Movies With Butter

Now that the trailer is out for Dredd, I think there's enough footage of the movie to safely pass judgment on the movie regardless of what director Pete Travis and writer Alex Garland may have suggested in their joint statement about withholding it until seeing the finished product in its entirety. Check it out below.

In Dredd, Lena Headey plays a tattooed druglord named MaMa who likes to take baths in front of her underlings. Her gang makes and distributes a drug called Slo-Mo, and they got many in the city hooked on it.

The city's law enforcers, led by a Judge named Dredd, are summoned to put a stop to MaMa and her boys who are holed up inside in a tall building. They must, of course, scale each floor and clear out any resistance before they can get to the final boss at the top.

If any of this reminded you of Gareth Evans' The Raid: Redemption that was released earlier this year, it should. It's the same concept.

Unfortunately, the comparison isn't favorable to Dredd. In terms of action, The Raid: Redemption wins hands down. Then, there's Headey as the main bad gal. Surely there must someone more menacing and more deserving of the final comeuppance than her?

Let's not forget the main man himself. Karl Urban, as Dredd, doesn't have the screen presence of Sylvester Stallone and, with the helmet on, the character could have been played by anyone. And regardless of the situation, his intonation never changes. It seems like Urban is trying to channel Clint Eastwood.

Dredd will receive its final judgment on September 21st when it's schedule for release in theaters.

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