Dredd (2012)

Dredd was awesome but I didn't like it. Let me elaborate.

Awesome: The most honest single comic book adaptation I've ever seen. This film was completely accurate to the source material. Unlike the 90's Stallone adaptation where Hollywoodization abounded, I couldn't pinpoint a single thing in this film that wouldn't have happened in the comics. It was dark, ultraviolent, and unapologetic. We never see Dredd's face. His dialogue is to-the-point, almost monosyllabic. The sets, the non-distracting camera work. I could go on.

I didn't like: The ultraviolence. A sure sign I'm getting old is I just can't stomach the unrelenting violence in action and emotion abounding in this film. This is a personal taste, a subjective one. The only thing is, that's the essence of the comics. The unapologetic, impersonal, unrelenting execution of the law of Mega-City One. So bravo for the filmmakers in their unflinching translation.

Now for the sake of disclosure, while I am logging this in my list as 4/10 for personal subjective reasons. In an objective light, such as when discussing the merits or demerits of a work of adaptation, I will give it a resounding 10/10. If you read the Judge Dredd comics and recall wondering what it would be like to actually see it? You're in luck.

The fact that someone finally made a movie based on a comic book and yet restrained themselves from changing whatever they damn well pleased... it pleases me.