DREDD (2012) Retrospective / Review

inhabitants of pitch trees this is Judge Dread m is not the law I am the law America is in a radiated Wasteland within it lies a city outside the boundary walls a desert the cursed Earth inside the walls the cursed City stretching from Boston to Washington DC see 800 million people living in the ruin of the old world and the mega structures of the new one Mega Blocks Mega highways Mega City one convulsing choking breaking under its own weight citizens in fear of the street the gun the gang only one thing fighting for order in the chaos the men and women of the Hall of [Music] Justice juries executioners judges [ __ ] off this is Mama somewhere in this block are two judges I want him dead until I get what I want the block is locked down lock down [Music] complete ready yeah you look ready H there's 10 of us only two of you 10 seconds to comply you got five thanks for the heads up on the 11th of July 2012 dread was given its Premiere at the San Diego ComicCon a few months later it arrived in the UK on the 7th of September and on the 20th in the USA it was rated an 18 in the UK and hit the number one spot at the box office but its success was shortlived and its release in the USA was met with poor marketing and distribution and it struggled to find an audience many fans of 2000 ad and the character of Judge Dread in the United States had to travel miles to get to see the film even in its 2D presentation dread arrived at the time when 3D was the dominating Quick Cash grab due to the huge success of Avatar 3D was the latest gimmick and not everyone was a fan of it most adults tended to ignore the 3D presentations wanting to see it in 2D but for its UK and USA distribution more 3D shows were put on rather than 2D further limiting its chance for Success this may have also been a similar occurrence across Europe the movie was an independent production costing a very modest $45 million and unfortunately only managed to make back 41 million worldwide it crawled in a further $20 million for the DVD and Blu-ray Market but it wasn't enough to consider the movie a success despite its failings at the box office it was met with great reviews fans of the comic book loved it and the co-creator of dread John Wagner said he enjoyed the film to many fans of the character it washed out the bad taste of the Stallone film Judge Dread from 19 1995 which didn't help the reputation of the comic book character and put off producers for many years to bring him back to the big screen the 1990s were a boom time for comic book movies after the success of Batman in 1989 many film studios were optioning many comic books to be adapted to film but the majority were unsuccessful they were handled by filmmakers who didn't understand the source material and the 1995 Judge Dread film was no exception as a young teenager I was pumped to see it but I was a bit too young to see it in theaters when I got the chance 6 months later I was disappointed like many readers of 200 ad the film falls apart just after 10 minutes or so when dread removes his helmet and doesn't wear it again until the third act but only for a brief moment while Sylvester Stallone was enjoying his second wave of success at the box office he had a few flops in the early '90s and came back with Cliffhanger which was a big success he came out in full force he wasn't going to have his face covered up throughout he is a big star he can't have that the creators of dread were not consulted on the project the movie was tailored to include more comedy with Dread getting a sidekick at one point with a computer expert and fraudster played by Rob Schneider the film kind of looks to part it has visual elements to match the comics but everything underneath is deeply flawed it was nothing like the comics and just another action vehicle for Stallone that just happens to have the Judge Dread name slapped on it and a few visual cues to trick the audience the film wasn't a success and was panned by critics and didn't do 200 ad any favors it boosted sales before the film came out but the character of dread had been tainted afterwards by the movie it took a while for people to disassociate the comic book character from the [Music] film The Script for the new Dread film had started back in 2006 by writer Alex Garland who penned the scripts for 28 Days Later and sunshine Garland was a big fan of Judge Dread and 200 ad since he was a kid and his early draft revolved around one of Dre's popular villains judge death but he scrapped that idea because it relied too much on the audience to be knowledgeable of the judge system and he needed to establish the world before he introduced judge death to tear it apart Garin decided that the story needed to be more focused and grounded and favored a shorter day in the life story story about dread and His function as a cop in this dystopian future as Garland was also operating as a producer the development of the film commenced in December of 2008 and over the next two years secured funding from the British Studio DNA films and IM Global with the funding in place a decision was made to shoot it in 3D which at the time was the latest gimmick to gain extra profit many films were being shot in 3D or in some cases being postcon converted the success of Avatar made it a very enticing option to boost profits by May 2010 and with a budget of $45 million in place they scheduled to begin filming in Johannesburg South Africa in late 2010 making use of Cape Town studios the UK even played a small part as a shopping mall was used in greater London which has now been demolished but it doubled for the opening sequence of dread stopping a criminal during the early stages Duncan Jones had been offered the role of director Duncan was a big fan of 20 2 ad but sadly turned the job down feeling his vision for the film was unconventional describing it as weird dark and funny and he felt Garland's script didn't reflect that incept Pete Travis who started out his career directing TV shows such as cold feet and the jury he jumped onto feature films with Vantage Point and endgame co-creator of Judge Dread John Wagner was consulted during the film's production unlike the 1995 film and suggested that the future portrayed in dread should relate to Modern ways of living so what you see in the movie doesn't seem that far-fetched and successfully captures a sense of believability and the majority of it being set in a tower block that direction was essential throughout the production garland would send his script to Wagner who would revise some of the dialogue to make sure in particular what dread said seemed faithful to the character in keeping with the idea of having the artist who worked on 200 ad an artist by the name of jock had translated the script and story boarded it into a comic book and also contributed to the concept designs to help in particular the visual effects artists in creating the CGI elements that needed to be designed and added to the movie Judge Dread takes on a new look in the film but it doesn't deviate too far from his original design the filmmakers decided that dread should appear lean and fast rather than the bulky look depicted in the comics dread has been drawn by many artists throughout the years so changes are common his judge uniform was altered the extruded Eagle statuette was removed from his shoulder pad to emphasize the outfit's functionality and he received more padding and body armor to protect him in battle and of course dread never removes his helmet his mouth is only visible a simple lesson the 1995 films struggled with Dread signature weapon the lawgiver was developed as a fully operational weapon based on a 9mm firing system capable of firing ammunition and like the comics is loaded with different types of ammo which is displayed on the gun but are only achieved with digital effects thankfully no double whammy double whammy double whammy his motorcycle the law master was a modified 500cc motorcycle a large fairing was added over the motorbike with added machine guns and given the largest functional tires possible to capture the look of the comics on the 7th of October 2011 it was reported in the LA Times and a number of articles online that the director Pete Travis was prohibited from participating in the editing process following creative disagreements between the producers and Executives they disapproved over the footage that Travis was providing Garland took over the editing process because of his large involvement he could have been entitled to a co-director credit his contribution was considered significant enough for him to seek that credit despite not being in charge of any filming although Travis was removed from the editing process he was monitoring the progress of the film a few days later it was reported that Travis was still involved in the movie and that Garland was not seeking a co-director credit this may indicate why no audio commentary was produced for the DVD and Blu-ray release due to the disagreements on the production and Travis wasn't featured in the behind the scenes material and was only interviewed for a couple of press junk kits for the cast of dread we have the always reliable Carl Urban playing the famous and feared Judge Dread Carl approached The Producers about playing the character and with him already being a star and a well-known actor for his roles in Lord of the Rings and Star Trek he gave the movie Bank ability and got the part Carl found the role challenging he had to wear his mask throughout the film and had to use a lot of body language to sell the part kyl did a lot of preparation for the role and underwent weapons training and he even performed his own motorcycle stunts he did struggle with the harsh vocal tone he has to use for his character he found it hard to sustain The Voice throughout the long takes Lena heii plays the drug lord mama she is a former prostitute who turned to a life of crime and Rose to the top in the criminal underworld and is the sole supplier of the new drug called slow-mo Mama as far as I'm aware is not from the comics and was created for the film Lena based her performance on the punk rock singer Patty Smith I believe mama was originally going to be a larger woman before Lena was cast the early previous effects show a very big lady Olivia Thurby plays judge Cassandra Anderson who has just started out her career as a judge and is a mutant she has psychic powers and can read people's minds and emotions but she can't wear her helmet as it affects her abilities Olivia undertook weapons training and also martial arts judge Anderson is from the comics and made her debut in 1980 along with judge death Wood Harris plays K one of mma's henchmen he gets arrested early on in a drugs bust in peach trees as the judges attempt to take him back for interrogation Mama locks them in as she doesn't want Kay to reveal the production of slow-mo Kay feels he's no worse than the judges and feels justified in what he does and tries to think of ways to escape but struggles under Anderson's mind reading abilities finally we have doml gleon who starred in the Harry Potter films the Revenant and Star Wars the Force awakens dl's character is not given a name and his responsibility is to keep the security in check at peach trees and as a computer expert he has been tortured by mama and had his eyes replaced with bionic ones which I believe is a reference to the city of the Damned storyline from the mid 80s in which dread is blinded and gets bionic eyes and he has had them ever [Music] since the movie opens in the future where the world has been turned into a wasteland and has been named The Cursed Earth set on the east coast of of the United States a city by the name of Mega City 1 is a violent and overpopulated Metropolis with 177,000 crimes reported on a daily basis the combat crime the police force has put in place judges who have the power to be a judge jury and executioner it seems to be set in the early days of dread probably around the year 2099 it's now 2139 in the comics Judge Dread ages in real time so he's about 73 years old now judge dread who after dealing with a local crime is called into the Hall of Justice to evaluate a new recruit called Anderson who has psychic abilities but she failed her aptitude test but dread Superior believes she has potential and sends her out with Dread on her first assignment dread and Anderson get a call to visit peach trees which is a 200 story slum Tower block run by the drug lord Mama three drug dealers have been skinned alived and dropped from the top floor while intoxicating at with slowmo a new addicted drug that has infested the city upon inspection and the arrest of one of Mama's important dealers she decides to seal the tower block to stop the judges from escaping or summoning help she tells the inhabitants of peach trees to kill the judges dread and Anson have to fight their way through dozens of armed thugs arriving at the 76th floor the judges are spotted by mama and her men she unleashes a heavy wave of gunfire that cuts through the walls dread and Anderson make a run for it narrowly avoiding being shot dread breaches an outer wall and manages to call for backup meanwhile mama has sent out her henchman Caleb to search for the judges hoping to find their remains dread spots him and he is not to be messed with and throws Caleb off the tower in full view of Mama to show he is not going to back down K manages to escape and takes Anderson hostage mama needs to get rid of dread quickly and calls in backup she contacts four corrupt judges who will take out dread for 1 million credits dread is now in trouble alone and running seriously low on ammunition for a film with a relatively small budget the visual effects looked great when it came out with CGI becoming more affordable it makes it easier for films with lower budgets to compete with the big Blockbusters but also with the lower costs it often times makes filmmakers abuse the technology like the early adopters in the '90s and some cases CGI ends up looking unrealistic and dated even for its time thankfully with Dread the director and the FX team make great efforts to combine liveaction material with the CG elements Johannesburg had a lot of brutalist 70s architecture which was a perfect backdrop for Mega City one they could shoot clean plates and then apply large motorways and tower blocks and in some cases hardly adding much at all for example just throwing in a tower Block in the foreground and a few into the background for the interior of peach trees they built three floors which was a quarter of the final design and they would redress the set and shoot it from different angles to make it appear as a different floor and used CGI to extend the set so it appears to have 200 levels the FX supervisor John thumb developed the slowmo sequences with creative input from writer Alex Garland they used a camera that would shoot at 3,000 frames per second so you capture every moment so clearly when played back at 24 frames per second when dread burst through the door and you see the kickback of the explosion hit the drug dealers you see the ripple effect on their skin which was a simple technique of shooting compressed air onto them for the effects of the blood splattering out of their wounds and hitting the screen they did tests with fake blood bags and shooting at 3,000 frames per second you get this wonderful effect when they chose to shoot in 3D they knew it would take up a large chunk of the budget and you had to follow certain rules to make the image appear in 3D if the wrong angles were chosen or particular camera moves the 3d effect wouldn't be very impressive the DP didn't want to rely on it to push the regular gimmick that came along with the format he wanted to break away from the rules which could be seen as risky and wanted to focus on the depth of the image that gave the audience something more than just a regular 3D movie now I never saw the movie in 3D and only opted for the 2D showings but the feedback from 3D shows were genuinely positive the slow-mo effects in particular worked well with audien is the best stuff for me really is the city Landscapes and how they added to the material to create a believable World by just adding buildings and motorways is a complicated and skilled process but simple in theory to create a world of the future that doesn't seem too far [Music] away Paul Leonard Morgan composed a score to dread it's very much an unconventional score that doesn't rely on big themes or bombastic orchestral pieces Paul took inspiration from John Carpenter going with that 80 synthesizer sound even using the old keyboards and combining more modern sound techniques to create this distorted sound for the picture Paul was looking to create a Timeless score that couldn't be placed in a particular era for the slow-mo sequences Paul composed a different style of music and slowed it down by thousands of a percent to match the visuals and then composed music and played it at a normal speed and mixed the tracks together as you can tell it's all very experimental and an original approach but for me it's not my cup of tea I found it a bit of a jarring experience and if you listen to the soundtrack isolated with it CD release I found it tough to listen to way too noisy and it felt unfocused the best stuff for me is the opening music which has this simple deep Baseline that sets the tone the atmospheric moments for the slow-mo sequences the scenes where dread and Anderson breach the outer wall and when dread takes out Mama and drops her off the top floor these I believe were the best parts of the score the composer certainly did something totally different to what Alan sylvestri did for the 1995 film and if you swap the music for the movies it's hard to imagine Sylvester's music working with the new one but I think a solid theme tune should have been created for dread to give him a new musical voice for his return to the big screen you can easily get the sound track on iTunes or CD also if you listen carefully during the early scenes with DL gleon you can hear he is listening to the song featured in the TV show snuffbox performed by Matt Barry due to the failure of the film a sequel seemed to be off the cards fans wanted to see more and KL Urban was happy to return due to his love for the character but it's hard for studios and financial backers to invest in a film that's not going to make them any returns and end up being a loss it's the nature of the business there have been of course endless articles and clickbait news posts that have hinted that a sequel is going to happen or possibly a Netflix or Amazon Prime series which I truly think is the best way to go a film is limited by its runtime whereas a 10 episode series could really expand the world of dread and throw in more characters from the comics the character of dread has never hit the mainstream especially in the USA which is a market they would love to capture but Dre has always satirized America that's probably why it hasn't jailed well with the masses to truly understand how the film was financed and the possibility of seeing more films I'd recommend watching ADI shanker's video who was an executive producer on the film and makes it very clear on why squl is not in the works this video was produced a couple of years ago but is still very much relevant with 2 ad being a British publication The Dread movie was very much pushed in the UK it was a movie I was aware that was coming out and I was more than happy to see another take on the character and from the early trailers the filmmakers seemed to be going in the right direction it felt faithful and the 18 rating put a big smile on my face with it being an independent production it doesn't feel like a big Studio picture there seems to be a great sense of Freedom feeling like a movie from the80s it doesn't hold back on the violence it's nice and gory but certainly not as Extreme as say RoboCop which borrowed heavily from Judge Dread all the classic lines such as come quietly or there will be trouble or you have 10 seconds to comply all come from dread with its rating it was good to see a comic book movie that knows who its audience is and isn't trying to please a younger demographic its lower budget certainly helped with that decision the higher the budget the rating is often lower to avoid any risk of losses Straight Out The Gate the movie sets up the rules and who the judges are it informs the audience in a very simple and concise manner so you feel well informed without having to sit through 30 minutes of backstory Alex Garland's idea to show you a day in the life of dread was a clever move to appeal to a wider audience who didn't have much knowledge of the character or had no idea who he was one I first saw it and still to this day it feels like it belongs in the same universe as District 9 I suppose with both movies being shot in South Africa it gives up a very similar Vibe and the use of Technology feels familiar dread was criticized at the time for feeling like a carbon copy of the raid which arrived the year before at face value it may come across as a bit of a knockoff and I believe it's only a coincidence dread was written a number of years before the raid turned up but it must have frustrated the filmmakers of dread when they saw the raid and knew comparisons would be made the comics of Judge Dread are very much heavy on satire with it being a comment on American society and politics dread is an extreme right-wing character and is all about the law but the movie doesn't have any political agendas or attempts to make bold statements on society as far as I'm aware there is a sense of anti-establishment there may be other themes deep within it that I may have not noticed but instead it plays it safe and keeps it simple it appears to stick to the early days of Judge Dread a cop in the future who has the ability to parge judgment on the individuals he arrests and with the overpopulation he can put you in prison with a harsh sentence or kill you on the spot if there were stronger elements of satire it could have pushed a greater sense of humor to it the film is not devoid of moments of Comedy dread has a very dry sense of humor when he quizzes Anison on why she doesn't wear a helmet and his reply to her when she believes Kay is going to go for his gun as she reads his mind I think if dread didn't have a bit of humor to him he wouldn't seem very dynamic or interesting if he was just barking out the law to criminals it wouldn't be entertaining for a featurelength movie you want the audience to care about him and his mission and thankfully you do due to KL Urban's solid performance and the writing it shows great consideration for his character but teaming up with Anderson gives him moments of being more human and less of the strict emotionless judge he may appear at face value she makes him understand the deeper elements of judging people instead of jumping to conclusions with the release of the computer expert due to reading his mind and discovering the pain and torture he's being put through makes red question her motives she argues her case and red shows signs of an understanding and going against the rules which he is so obsessed with following it was a good move not to have Anderson be played as a love interest the filmmakers don't try to push some deep friendship between her and dread dread is not out to be her friend and is only concerned if she can do her job there are many moments where he just looks at her like he is reviewing her performance at all times once she is injured and they get rid of Mama he comes to her Aid and despite her failing her duties and breaking the rules which is punishable he gives her a pass to make her a full judge which shows a nice story arc for him and a new element of his character it shows that he is not totally void of sympathy and shows an understanding that the rules may not always apply to every situation it's a shame they didn't have more characters from the comics or a villain that was part of drad's History I'm not saying someone like judge death this would be a bit early for him to be introduced and his best left for a sequel but someone to match dread in strength mama was made up for the film and Lena does a great job betraying this damaged woman but just facing up against a drug lord is not entirely original or interesting to a large extent the character is written well but I'm sure fans of the comic Probably thought of a list of other characters that could have made an appearance the movie whips along at a quick Pace it's only just over 90 minutes long which is surprisingly short for a comic book adaptation most clock in at around 2 hours at minimum nowadays I suppose with the story they are trying to tell it wouldn't necessarily justify a 2hour runtime but more could have been done to explore the characters but I suppose as it's trying to please a wider audience it doesn't want to bog itself down with the deeper themes and storylines from the comics it's a tough juggling act to balance what is needed for both fans and the general public with its 90-minute runtime it does make the movie Very rewatchable it's straightforward and simple to follow so you can just slap it on and not have to worry about putting loads of time aside and having to be heavily invested in it it's just pure entertainment that should appeal to everyone Carl Urban despite not having the big chin that the comic book version of dread has does a wonderful job portraying the character he very much makes the character his own it's hard for an actor to bring out their performance when most of their FA is covered up it's a challenge and not everyone can do it not having his face revealed is a daring move but an important one in staying true to the character and it shows he respects the source material I think everyone involved in the cast does a fine job with their performances everyone seemed believable in their roles and you feel invested in what is a simple story The Action is nicely executed and edited the photography makes the movie really pop and stand out with its heavy use of primary colors despite its gritty dark and realistic approach to its storytelling and design it's surprisingly colorful if dread is not part of your collection then you should seriously consider buying it as soon as possible it's a straightforward action flick that treats the source material with respect and should hopefully encourage newcomers to invest in the comics and seek out some of the classic stories of Judge Dread he has been going for 40 years now so there is a rich history to explore it's a shame the film was let down by its marketing and focus on 3D showings alienating a large chunk of the audience but I hope there is something in the foreseeable future that brings dread back into the Limelight so this version of dread continues and we can see more of Mega City 1 and watch Judge Dread crush his enemies with a brutal slice of the law we have her on record from aing Days the picture's pretty old but that's her madine madreal AKA mama ex-hooker from the S9 pleasure District a trademark is violence not so long ago there were three main gangs hustling for control of Peace trees the P the Kings the Red Dragons the judged their mama arrived took over the top floor the block and started working her way down 9 months later she had control of everything levels one to 200 all hers how'd she get away with it you know how often we get a judge up in peace trees well you got one now every level on the judges down incendiary you have a problem with the judge you know who he is no I [Music] do [ __ ] [Music] fire you got no way out Jud this isn't a negotiation the sentence is death [Music] if you enjoyed the video you can find more 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Channel: Oliver Harper

Views: 376,245

Keywords: oliver harper dredd, dredd retrospective, judge dredd retrospective, dredd, dredd review, retrospective review, comic, retrospective, making of, adi shankar, documentary, review, overview, movie, film, oliver harper commentary, tv spot, trailer, stallone, judge dredd, cursed earth, ollie harper, oliver harper, ollyh82, ending, 2012, oliver harper retrospective, 2000AD, alex garland, john wagner, karl urban

Id: A77d231lZsc

Length: 31min 1sec (1861 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 26 2017