OK, here’s a promise: No jokes or puns based on the title of “Dredd 3D.” Fish in a barrel and all that.
Not that there’s much that’s memorable about Pete Travis’ reboot of a moribund movie franchise based on what is, by now, sort of a classic comic book. Sylvester Stallone used it as a vehicle a couple of face-lifts ago – and the fact that there hasn’t been a Judge Dredd movie since then probably speaks for itself.
Which is more than the movie does. Set in a post-apocalyptic future where the cops are now also judge, jury and executioner, this high-concept action film blends bits of “Attack the Block,” “Robocop,” “District B13” and this summer’s “The Raid: Redemption” in its template. When you’ve got lawmen dodging a high-rise full of armed criminals who want them dead, well, how much dialogue do you really need?
Judge Dredd (Karl Urban, whose full face we never see) is a futuristic lawman, assigned the training of a rookie judge, Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), who has a secret power: telepathy. So she can read the minds of criminals and doesn’t need to interrogate them. On the other hand, it means she doesn’t wear a helmet. Look ma, no hands.
This review continues on my website.