1. JUDGEMENT IS COMING
The film is set in a post-apocalyptic future in the desolate town; mega city one, where the
crime rate is overwhelming. The city is monitored by the Judges who are similar to today’s
police officers only they have the right to sentence, free or execute the criminals on the
spot.
Dredd (Karl Urban) is in charge of evaluating rookie Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) who has
one of a kind psychic ability that gives her the power to know what people are thinking. A
large percentage of the crimes committed are related to the drug SLO MO which causes
users to experience reality at a fraction of its speed. The pair are called to a crime at a 200
storey tower block; Peach Trees ran by an evil drug lord known as Ma Ma (Lena Headey)
who soon decides to shut down the building trapping Dredd and Anderson inside after they
capture one of her inner circle. With the odds against them; the judges are forced to engage
in a violent confrontation through the 200 floors in order to finally reach Ma Ma on her
personal level. With no help from the outside and very little help on the inside the judges
carefully conquer the vertical slum and end the run of Ma Ma and her team and although
Judge Anderson makes many mistakes throughout the venture, Dredd decides that she
deserves a place on the Judge team.
Dredd is the remake of 1995 film Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone and Dianne Lane.
The original idea for the film was taken from the comic book character that appeared in
comics such as 2000 AD, this instantly acquired a cult following from comic book fans.
Sylvester Stallone provided star theory for the film as at the time he was a very popular
actor although this made the film differ from the comic as he never shows his face whereas
the 1995 version of the film exposes Stallone’s identity from the start. Unlike the original;
Dredd follows the conventions of the comic book by not exposing the identity at any point
in the film.
The main difference from Judge Dredd is the extensive use of special effects; 300 of 650
shots used in this film used visual effects. The majority of the effects were used to
exaggerate the blood and gore along with the SLO MO effect when the drug was used. To
create the realistic shooting scenes the team would shoot blood bags and prosthetic skin to
see the shock and impact that a bullet would have on skin. For the SLO MO effect, the
editors separated the colours and added hue and saturation to intensify the shot. The
editors also added sparkles to help create the drugs effect. Specialist cameras had to be
used in order to film the scenes at 4000 frames per second turning brutal blood spatter into
something majestic and intricate.