Britflix: Dredd

When people think of British cinema a film like Dredd probably doesn’t come to mind. Despite its American setting and international cast Dredd is a British film and worthy of a Britflix retrospective.

In the future, the world has gone to hell. Most of America has turned into an eradicated wasteland and Mega City One is a lawless metropolis. Only the Judges can maintain any sort of law-and-order. One of the most famous Judges is Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) and he has to assess Cassandra Anderson’s (Olivia Thirlby) capabilities as a judge. Dredd and Anderson end up getting trapped in the infamous tower block slum Peach Trees when investigating several deaths that are linked to a new drug, Slo-Mo.

Dredd was made by DNA Films, the production company that made films like Trainspotting and 28 Days Later, and it was written and produced by Alex Garland, a man who knows how to make entertainment genre cinema. Most of the creative team behind the film were British, most of the companies involved were British, and the film was based on a British comic book series, which is why Dredd is considered a British film.

Garland went for a back-to-basics approach when he wrote Dredd by having a day in the life story. This was done for two reasons: the first, it was a way to introduce the character and the world to non-fans. The second was similarly budgetary. Dredd was made on a budget of no more than $45 million which is pretty low for a sci-fi action film; so Garland had to tell a story within a limited location. Garland makes this work.

The makers of Dredd had to compete against the notorious 1995 Hollywood version, Judge Dredd. That film annoyed fans of the comics because it was a star vehicle for Sylvester Stallone and aimed to appeal to a broad audience. One of the most infamous aspects of the 1995 film is that it broke one of the cardinal rules of the comics: Dredd took his helmet off. Dredd went out of its way to counteract Judge Dredd. When Dredd was introduced he was suiting up and his face was never shown. Dredd went for a more grounded approach than the comics, so the Judge’s outfits don’t have a massive eagle jetting out from the shoulder.

Dredd was compared to The Raid when it was first released, which harmed Dredd. Both films had a similar set-up, which was a coincidence because both films were made at the same time. If anything both films were influenced by Die Hard because that film mastered the template of a lawman trapped in a building with people wanting to kill them. Another influence on Dredd was the cult film The Warriors: both were dystopian stories where lead characters had a bounty on their heads. Whilst the storyline of Dredd and a rookie working together was like Training Day.

Dredd was a throwback to action films of the ’80s. It was wonderfully violent: it was a rare case of an action film getting an 18 rating in the UK just because of the violence. For fans of the red stuff, Dredd is nirvana: bodies get shot to bits, people fall to their deaths, and heads explode.

Dredd himself was a Clint Eastwood-like figure: a lone gunman going into a lawless area in an attempt to bring order. Karl Urban even sounded like Eastwood when playing Dredd. The comics were famous for a satire about America and Dredd is a fascist. A joke on the audience is they are cheering on an authoritarian. These satirical elements were toned down for the film: Dredd was shown to be concerned for civilians and his task was simply to stop the bad guys. The only humour in the film was Dredd making some dry comments. He had an arc that he needed to learn to be less rigid with his application of the law and rules, particularly with regards to Anderson.

Even though Dredd was a dark film set in a grim setting it was a colourful film. The reds of blood did pop when it was on screen. This was properly due to Dredd being filmed in 3D because the 3D effects need bright colours. This bright look juxtaposed with a dark setting makes Dredd bright cinematography look like a prototype for 2015’s Mad Max: Fury Road‘s visual style.

It’s a shame that Dredd was a box-office bomb because it was an entertaining action film that would please fans of comics and films like Robocop, The Running Man, and The Terminator. At least Dredd has earned a cult audience.