“Cynical and glorifying violence”, is the well-founded accusation to which the comic book template was already subjected. No wonder, since the Dirty Harry-inspired character of Judge Dredd - who first appeared in the British SF anthology “2000 AD” in 1977 - unites the executive, judicial and legislative powers of a desolate and totalitarian state in a single person. “I am the law”, proclaims the giant, whose face is never seen in its entirety before he reaches for his ‘Lawgiver’. The question is asked later.
After an unsuccessful first film adaptation (1995, with Sylvester Stallone), Pete Travis succeeds with Dredd, not least thanks to Karl Urban's stoic performance in the title role, a straightforward, unsentimental firecracker. He condenses the story to around 24 hours in a sealed-off mega-block where the dreaded Ma-Ma dealer clan has to be taken down, which ultimately amounts to extermination. Screenwriter Alex Garland is not afraid of the moral dubiousness of the material. He doesn't find any answers either - but cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle adds a drug-induced third dimension in super slow motion, which turns the effects of the use of violence into incredulously marveled physical marvels.
