Dredd 3D

[Don Rosco]

14 hours ago, Padaxes said:

If you wanted to pick one Dredd anthology type book to buy what would it be ?

 I think case files 5:

 

https://shop.2000ad.com/catalogue/GRN281

[lolly]

Dredd 3D is a drab , mean little movie that captures none of the occasionally  garish and over the top design of the comics, the satire or the humour(except on one or two occasions). It's  an excellent  action movie in it's own right.

 

Judge Dredd is an aesthetically fantastic  ego vehicle for Stallone that again captures none of the satire our humour of the comics. It should have been given to Verhoeven  and starred Michael Biehn or someone (possibly chinnier- Jay Leno). It is an excellent looking movie in it's own right.

[Ste Pickford]

4 hours ago, lolly said:

Dredd 3D is a drab , mean little movie that captures none of the occasionally  garish and over the top design of the comics, the satire or the humour(except on one or two occasions). It's  an excellent  action movie in it's own right.

 

Judge Dredd is an aesthetically fantastic  ego vehicle for Stallone that again captures none of the satire our humour of the comics. It should have been given to Verhoeven  and starred Michael Biehn or someone (possibly chinnier- Jay Leno). It is an excellent looking movie in it's own right.

 

Yeah.  Anyone who only knows Judge Dredd from the two movies, but has never read the comics, would have a completely incorrect idea of what Dredd is all about.

[Bazjam]

Alex Garland (who wrote and unofficially directed Dredd 3D) is like many of us a lifelong 2000ad fan. And for me, he absolutely captures the character and world of Dredd. Obviously the visuals are compromised for budgetary reasons, but it still has a great look about it. The humour of the early progs is definitely played down, but its still there. The line "Drug bust" had me laughing harder than I have in many comedy films of recent years.

 

Bloody love this film.

[El Geet]

1 minute ago, Bazjam said:

Alex Garland (who wrote and unofficially directed Dredd 3D) is like many of us a lifelong 2000ad fan. And for me, he absolutely captures the character and world of Dredd. Obviously the visuals are compromised for budgetary reasons, but it still has a great look about it. The humour of the early progs is definitely played down, but its still there. The line "Drug bust" had me laughing harder than I have in many comedy films of recent years.

 

Bloody love this film.

I was a 2000AD subscriber back in the day (1984-91 more or less). Dredd 3D captures some of the Dredd feel and the less fun aspects of the comic.  It is a good action flick but it’s not ‘my’ Dredd or MC1, the aesthetic of which was much better captured in the otherwise awful Stallone vehicle.

 

But perhaps Dredd has morphed into something more gritty over time - I haven’t kept up tbh.

[ZOK]

19 minutes ago, Bazjam said:

Alex Garland (who wrote and unofficially directed Dredd 3D) is like many of us a lifelong 2000ad fan. And for me, he absolutely captures the character and world of Dredd. Obviously the visuals are compromised for budgetary reasons, but it still has a great look about it. The humour of the early progs is definitely played down, but its still there. The line "Drug bust" had me laughing harder than I have in many comedy films of recent years.

 

Bloody love this film.

Garland is unarguably one of this generation’s worst writers, and his hacky fingerprints all over Dredd 3D is possibly why the story is so pedestrian.

 

Honestly, the shootout between Dredd and the mystifyingly poor fake judges in that kitchen or whatever it is is one of the worst action sequences committed to film.

 

 

[Bazjam]

19 minutes ago, ZOK said:

Garland is unarguably one of this generation’s worst writers, and his hacky fingerprints all over Dredd 3D is possibly why the story is so pedestrian.

 

Honestly, the shootout between Dredd and the mystifyingly poor fake judges in that kitchen or whatever it is is one of the worst action sequences committed to film.

 

 

I normally find myself in line with your taste in film, but this is just crazy talk.

[Chadruharazzeb]

On 22/08/2021 at 00:36, Steve McQueef said:

Christ, what age is Sandman? 

 

I was 17 when it came out.

 

Me too! 

[RFT]

Isn;t the point that with Dredd, the "source material" tone varies so wildly from story to story (like week-to-week, if there's not an ongoing serial in the prog. you might have a light funy story one week and a very hard hitting exploration of police brutality the next), that no film is ever going to be able to encompass it all?

 

Dredd 2012 does encompass a particular kind of story and focuses on that throughout. Judge Dredd 1995 tries to do both (serious action movie with comedy elements) and fails.

 

There was talk from people involved, it;ll be in the thread somewhere, of a plan to introduce the wacky and supernatural in later films once the world was established (in much the way the MCU started out relatively grounded with a movie about a guy who invents power armour, then ramped up to space and wizards over time).

[Festoon]

On 23/08/2021 at 09:53, El Geet said:

 

But perhaps Dredd has morphed into something more gritty over time - I haven’t kept up tbh.

 

It has, but the style of the film is quite like some of the earlier iterations of MC1.

 

It's based on stuff like this.

(The first pic)

 

But everyone wants stuff like the others.

[ZOK]

I don’t think it’s very much like the first picture either:

 

 

More like Birmingham with a load of massive skyscrapers bunged in. But really, the architecture is way down the list of Dredd 3D’s failings in my view.

[PK]

1 hour ago, Festoon said:

 

 

I realise I'm just proving your point here, but which artist is this?

[Fry Crayola]

Martin Handford - if you look closely you can just see Wally getting hauled off to the cubes for loitering.

 

Spoiler

This is not a serious post.

 

[ZOK]

This is Mega-City One by the king, Carlos Ezquerra - from Prog 3 of 2000AD (and CE’s unpublished Dredd pilot strip):

 

[Festoon]

1 hour ago, ZOK said:

This is Mega-City One by the king, Carlos Ezquerra - from Prog 3 of 2000AD (and CE’s unpublished Dredd pilot strip):

 

 

Yeah, but not all renditions looked like that. Particularly at the time. It's way too Dan Dare for me. I much prefer Mike McMahon's city, which is what the 95 film is largely modelled on anyhow.

 

Personally, my own fav style is Dave Taylor's organic city which is way away from 'classic' MC1. Or Henry Flint's rain soaked city, both of which are variations of McMahon's style.

[ZOK]

Dan Dare?!?! The clear influence there is Moebius, and the reason there were hardly any renditions that depart from Ezquerra’s template for so long (and I’ve no time for the ones that do) was because it’s such an inspirational and iconic take on a future megalopolis.  
 

McMahon is equally one of the visionaries of MC1, but he was channelling Ezquerra’s template into his own style, not departing from it.

Having said that, it’s all down to personal taste, and I’m totally cool with people preferring different interpretations of the style. Just not if it’s Dredd 3D.

 

[Festoon]

8 hours ago, ZOK said:

Dan Dare?!?! The clear influence there is Moebius, and the reason there were hardly any renditions that depart from Ezquerra’s template for so long (and I’ve no time for the ones that do) was because it’s such an inspirational and iconic take on a future megalopolis.  
 

McMahon is equally one of the visionaries of MC1, but he was channelling Ezquerra’s template into his own style, not departing from it.

Having said that, it’s all down to personal taste, and I’m totally cool with people preferring different interpretations of the style. Just not if it’s Dredd 3D.

 

 

I always thought of Colin Wilson as being the obviously-Mobeius tribute guy but I can see a bit of it in Ezquerra. But Ron Smith did plug away with his vision of the Big Meg for hundreds of issues in the late 70 and early 80s (I reckon he was by far the dominant Dredd artist for a long period in that time) and I think that was more the style the film, for budget reasons, was aping. Sorta Graveyard Shift-style. It wasn't just picked up from nowhere, essentially, as I've seen people on the net say, just because it isn't Ezquerra-derived. Hardly matters though.

 

But, if you don't like film, you don't like it, I suppose.

[Ste Pickford]

11 hours ago, ZOK said:

This is Mega-City One by the king, Carlos Ezquerra - from Prog 3 of 2000AD (and CE’s unpublished Dredd pilot strip):

 

 

Pat Mills always talks about this drawing as the one that really nailed Dredd and his city when the comic strip and character were still in the concept stage, blowing him away and changing what they thought the character could / should be.

 

So this drawing really does have a good claim to be the defining image of Judge Dredd and Mega City One.

I think Colin Macneill draws the best Mega City One at the moment.

[ZOK]

It’s an interesting conversation because when it comes down to it, while Dredd is the main protagonist of the strip, it’s not really his story at all, more a sprawling story about the Mega-City itself, and what it does to the people who live in it, with Dredd as the cypher.

 

Which is another issue I have with Dredd 3D, and where it falls down by comparison with Judge Dredd. What do we learn about Mega-City One in that flick that you couldn’t already imagine if someone told you it was going to be a film about criminals in a future urban jungle? Absolutely nothing. It’s so devoid of imagination, which is a crime (clever Justice Department wordplay, cheers) when it is supposedly drawing from such a wildly abundant source. Garland has always been a witless hack, and this is his film for sure.

 

I remember reading a Judge Dredd text story when I was a kid that was in a Summer Special or something, about a law-abiding citizen who commits the cardinal sin when living amongst 800 million people - he loses his temper. It was over something inconsequential, and everything spirals out of control, ending of course in the iso cubes. That sense of oppression really stuck with me, and it’s just one of the eight million stories in the naked Mega-City.
 

To fashion something so pedestrian out of such glorious material is simply a shame.

 

 

[b00dles]

I agree that dredd 3d isn't a good encapsulation of about 40 years of comics but one 90 minute movie that they couldn't get the budget for because the first attempt was more a stallone vehicle with art direction that we as fans recognised. 

 

It's easily the best version that was both going to earn them some money in general appeal and not completely fuck off the readers of the comics. 

 

As much as I'd have much rather had the Chopper storyline even, let alone judge child's quest, anything really "big" in the canon of mega city just wasn't going to be that successful I don't think. Hopefully the TV show being called mega city will allow the city as a character and the judges being there as the cops rather than the "hero" specifically will work better. 

 

It's tricky though which is why I think dredd 3d is a good adaptation, people enjoyed it that didn't know the comics whereas the stallone one was a flop for all audiences. 

 

Although I blame the Rob schneider character for a lot of that too, Walter the wobot would have been better if they really needed some sort of counterpart to a solo character. Although they didn't really either. 

 

Or the best option; just give loads of money to George Miller to do it, the mad max storyboards were even drawn by an ex 2000AD artist as it is

[Festoon]

35 minutes ago, b00dles said:

I agree that dredd 3d isn't a good encapsulation of about 40 years of comics but one 90 minute movie that they couldn't get the budget for because the first attempt was more a stallone vehicle with art direction that we as fans recognised. 

 

It's easily the best version that was both going to earn them some money in general appeal and not completely fuck off the readers of the comics. 

 

As much as I'd have much rather had the Chopper storyline even, let alone judge child's quest, anything really "big" in the canon of mega city just wasn't going to be that successful I don't think. Hopefully the TV show being called mega city will allow the city as a character and the judges being there as the cops rather than the "hero" specifically will work better. 

 

It's tricky though which is why I think dredd 3d is a good adaptation, people enjoyed it that didn't know the comics whereas the stallone one was a flop for all audiences. 

 

Although I blame the Rob schneider character for a lot of that too, Walter the wobot would have been better if they really needed some sort of counterpart to a solo character. Although they didn't really either. 

 

Or the best option; just give loads of money to George Miller to do it, the mad max storyboards were even drawn by an ex 200AD artist as it is

 

Oh man, don't drag Brendan McCarthy into this... 

 

I agree with this take though!

[Monkeyboy]

The only thing worth watching the first film for is Stallone’s French interpretation of Dredd.

 

”I yam de luurrr!”

[b00dles]

1 hour ago, Festoon said:

 

Oh man, don't drag Brendan McCarthy into this... 

 

I agree with this take though!

Well yeah (although as a young kid, I did think krool from bad company was well wicked to use the parlance for my age and the time )

 

I just meant more that he has a much more provable ability to take a comic and put it on film than zac Snyder without also completely failing to understand the story behind the images looking cool. 

[JamesC]

I like Dredd 3D  - it's a nice tight thriller with some great touches. I thought Urban was pretty good as Dredd and I really liked Anderson (though she was nothing like the comic character).

 

Stallone's Judge Dredd is a mess but again, there are some nice bits in it. The production design is pretty good and I think you can tell that Danny Cannon was fighting with the studio and Stallone's ego. If Cannon had a bit more clout I think we'd have ended up with a better film.

 

When all's said and done, the best Dredd film is still Robocop. It has enough of Dredd's DNA in it that I can't imagine any fan of the Dredd strip isn't a fan of the Robocop movie.

[ZOK]

3 hours ago, b00dles said:

Well yeah (although as a young kid, I did think krool from bad company was well wicked to use the parlance for my age and the time )

 

I just meant more that he has a much more provable ability to take a comic and put it on film than zac Snyder without also completely failing to understand the story behind the images looking cool. 

I always used to think Bad Company was the single worst drawn strip they had ever printed in the history of the comic (I probably stopped reading it regularly around 2000 or so, having read it since 1977).

 

I think I liked it in the end though!

[Steve McQueef]

Quote

...you can tell that Danny Cannon was fighting with the studio and Stallone's ego...

 

 

Quote

In interviews over the years, Stallone has claimed that Cannon's way of trying to assert his authority was to jump out of his director's chair and yell that everyone should fear him.

I'm sure the truth is much more boring.

[b00dles]

35 minutes ago, ZOK said:

I always used to think Bad Company was the single worst drawn strip they had ever printed in the history of the comic (I probably stopped reading it regularly around 2000 or so, having read it since 1977).

 

I think I liked it in the end though!

I never liked his style and that other hair dresser (iirc?) character he drew and I think invented I never got on with but then I was reading a lot of the early ones my elder brother had bought solely for the pictures to an extent. I was only born in 80 but my brother got it every week so I had a lot to get through in between my own copies of mask magazine or whizzer n chips or whatever. 

 

I just thought krool looked good, I didn't even read bad company really until a lot later. 

[JamesC]

Brett Ewins drew most of Bad Company and made a great job of it. The first story was cracking but it was never that good again. 

[b00dles]

I'm evidently getting my British comic artists from 30 years ago beginning with b mixed up. 

 

Tsk.

[Don Rosco]

No shame in mixing up Ewins and McCarthy, they’re cut from the same cloth. I think they were very close and started out as artists together.