Review Dredd 3D (2012): Enjoyable enough but certainly not deserving of the praise it is getting.

genre:action, science fiction,

Maybe my expectations were too high, but I can't be very enthusiastic concerning Dredd. 

It has a simple premise where all focus should have been on splendid action. And there was plenty of action. But splendid or wonderful? No, apart from a few action scenes nothing stood out. Karl Urban and Olivia Thirlby made the roles their own but are not given much depth. The use of slow motion was fun the first few times when it was shown but later it became a little tedious and simply did not add or enhance the experience. And this is coming from someone who loves slow motion in films and video games. It is strange that the slow motion effect rarely is used in the shoot out scenes where they would make more sense. Maybe they thought it would be too much like The Matrix. Still it would have improved the enjoyment of the action scenes that were pretty bland without it. For the most part I really got into the universe that was set up. I only wished they would have given more background on the Judges and what makes them more than just super cops. Especially for the ones including me that aren't familiar with the comics. My biggest problem with the film was that I missed some basic tension and suspense. Here you have two judges locked in who are put against a large number of thugs. Only none of them really put of much a fight. With Ma Ma at the helm and in control of the building you would expect more pressure on the heroes or at least some clever cat and mouse play. It makes you question of why all these thugs fear Ma Ma in the first place. Dredd 3D is enjoyable enough but certainly not deserving of the praise it is getting.

Edit 30-12-2014:
Dredd in premise is incredibly similar to The Raid: Redemption. Which in it's turn is heavily inspired by Die Hard. If the director of The Raid claims otherwise then he is lying. 

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