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The trailers didn't leave that much of an impression on me, and based on the box office, the same can be said with pretty much everyone else. It wasn't until the flood of good reviews that my interest peaked and now I'm glad I saw it and got to experience it. For those who aren't sure, go see it! I hope this movie makes enough money to warrant a sequel because it deserves one.
I don't have anything negative to say about this movie other than Lena Headey's character was a little disappointing towards the end, she's set up to be this brutal, strong villain but then (POSSIBLE SPOILER SKIP TO NEXT PARAGRAPH) when confronted at the end she ends up being a coward and can't take on Dredd. True she wasn't that strong to take him on, but I expected there to at least be some sort of fight between them.
The other thing is that it's not entirely original...? That didn't bother me though, since this movie was so well done and felt like something fresh. To those who are saying this is a Raid Redemption rip-off clearly have no clue what they're talking about since this movie was in production way before, and as much as I loved The Raid, it wasn't exactly original or groundbreaking either.
Now onto the good things! As I mentioned it's not entirely original, we've seen the story and plot done a bunch of times but it's the way it's executed that makes it seem fresh again. I liked how well they illustrate what the city life is like: poor, filthy, and full of crime. It really made me even more invested in this world.
For a movie with a budget of around $45 million the effects are surprisingly well done. It could probably compete alongside some of the bigger budgeted films of the summer. The 3-D, unlike most of the movies that have come out in 3-D, is surprisingly well done. This is probably one of the best uses of 3-D this year so far alongside The Avengers, Prometheus, and yes Step up Revolution. I guess it's because like those movies, it was shot in 3-D. I only noticed mild blurriness, particularly during some of the action scenes but it wasn't discomforting to the eyes. Other than that the 3-D was good, it was mostly clear, wasn't murky, and there wasn't any low lighting that I noticed. It wasn't used as a gimmick like most 3-D is, the best are the slo-mo scenes in 3-D.
While I wouldn't call the characters three-dimensional(no pun intended) at least there was some characterization, which, I hate to say it The Raid lacked. I cared about these two judges, I was rooting for them the whole time and if you can manage to get me to do that, that's a big plus in my book. The actors all managed to play their characters well. Lena Headey was great with her over-the-top performance as the evil Ma-ma. Olivia Thirlby also stood out as playing the Psychic. I thought she did a great job with her transformation if you want to call it that. She seems nervous and a little scared in the beginning and it seems like she's definitely not cut out to be a Judge, the best example would be when she has to shoot someone and she can't find it in herself. Then she just turns into a complete bad ass, killing people like it's nothing and wanting to get out at no cost. I also liked how she wasn't a damsel in distress when she gets taken, she shows that she is capable of handling herself. I was afraid the movie was going to veer into that cliched path but luckily it didn't and I was pleasantly surprised by that. I was also pleasantly surprised by Karl Urban. I was skeptic of him because he does not strike me as an action/superhero-like person but he proved me wrong sort of like how Ryan Gosling proved me wrong last year with Drive. It's nice to see this happen once in a while and Karl Urban shows that he has no problem playing the role. I personally can't see anyone else playing this character but him now. He is one bad ass.
This movie is definitely not for the squeamish as I found myself once in a while squirming around in my seat. The action scenes are well-shot, there's no obnoxious shaky-cam that'll give you a headache afterwards. The pulse-pounding score elevates the action and tension. It's sad that scores like these get unnoticed by the academy.
Overall, this is one of the biggest surprises to me of 2012 so far. I didn't think I'd enjoy as much as I did. Sure it's not original but who cares when it's done as well as this. The Ma-Ma(Lena Headey) thing was disappointing but not so much that it completely ruined my enjoyment of the film because everything else was fantastic. The characters, the special effects, the score, the acting, and the well-shot action scenes all elevate the proceedings dramatically. This is such a great and fun movie that it should appeal to people outside of the action-junky demographic.
