Review: Dredd 3D (2012)

Dredd 3D is our sleeper hit of the year.

After painfully enduring Stallone's 1995 Judge Dredd movie, it's safe to say that we weren't really all that excited about a remake. Sure, there was no way it could have been any cheesier than Sly's version, but could it actually be any good? That was the real question, and the answer that we found was a resounding "Yes!"

Dredd is simply one of the best action flicks we've seen in a long while. It wasn't all bang and flash; it took it's time, handled the source material with a serious tone, and delivered on the uber-violence without making the movie one long gun battle after another.

She can judge me any time.

Karl Urban was the perfect Dredd, and Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey were just as good in their roles. This movie played it straight, unlike the 1995 Stallone version, and was a better movie for it. It was nice to see that they stuck to canon and didn't have Dredd show his face this time out too.

How can you not love that face?

As for the action... tons of people and things blew up, got shot up, got burnt up, got beat up... and it was all shamelessly and excessively violent. It was mindless fun that wasn't dumbed down like most actions flicks tend to be, and yet it didn't take itself too seriously.

Poor kid.

Dredd 3D is one hell of an action flick, and it's now one of our favorite Blu-ray's in our collection. Aside from The Raid: Redemption, Dredd is the best action flick we saw in 2012, and oddly enough, the two movies are fairly similar in plot.

The marketing for this movie sucked, it should have never been released in the crappy-for-movies month of September, and Lionsgate should have played the 3D aspect of things down a bit. If I was skeptical about this movie sucking as bad as Stallone's original did, then general audiences were even more so. Dredd bombed at the Box Office, and it's a way better film than that. This is no John Carter or Battleship; Dredd 3D is an action lover's/Fanboy's dream.

We really hope that it sells well on BD/DVD and that we get a sequel somewhere down the road, because this movie truly begs for continuation. We'll have a Blu-ray copy in our hands come January 8th, and since it's safe to say that most of you probably haven't seen it yet (it made less that $20 million at the box office), we recommend that you grab one too. Trust us, you'll have a ton of fun with it.

A

Dredd is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and VOD.

Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey are in this.