(M) Icon DVD/BD
This new take on the Judge Dredd comic does well to erase the memory of the Sly Stallone outing in 1995.
This time around NZ actor Karl Urban stars as the law enforcer of Mega City One. He is reluctantly paired with rookie Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) to put her through her paces but they are quickly holed up and trapped in the ironically named Peach Trees, a far from paradise 200-storey megablock with a drug lord and her cohorts, who are pushing a substance called Slo-Mo to its residents.
Considering Urban spends the whole film with a helmet on with only his mouth and chin exposed, he does some great chin acting and his earnest Dredd delivers justice with just the right amount of brute force and iconic scowl.
There’s plenty of fast-paced set pieces and relentless action so if you’re looking for a Batman Begins-style character-driven film, this isn’t worth firing up in the entertainment system.
Adrian Drayton
