Dredd 3D: The Judge delivers more (action, interest and violence) than we expected

Dredd 3D is set in a desperate, gritty American super-city of the future that might be totally ruled by fear if it weren’t for the “judges”—heavily armed uniformed law enforcement officials who operate under a legal system that allows them to dole out justice (even the death penalty) on the spot. The most officious street crime fighter of them all, Judge Dredd (Karl Urban, but you won’t recognize Star Trek’s Bones with his face always obscured by a helmet) finds himself paired with a young mutant female rookie whose empathy for common citizens and mind-reading abilities bring a just a touch of gray into his black-and-white world. The two find themselves trying to take down an ultra-violent gang producing and distributing a reality-altering meth-like drug called SLO-MO from inside a stark high-rise tenement on Anderson’s (Juno’s best female friend turned action heroine Olivia Thirlby) first day on the job.

The duo takes a call for a triple homicide in Mega-City One’s Peach Tree Towers. Upon arrival, the two discover three men have been skinned and thrown more than a hundred stories into a startled crowd. It turns out to be a message killing from the ruthless drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey). When Anderson and Dredd manage to take a key member of the gang into custody, Ma-Ma puts Peach Trees in lockdown mode, encouraging anyone in the building interested in their future freedom to kill the judges. Some residents hide in fear, while others take up pursuit and so the 3D stabbing, kicking, shooting, shocking and burning begin. One of the more interesting and conflicted characters caught in the crossfire is computer systems guru Clan Techie, portrayed by Harry Potter ginger, Domhnall Gleeson.

We’re not up on the Dredd comics, but those who are seem very happy with the dark, relentlessly violent Dredd 3D—citing its adherence to character, setting and weaponry (like the “Lawgiver” pistol). Heading in with no expectations, we were caught up in the energy, attracted to a complicated hero, a little amused by Dredd’s understated delivery (as we were meant to be, by the way) and, overall, pretty entertained. Yeah, we liked it. Guilty as charged.