Fantastic Fest Review: ‘Dredd’ Packs a Very Hard, Very Cool Punch

Dredd 3D succeeds in simplicity where the 1995 Sylvester Stallone action flick, Judge Dredd, failed in ambition. The comics clearly have a rich mythology, but when it comes to futuristic law enforcers taking out bad guys in a post-apocalyptic city, what more is needed than kickass, hard-hitting action? Dredd delivers in abundance. There isn’t much depth here, but any ideas that should go further than the surface are quickly forgotten under hails of bullets, furies of hand-to-hand strikes, and awesome blasts of violence that make Punisher: War Zone comparisons more than flattering. Dredd kicks ass, and that’s all it needs to do. Actor Karl Urban and the gigantic helmet should share credit as Dredd, a Judge in the future environment of Mega City One. Stretching from Boston to Washington DC, the city is home to 800 million people packing themselves in to keep away from the wasteland that has taken over most …