Dredd (rumoured) movie script discussion - WITH SPOILERS

[exilewood]

I've read the script - I was going to say exactly what I thought...but then I saw that 'SmallBlueThing' has said everything I wanted to say. Spot on, mate.

[flintlockjaw]

I think it's a perfect cast and perfect script...with some tweaking it'll be fantastic.

As long as Mr.Wagner has a say...it can't go wrong.

[Beeks]

Having read the initial pages of the script up to the lockdown it doesn't seem as bad as people are making out...

I will continue reading over the next week whilst bored in work so I have a better overall view...but the script premise looks promising if unoriginal 

[Radbacker]

I like it but have absulutly no writting skilz so cant tell weather its actually a good script, i will say once i started reading it I couldn't stop so thats a possitive.  But the man they've got in there shooting non-leathally through inoccents to hit a perp is classic Dredd if you ask me, the destructivness of the weaponry as demonstrated when the Gang blast out a whole level through walls and all seems on par with MC1's universe, theres the different rounds voice activated in Lawgiver, he rides a big fat wheeled bike with TFD (total fucking destruction) cannons on it, yep i reeally think the script has Dredd dead on.

Also dont scripts change quite a bit when they actually start to shoot the movie so any of the boo boo's might get ironed out in the shooting script.

CU Radbacker

[John Caliber]

The profanity is scarce, making it jarring when it does occur. The story wouldn't suffer to be rid of it. At least it isn't being deployed as a dramatic substitute for dialogue or to endow characters with 'instant personality'.

[Goosegash]

My opinion on the "Peach Trees" script is it would make a competent action movie, just not a great Dredd movie. I understand why they've had to confine the action to a few locations, but it just feels too small scale. We get no real sense of what the Judges actually represent, or what MC-1 is actually like. And the lack of humour bothers me as well.

To be brutally honest, it feels dumbed down for the kind of cinema audience who like to see ass-kickings and shit blowing up, but don't want to have to think too hard about it. As if Garland has deliberately avoided confronting the audience with the real implications of the world Dredd exists in.

Hmm. I think the reason I'm so disappointed by this is it has the potential be so much more than just a bog-standard action flick that'll be forgotten within six weeks of opening, but if they stick to the initial script outline I can't help feeling it's going to be a wasted opportunity.

[John Caliber]

Personally, I've never desired any form of Dredd live action. The stories work fantastically in comic strip format. The Western World has changed, and comics for whatever reason don't have much pull for a larger audience. Another Dredd movie is worth a shot, but will it benefit the comic's profits? Probably not significantly. However, I also enjoy decent action movies, so if this turns out to be fun, great (a Blu-Ray to look forward to).

I know that the sole driving force behind 2000AD and the Dredd movie/s is financial gain, so I hope it makes enough to satisfy Rebellion and its business partners, BUT I also hope that IF the movie fails badly at the Box Office, it will not impact on the comic book incarnation's publishing future. I can take or leave a movie/cartoon/computer game, but losing Dredd in print would be a tragedy.

[Spaceghost]

There is humour in the script, very 'Dredd-like' humour.

I haven't read it for a while so I might not have this exact but there's a great sequence where Dredd and Anderson are about to bust into a room full of tooled up junkies and Dredd says something like, "I've been waiting for you to realise that you left your helmet back at the Grand Hall.", Anderson replies, "I didn't forget it, it interferes with my psychic abilities.", Dredd then replies, "Not as much as a bullet would.".

Pure Dredd!

[radiator]

To be brutally honest, it feels dumbed down for the kind of cinema audience who like to see ass-kickings and shit blowing up, but don't want to have to think too hard about it. As if Garland has deliberately avoided confronting the audience with the real implications of the world Dredd exists in.

Hmm, I see what you're saying, but at the end of the day all this movie has to do is establish Dredd himself - it's worth remembering that the strip didn't even start to question the morality of Dredd's actions until at least ten years into it's existence, so there's an argument that such things shouldn't be explored until film 2 or 3.

There's another point that (as I said in my previous post) Garland seems to have tweaked the setup of Dredd's world a bit to make the judges seem a bit more reasonable and sympathetic, which is fine by me - it is an adaptation after all.

I'm sure we all have our own fantasy version of the Dredd movie we'd like to see (mine would probably be a $200m, Chris Nolan directed epic adaptation of Total War spliced with elements of America and deals with BIG IMPORTANT THEMES and everything) but realistically, a stripped down, high octane action movie is probably the way to go. And while us few thousand hardcore fans love all of the modern tales that are deeper and more morally ambiguous, there are hundreds of thousands of more casual Dredd fans out there, and all they want from a Dredd movie is to see him kick some arse.
 

the lack of humour bothers me as well.

There's certainly humour in there - the 10 or so pages I read had at least two or three moments that will be laugh out loud on the screen, though the humour is blacker and less overt than when Wagner is writing. I still have a concern that they might pitch the city wrong - on a related note, everyone should check out Matt Smith's intro to the Mega City Masters 01 tpb - he sums up the appeal Mega-City One perfectly.

And as for those (somehow) already writing off the 'Slo-Mo' thing as a 'Bullet Time' rip-off - come off it. Garland, MacDonald and co are savvy guys - and I trust that they have in mind something a bit cooler than that.

[CraveNoir]

Casting. This won't be of any interest if you've not read read the script (if at all).

Sven Ruygrok, a young South African actor who's in forthcoming film Spud, and who was in a notorious Frosties advert a few years ago has been cast in Dredd. I know he auditioned about three weeks ago, and I thought he may be up for the role of Ma-Ma's robo-eyed tek-geek.

Auditions have been going on throughout September. I expect casting news to trickle out over the next couple of weeks. The interesting ones will be the Chief Judge, Ma-Ma, and her right-hand man.

[ruud316]

 

It would have been simple, Start with Judge Cal, just make it virtualy board for board of the mega epic, and you would of had a kick ass film.

Then at the end of the film have Judge Death appear so as to make a teaser for a sequel, then for the 3rd film do the Apocalypse War, have Orlok breaking into a water treatment plant at the end of the second film.

Someone said that books don't translate well directly to screen, but 2000AD is not a book or a script essentially all a comic is, is a film in frames with the speech and sounds written down.

Sounds as if they are running with their own story with no classic villians!? I hope it's a set up film like Batman Begins which wasn't great, but was very watchable, but lead to one of the best films ever.

God I wish I was in the film making business.

1: You can save money on story boards just use the bloody comic!

2: You can save money on story writing just use the bloody comic!

3: Coming up with a story idea wont be difficult if you use the bloody comic!

4: Don't make it shit! Use the bloody comic!

[clavell]

Hi.

I just found this lying around in a folder, having forgotten all about it. Gave it a quick read. And enjoyed it.

It does have some typical action movie moments, and the narcotic effect is a bit obviously sourced from bullet time, but there are enough "Dredd" lines to make it feel like "Dredd". They even got in a mention of Judge Death - some clan guy has a Judge Death tattoo - and I liked the ending too. No slow clapping from an adoring crowd, just a walk back to his bike and back to the streets.

Of course, it's all subject to change for the usual film making reasons, but the story is an easy introduction to Dredd for a mass audience, and a good setup for a sequel.

- C