Although Judge Dredd is an American law enforcer he's an English creation which lends to smart satire. This film is stripped down Dredd, using the character in a story that could essentially be told in any world. There's no mutants, robots, cursed earth, or general weirdness but it stays true to the comic in being extremely violent.
Dredd and rookie judge Anderson respond to a multiple homicide and end up being trapped in a leviathan of a houso fighting for their lives.
The violence in this film is something else, skinned bodies being flung out of 1km high buildings, a guy getting his face burnt off from the inside, kids getting their cheeks blown open in slow motion so you can see teeth through the hole and people getting shot to shit by Dredd's Lawgiver. The other interesting depiction is the drug slo mo which effects are to make time slow to a crawl for the user. These scenes are stunning and seem to be the real reason this film is in 3D.
Olivia Thirlby as Anderson is fine but unremarkable. Lena Headey (looking a lot different from her game of thrones character) is a lethargic lethal ganglord but her henchmen (all men?) are unremarkable also. Karl Urban is Judge Dredd, a fan himself he does a truthful if a little earnest portrayal. I heard that Michael Biehn had unsuccessfully auditioned for Dredd and while he's now too old his gritty charisma would've made for a better film.
The design is top notch - Megacity One is a realistic and recognisable future city with it's food courts, spaghetti highways and towering skyscrapers.The weapon design is cool but come on every kid in Megacity has to know even if you steal a lawgiver you can't use it without consequences... Soundtrack is cool (snuff box fans will be surprised) and while I have been listening to and do like Geoff Barrow's rejected submission, I can understand why it wasn't used - although they should've kept the track Inhale for mamas drugged out bath scene.
YES - arthouse action harking back to Robocop and the synth soundtracks of John Carpenter
