32.
Pete Travis's
DREDD
Starring: Karl Urban, Lena Headey, Olivia Thurlby
Box office: $13.4M
Rotten Tomatoes: 78%
"I am the law."
In 1995, Judge Dredd's first big-screen adaptation disappointed critics, general audiences and comic book fans alike, and paved the way for the result of this 2012 re-imagining. While bad memories of the previous movie slowed box office intake, the filmmakers of this Dredd clearly understood everything wrong with Danny Cannon's disaster, from the handling of the lead actor to the delicacy of the script. By casting a proven but relatively obscure actor in Karl Urban, Travis and Garland are able to work their magic on the juror himself without the nagging fear of having an audience forget the faceless character he is meant to be; the script has a subtle self-awareness that kept me engaged while refraining from throwing references and pride in my face. The dialogue - which I expected to be painful - works on several layers, and the characters feel as appropriately human (or inhuman) as they should. The action is confined to the space of one building, and is directed in a colourful, balletic manner. Travis goes all guns blazing, pushing an interesting 3D aesthetic and an authentic portrayal of the comic book. A lot of the time, superhero movies are compressed and slowed down to appeal to a wide audience, but here we have a case of an adaptation which draws intricately from the comic book without devolving to fandom, and creating a piece of art which works independent of its source material. Dredd proves that you can make a dedicated comic book movie and also make it work on its own - that you can have your cake and eat it. And while the Dredd 2 campaign isn't getting anywhere soon, maybe we should just remain happy that this iconic character got a respectful, inspired and genuinely fun motion picture.