In the light of recent events I have been thinking a lot recently about all the content I consume. A lot of my heroes as a kid seemed to follow a similar trend; The Punisher, Cable, Batman. All powerful men that mete out violent justice, they appealed to me, a skinny hermit boy living on a council estate.
One such comic I still read now is 2000ad and its main franchise JUDGE DREDD, a brutal authoritarian future cop with the power to sentence perps to death on the spot. The fact that Dredd is a fascist is something that has never been lost on creators who have steered him over the years. Where many have tried to defend Batman as to why this rich and powerful man chooses to beat up purse snatchers, the reasoning for Dredd is simple, his purpose in life is the violent subjugation of the citizens of Mega City 1. Much like his Gotham City counterpart, Dredd has the opportunity to work bigger towards solutions enacting real change. He has the power and influence, yet he chooses to remain at street level with his hands in the dirt. The apparent desire to serve is forgone instead for a simple catharsis to a man who has deemed enemies the very people he swore to protect. Dredd’s self-righteous mask slips each time he utters his famous catchphrase: ‘I am the Law’ connotates a power fantasy that sees Dredd not only as a tool of authority but its very embodiment.
After being inducted into the rogues gallery of naff 90s superhero flicks many were trepidatious about a new film, and although it did turn out to be a fan pleaser, an underwhelming financial return has ensured it will be a long time before Judge Dredd appears on the silver screen again, if ever. That is not to say that the film is without merit.
Released on the tail end of the 3D cinema fad DREDD was on of the very few films that was enhanced by the effect. The addition of the fictitious drug SLO – MO made for some memorable scenes. Early on Dredd and Anderson burst into a room full of criminals who are coming up on the drug that causes their perception to slow down to 1% normal speed, muzzle flashes slowly pulsate through the room as blood and debris cascades down. An extra sense of phantasmagoria is added by Paul Leonard-Morgan’s score, taking influence from a YouTube video in which a Justin Bieber song reduced in speed by 800%, the soundtrack consist of real instruments that have been slowed down to the point of becoming a euphoric dream like soundscape.
The premise for Dredd is a simple yet familiar one for action cinema. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) and rookie psi-Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) find themselves fighting their way up a huge apartment block against the forces of gang warlord Ma-Ma (Lena Heady). Unfortunately for Dredd that same year saw the release of THE RAID, one of the best pure action films of the decade, sporting an almost identical set up for its story. The similarities between the two drew comparisons that arguably had a hand in Dredd’s box office failure, but in truth holding up the two films side by side is as redundant as comparing them to DIE HARD which came out decades before and still featured an outgunned hero laying vertical warfare. Describing either film as ‘Die Hard but…’ is just as pointless as when everyone dog piled on AVATAR.
The real meat on the bones of Dredd comes in its players. Karl Urban’s fan appeasing take on the chin of justice sees him with helmet firmly fastened on head, going so far as to constantly wear it on set, decidedly distancing himself from Sylvester Stallone’s Dredd who dispenses with it.
Dredd’s unwavering dedication to the law is the conflict beneath the immediate danger as rookie Judge Anderson suggests the apparently radical viewpoint that the people tasked with maintaining society should possess at least a sliver of empathy for those he is supposedly protecting. Across from Dredd is the ruthless Ma-Ma, a former prostitute, abused and exploited, she jumps straight out of a reading of Creed’s The Monstrous-Feminine. After castrating her pimp and rising to head her own powerful drug operation, Ma-Ma invokes not just the Vagina Dentata of archetypal imagery but also the warring personifications of mother and destroyer. It may come as little surprise to know that it was Lena Headey’s influence that drew the character in this direction, she would of course go on to play one of the most fearsome yet complex vileness’ to grace the small screen as GAME OF THRONES matriarch Cersei Lannister.
These two forces finally come to a head in Ma-Ma’s penthouse atop the apartment block where she throws down a moral gauntlet before Dredd. Now cornered, Ma-Ma reveals she has rigged the top floors of the building to explode if she is killed taking countless innocent lives with her. The Dilemma is clear and cuts between Dredd’s sworn duties to Serve justice and Protect citizens. Could this be Dredd’s most insurmountable challenge to date? As it turns out the answer is no as Dredd takes not even a moment before deciding to Chokeslam Ma-Ma from her penthouse to the ground floor below. Having been force fed a healthy dose of Slo-Mo before the drop, Ma-Ma experiences the feeling of being dashed against concrete from a great height but at 1% the speed as she unfurls beautifully into a grotesque crimson swatch.
Dredd explains afterwards that the height from which she fell would cancel out the signal to the explosives above but one can’t help but wonder if he knew that at the time. It is entirely possible to envision Dredd’s psychotic dedication to justice driving him before any regards for innocent lives.
As we pull away from city block into the wider city we are reminded that that this is simply a day in the life of a Mega City 1 judge. As the war against crime rages on we are reminded of the real tragedy of Dredd; his ways don’t work. Years of decimating criminals with an iron fist and the city is still sick with crime. Years of oppressive enforcement by judges has resulted in an arms race between the two sides of the law which the judges are losing.
The image of Dredd has for decades been a satirical mirror to be held up to other superheroes. An honest portrayal of so-called heroism reveals a base power fantasy that revels in inflicting defeat rather than heroic acts. During the current landscape the image of Dredd strong arming citizens and professing his ownership of the Law becomes less of a laughing matter, the pop culture image of the no nonsense tough guy cop becomes back ground radiation to what is in fact a harrowing reality to many marginalised people. That extra layer of sarcasm in Dredd is more apparent in the source material, however it is still present here in the film. My main fear with Dredd is that at times it approaches that point in parody when the material becomes indistinguishable from the thing it is mocking. Maybe it’s best that we got one decent Dredd film and then put him back in the box.
I would recommend anyone wanting to get to know Dredd better to take a look at 2000ad. Not only will you find the unfiltered Judge Dredd comic strip but also a diverse collection of creators new and established telling stories often venturing beyond the tired old fare of punch ups between burly spandexed white dudes. There alternative is right there, all we have to do is support it and we'll all grow with it.
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