This is Serious Business: Dredd Edition!
Jeff doesn’t do his homework as the panel breaks down Dredd 3D, aka DREDD3D. SPOILERS!
Moderator: Jeff
Panel: Marcus, Rob, Christin
Table of Contents:
Part 1: 0:00 – 17:00
– Intros
– Favorite Action Movies
– The Stallone version
– Initial Impressions of Dredd 3D
Part 2: 17:00 – 41:40
– Anderson discussion
– Ma-Ma discussion
– Favorite moments
Part 3: 41:40 – 1:14:42
– More favorites
– Stuff that was lacking
– Ratings
– Open Discussion
– Wrap up
Audio Credits:
Break one audio is a clip from the 1995 “Judge Dredd” movie dist. by Hollywood Pictures
Break two audio is from the trailer for “Dredd 3D” dist by Lionsgate
Interesting review but anyone who says Dredd doesn’t have a character arc – or is even a character – is not paying attention.
I see the end-scene as an inversion of the conclusion to Dirty Harry where Harry throws his badge and dismisses the system he no longer has faith in, into the river.
In Dredd, instead of a badge being thrown away, Anderson hands (throws) her badge to Dredd. Unlike Harry Callaghan throwing the problem away, Dredd accepts the problem – the alternative possibility that Anderson has awoken in him – by keeping the badge. Anderson handing Dredd her badge was her way of taking control of the situation. She was actively challenging him to change his views about the role of a Judge by passing her as she was The dramatic point of that scene ends ultimately with Dredd as he’s left to ponder Anderson’s badge and what it represents: the possibility to make a difference rather than going through the motions of just doing the job- a non-violent alternative/adjunct to Instant Justice. An alternative he’s never really considered.
Anderson’s walk away is a make your mind up, it’s up to you moment. Ending with Anderson getting her ‘full eagle’ would’ve been a cliched (false) positive beat and would’ve ruined the open-ended, detached feeling Dredd is left with.*
I think there’s also a circularity between this end scene and Anderson’s intro in the briefing-room at the start of the film. Both the end and briefing scene contain the same three characters: Dredd, Chief Judge and Anderson. In the briefing, Anderson is told to scan and see and identify who Dredd is. She sees the control, the rage etc. but is stopped when she gets deeper and finds something which I believe is Dredd’s deep-rooted sense of doubt that is behind or part of his fierce sense of control. This is the Dredd arc we get a hint of at the end, Dredd’s consideration of his doubts and Anderson’s make a difference when he’s left to gaze at Anderson’s badge.
Not sure why people think that things need to be said rather than shown, there’s a lot of subtext in Dredd and Dredd has such a huge potential for story lines that it’s being set-up form more films. This is an intro to the character and the world.
Also mutants aren’t allowed in Mega City 1 – they live outside the city walls – Anderson is an exception because she’s ‘useful’ to the Justice Dept.
That’s a valid interpretation, but it also requires a tremendous amount of insight that’s difficult to expect from the audience of movie like this. It provides so little insight into Dredd’s decision-making process and portrays Anderson’s walk as so definitively dejected (she pushes the medic away, refuses to talk to the head justice, etc), that we can’t definitively assume she’s giving Dredd a choice rather than accepting a negative outcome.
Dredd may be giving her the badge because she understood her trivial failures despite the extreme nature of the circumstances (she admits to losing her gun, etc). He may be giving her the badge because they both somehow, someway, miraculously made it out of there alive. He may be giving her the badge because she kicked a lot of ass (and saved his life). We don’t know. We just have to guess.
While I like your interpretation (and buy it), I doubt the majority of the audience is going to share it. Showing may be better than telling, but when our lead character doesn’t have a face, we need more words.
I think Dredd’s rigid, black & white actions as a character are such a massive indicator of who he is and what he believes and stands for that he needs relatively little dialogue to communicate what it is that makes him tick, internally.
Anderson is the opposite of Dredd – who believes in results through sheer force – and as they ascend the block Anderson begins to make a huge impression on him as dramatised in a few key scenes such as Anderson getting a better result through invasive non-violence in the Kay interrogation as opposed to Dredd’s lack of result thorugh brutality.
The pivotal scene where Dredd confronts the corrupt Judges was there to make it clear to the audience – and Dredd – that he and the bent Judge have a lot in common. Dredd looks like a good guy next to him, but that scene is pivotal to Dredd’s realisation that Anderson has something years on the streets can’t give you, and that his dismissive attitude to Anderson’s desire to use her position to help people puts him on the same moral footing as the bent Judge. It’s a key scene that helps Dredd make his decision to pass Anderson.
I think Dredd’s resigned attitude at the end – well portrayed by Urban – while pondering to give Anderson the ‘pass’ – something he wouldn’t have done beforehand – shows how Anderson’s ability to think differently has affected him and his exacting standards.
I’m not sure an understanding of the arcs of both characters is beyond the film’s audience. They will feel the changes even if they don’t understand them, feel enough to ask the question why?
THE awesome panel? Weak, Christin. Really weak.
😉