The first film adaptation of Judge Dredd, a British comic book set in a dystopian wasteland, is described on Wikipedia as “a critical and commercial disappointment.” If you appreciate a high body count, Rob Schneider’s comic relief, and cyborg cannibal mutants (plus that air of gravitas a Max Von Sydow cameo affords), as I do, you might find that assessment somewhat harsh. But the fact remains, Judge Dredd (1995) was a cheap attempt to commercialize the complex world created in the comic strip.
The setting: Mega-City One is an over-populated, under-policed metropolis stretching across the eastern seaborn of the United States; the rest of the country outside the city’s borders has been reduced to a nuclear wasteland. The government is a dictatorship run by the Justice Department, which empowers “Street Judges” not only to arrest criminals, but also to act as judge, jury and even executioner on the spot.
In the comics, our hero never takes off his helmet; he’s simply the physical embodiment of justice in a world battling with authoritarianism and lawlessness. According to the creator, “It sums up the facelessness of justice − justice has no soul. So it isn’t necessary for readers to see Dredd’s face, and I don’t want you to.” (For a quick history of the comic, check out WatchMojo’s “Superhero Origins”)
Most fans of the comic book would agree that the new version was infinitely more loyal to the source material; Dredd successfully creates a gritty, fully-realized dystopian landscape, and Karl Urban plays the faceless hero with restraint. His delivery of the classic Dredd line (“I am the law“) is quietly menacing, as opposed to Stallone’s self-indulgent bellowing “I AM THE LAW!”
As we see in Dredd, the title character is more than a mindless killing machine. He encourages “Rookie” Judge Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) to carry out her sentencing and seems to reduce casualties to statistics, but also shows restraint when dealing with juvenile delinquents and anger over numbers of civilians placed in danger.
And in a refreshing turn of events, he treats the rookie as such: a naïve newcomer struggling with the morality of her new role in society, but determined to prove herself. Aside from boilerplate sexual threats from the bad guys – which she handled capably, without waiting for rescue – she was not depicted as a sexual object, and there were no hints of romance between her and Dredd (though apparently only an intervention from the creator saved us from the obligatory kiss).
So essentially, the role of the rookie Judge could easily been cast as a male role. Similarly, Ma-Ma was your standard psychopathic movie villain, more reminiscent of Heath Ledger’s Joker than Uma Thurman’s Poison Ivy. She was as unattractive as Lena Headey could be visualized on screen, and presented herself as a ruthless, violent leader rather than a manipulative sexpot. Compare this depiction of women as competent, evolved characters with Lucy Liu’s line in the Man With the Iron Fists trailer: “Power belongs to no one until it is seized through sex… and violence,” with a clear emphasis on the former.
ComicBookGrrrl has an excellent review on the women of Dredd, which delves into why this de-objectification of the two main female characters is so extraordinary. Thirlby herself confirms that this was a conscious decision in an interview:
Sex is a weapon in this film – would you agree?
It’s hard to say because the world of Dredd is not a sexual world. Comic book women are usually drawn so you can see their bodies, but I don’t think I played Anderson that way. She was never going to have cleavage, she was never supposed to be sexy, she was always supposed to look like a Judge. The sexual objectification that she goes through is just something that she goes through in the modern world and in the post-apocalyptic one as well. It’s something that women just have to balance and the ability to balance that is what gives us strength.
In keeping with the recent trend of “serious” comic book movies, Dredd attempts to add weight and moral ambiguity to the story. Thankfully the film stops shy of the somber, morose depths reached by The Dark Knight Rises, but the decision to elevate the movie above cheap thrills, cheesy humor and forced romance helped to create a unique and surprisingly resonant world.
On the Screen Reviews 
Thanks for linking to my Olivia Thirlby interview! http://www.screeninvasion.com
It’s a great interview! I loved Thirlby’s insights on her role, and particularly her opinion of “strong” female characters (which so often get confused with physically strong ones, rather than well-written).
Thanks so much for reading!
You know I think this new Dredd movie will have done a favor to the old one. I reckon there’s quite a number of people who would check out Stallone’s version just because of curiosity and also they like Urban’s version. But yeah, they are very different!
It definitely makes me want to rewatch it! I haven’t seen it in years but I watched it at least a dozen times as a kid. Classic Stallone, exactly the kind of cheesy-but-great action movie The Expendables hearkens back to.
Great review! The concept seems pretty interesting and I love Lena Headey so I’ll try to catch this one on DVD.
Thanks Sati! Lena Headey is definitely worth watching in anything she does. After Terminator, 300, Game of Thrones, and now this… she’s like Hollywood’s new go-to badass.
There’s an awesome-looking style to it that makes the action kick that much more ass, but in terms of action, I felt like they were missing something. Still, it’s a whole lot of fun. Nice review Tippi.
The action could get a bit redundant, which is understandable given the setting. But the movie didn’t lean entirely on the action, so I felt like the characters and the performances easily made up for that.
Fantastic review. There was a lot of great things about Dredd, Ma-Ma especially (she’s made my list of this year’s best villains). The drug usage was visually spectacular, too. I feel such a wash out, and quite frankly incredibly old, for admitting this: it was just too violent for me!
Thanks! I agree that it was surprisingly violent, but I think that was a backlash against the overly sanitized Hollywood version. It’s like they wanted to be as loyal to the comic fans as possible – Dredd keeps his helmet on, it’s much darker, and much more violent. It may have been a bit much at times but I thought the violence really contributed to the gritty realism of the movie. It created a fully realized world that I was really reluctant to leave by the end.
A great movie, in my opinion the best sci-fi since the first Matrix (and I write this in 2015).
There’s been a lot of speculation as to why it performed so badly at the box office (the name Dredd smeared by cheese from the Stallone movie; debuting it in 3D just when everyone hated 3D…) but none of it really seems to fit.
My personal suspicion is it did badly because it’s rated R, not PG13. The rating is correct (it’s incredibly violent, bordering on a becoming a horror movie, and contains swearing and drug use), but it means it lost the biggest chunk of moviegoers who see action movies: tweens and teens. The need to get the coveted PG13 rating is reason there isn’t bad word or a drop of blood in Mad Max: Fury Road, which really shows how vital it is to reach the tween/teen demographic.
The link to Lena Headey’s pic is not valid anymore.
Good review. I think that nowadays when original superhero movies are so rare Dredd was kind of a gory delight. Urban was great.