
I think you're being a bit unfair about some of the humour present in the film - there are a few lovely instances of black humour (the mall announcement about re-opening in 30 minutes playing while the cleanup crew rush around picking up bodies, the bum getting crushed by the War Mode doors, and some of the slo-mo sequences eg the extended depiction of Ma-ma's head being crushed as she hits the floor after falling 200 stories, with the lush slo-mo music still playing). Having seen it in a triple bill with Robocop and The Raid, the entire audience I was watching with also found Dredd's "You have 20 seconds to comply" very funny since it came off as a callback to the infamous ED209 scene I'd agree that it wouldn't have hurt to have a bit more pep in the dialogue, but that gets tricky given the characters involved.
Similarly, I think it's unfair to complain about Urban's portrayal of Dredd when what he put on screen is exactly what the character is about. Dredd is arguably a poor character around which to hang a feature film, but Urban's portrayal of him was good.
I saw it in 2D as well and I agree that the colourful slo-mo visuals get tiresome quickly without 3D (though I suspect I'd also have found them tiresome in 3D -they're a nice idea, but I felt they were overused). I think a more compelling antagonist would have helped offset the relative lack of Dredd's personality.
I do wonder if home viewing vs theatrical viewing is a key factor here - I suspect Dredd is a film that will suffer if it's seen for the first time on a small screen at home rather than in a cinema with a crowd of likeminded enthusiasts. Certainly I remember having a great time watching the Raid at the cinema for the first time, and much as I'm happy to own it on DVD I can't imagine a first viewing on my TV at home having quite the same impact.0 -
Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 29,442 CMod ✭✭✭✭ Join Date:Posts: 28153
I think you're being a bit unfair about some of the humour present in the film - there are a few lovely instances of black humour (the mall announcement about re-opening in 30 minutes playing while the cleanup crew rush around picking up bodies, the bum getting crushed by the War Mode doors, and some of the slo-mo sequences eg the extended depiction of Ma-ma's head being crushed as she hits the floor after falling 200 stories, with the lush slo-mo music still playing). Having seen it in a triple bill with Robocop and The Raid, the entire audience I was watching with also found Dredd's "You have 20 seconds to comply" very funny since it came off as a callback to the infamous ED209 scene I'd agree that it wouldn't have hurt to have a bit more pep in the dialogue, but that gets tricky given the characters involved.
Well as we all know humour is as subjective as it gets, so I'm not going to argue with you there. To me the one-liners didn't work, and that's both due to the script and delivery. Although oddly enough I thought the first two examples you cited were much more effective at emphasising the whole "****, this really is a nasty Megacity" angle rather than a guilty chuckle. I don't consider myself squeamish by any stretch, and many of my favourite comedies are black as can be, but I thought there was a nasty, relentless undercurrent to the violence and tone here that overwrote the attempts at comedy (e.g. your third example). The film as a whole had a non-ironic fixation with glorified extreme blood and gore that I must admit left me uneasy at times, bored at others. That's undoubtedly just me though, and yeah there are a few instances where I see the stabs at dark humour - I just didn't find them funny. And I can't do anything more than to attempt to articulate my own reaction to the film, and I don't think there's anything more difficult than trying to explain why a film's humour did or didn't work.Similarly, I think it's unfair to complain about Urban's portrayal of Dredd when what he put on screen is exactly what the character is about. Dredd is arguably a poor character around which to hang a feature film, but Urban's portrayal of him was good.
Yeah, perhaps I have an issue more with the character than Urban. I definitely didn't think Dredd came across as a compelling or even remotely interesting on-screen action hero. What Urban had to work with was minimal to say the least, and I don't think any basically competent actor who understood the character would do a better or worse job behind the mask (for the record, I don't consider Stallone a competent actor). Urban may try his darndest with a militantly one-note character, but it is unavoidably a resolutely one-note performance, and that to me is impossible to like or dislike. It's just sort of there, hence my initial remark that it's basically nothing at all. What appeals to fans about the character simply doesn't resonate with me, I suppose. Although I do admit I'm curious to seek out some of the more beloved comic stories and see what my reaction to the classic on-page portrayal of the character is.I do wonder if home viewing vs theatrical viewing is a key factor here - I suspect Dredd is a film that will suffer if it's seen for the first time on a small screen at home rather than in a cinema with a crowd of likeminded enthusiasts. Certainly I remember having a great time watching the Raid at the cinema for the first time, and much as I'm happy to own it on DVD I can't imagine a first viewing on my TV at home having quite the same impact.
Yeah, my first viewing of The Raid was influenced massively by a audience hysteria. But I can also easily identify why The Raid is a well put together action film - the fights have a flow, energy and pace to them that is down to elegant direction (as far as people beating the **** out of each other can be considered elegant) and its extremely physical, go-for-broke performers & choreography. Similarly, I can say Die Hard is a great action film because of McClain's increasing sense of desperation / exhaustion, a fascinating antagonist and an escalating series of intense setpieces (plus, of course, a bitchin' script). Dredd's paceless action, meanwhile, just all blurred into an indistinct mess of nasty, repetitive gunfights, ridiculous caricatures and lame dialogue.
So yes: not denying the possibility I may have enjoyed it a good bit more with a giddy audience. Such an audience can make a bad film thoroughly enjoyable. Devoid of that, all Dredd had to offer me was, IMO, a pretty bad film.
I am taking the opportunity this weekend to catch up with three genre films that seemed to get decent word-of-mouth around here. I wasn't fond of Dredd, as you can probably tell. Thought Grabbers was a whole heap of silly fun. John Carter tomorrow, although not holding out all that much hope for that one! 0 -
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