FILM: Dredd 3D (dir: Pete Travis, 2012)

"FREEZE!"
"Why?"

First, the elephant in the room: the near-identical plotting that Dredd shares with The Raid draws unfortunate comparisons but does not mean that Dredd is a bad film in its own right.  The 2012 incarnation is much more enjoyable than Danny Cannon's 90s version - mercifully, no Rob Schneider here - and presents a well-realised, gritty and grimy dystopian Mega City One, with Karl Urban's mask-covered reading of Dredd himself coming across as more grounded, intense and single-minded, and more in line with the 2000 A.D. version.  This is a full-blooded sci-fi-actioner, with the slo-mo conceit of the narrative's addictive drug providing opportunities for some inventive 3D splatter, and the CG effects work is generally strong throughout for a mid-budget film.  Direction is effective, and the noisy score works well, but the straightforward procession of narrative does little more than tick story boxes, however, and the lack of surprise or real threat flattens the film somewhat, although Lena Headey provides the film with a coldly powerful villain.  Without the sheer visceral power and poetry and the emotional clout of The Raid, Dredd 3D is a solid, effective but slightly unmemorable movie.