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Rewatching the OTHER Dredd movie...

Started by Alski, 16 August, 2012, 04:40:25 PM

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Alski

I haven't seen it for ages, so dusted it off and gave it a go.

It's amazing how much it actually did well. The Uniform, the Hall Of Justice, Mega City's look, The Angel Gang, The ABC Robot, the City Wall... it should have been a great film.

Obviously the biggest mistake was losing the helmet for most of the film, but that could have been bearable if the script wasn't such pants. The soundbites were horrendous - "I knew you'd say that" "Court adjourned" - and the plot was paper thin at best.

Somewhere inside there was a great Dredd film trying to get out, a shame it never made it.
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James Stacey

wonder if it could be saved through the magic of modern effects and editing
Tighten it up a la the 'Phantom Edit' , less Schneider less one liners, and a CG helmet. Wont help the plot much but it could make it less shit. The visuals as you say Alski are mostly spot on

Kowalsky (formerly JudgeGumpty)

Remove and incinerate any schneider footage, CGI a helmet on "dalaaaaaaeeuuurgh" himself, delete Angel Gang scene, dull down the "happy neon signage", delete Hammerstein scene, any quirky shite quotes remove and your probably left with about 15 minutes of watchable Dredd.
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JOE SOAP

Quote from: Alski on 16 August, 2012, 04:40:25 PM
Somewhere inside there was a great Dredd film trying to get out, a shame it never made it.



I wish that were true but I can't see any evidence of there being such a thing. Nobody who had any responsibility or power seemed to know what they were doing and with what they were doing it with.

radiator

I haven't seen it all the way through in 10/15 years. Sometimes watch the odd ten minutes when it pops up on the telly every now and then.

I must admit that I'm probably going to buy the Blu Ray at some point - I've never actually owned the film on any format, and feel like I should now the new film's coming - just to have as a curio, and sit them side by side on the shelf (Minty too if that ever makes it's way onto physical media of some kind). And let's face it, as bad as a Dredd adaptation it is, it's still a fairly watchable movie.

The only thing is, is the upcoming BD release looks awful - I can't bring myself to buy a Dredd film where they use this image on the cover:



So I might have to get the German version.

IndigoPrime

Even the look of the film is suspicious on the second viewing, when it becomes readily apparent they keep redressing the same set.

radiator

It bothers me when people say "at least they got the look right".

Really? There's a few passable-to-good pieces of design in there - Dredd's helmet, Mean Machine, Hammerstein, the Grand Hall - but the city always looked wrong to me.

Very obviously shot on a sound-stage, very shiny, very Blade Runner-lite. It doesn't feel remotely lived-in. The city of the new Dredd film certainly isn't the Mega-City we know from the comics, but it's much, much closer than the Stallone version. I love that the new version is using real locations instead of relying on sets and greenscreen, and I love how they put the City-Blocks front and centre with small buildings clustered around them - Stallone's MC1 just looked like generic future city. Somehow, despite the old-fashioned vehicles, it looks like a much better approximation of Mega City than I was expecting.

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Spikes

Ive never seen the Stallone Dredd all the way through, in fact ive only caught about 10-15 minutes of it max, and that was from a showing on Ch5 when you couldnt get a very good picture, as well.
For all i know its a fantastic film,  ;)
Slightly suprised that somebody hasnt done a tarted up special edition for this, now that the new film is coming out.

JOE SOAP

Quote from: Judge Jack on 16 August, 2012, 07:16:43 PM
Slightly suprised that somebody hasnt done a tarted up special edition for this, now that the new film is coming out.


I don't think Disney believe it's worth the money and effort to go back there.

Diminished Responsibility

Quote from: JOE SOAP on 16 August, 2012, 07:35:32 PM
Quote from: Judge Jack on 16 August, 2012, 07:16:43 PM
Slightly suprised that somebody hasnt done a tarted up special edition for this, now that the new film is coming out.


I don't think Disney believe it's worth the money and effort to go back there.

I doubt they're the only ones.

I honestly can't say there is anything I like about that film. maybe the robot Schneider crawls into, but only because it got him out of sight for a few minutes.

Mean Machine looked the part I guess, as did Hammerstein, but he shouldn't have even been there.
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Spikes

Quote from: Diminished Responsibility on 16 August, 2012, 08:16:41 PM
Quote from: JOE SOAP on 16 August, 2012, 07:35:32 PM
Quote from: Judge Jack on 16 August, 2012, 07:16:43 PM
Slightly suprised that somebody hasnt done a tarted up special edition for this, now that the new film is coming out.


I don't think Disney believe it's worth the money and effort to go back there.
I doubt they're the only ones.

All very true, i suspect.

Steve Green

I do actually quite like the set despite its problems, it doesn't live up to the concept art and there is not nearly enough of it, and needed more room to breathe.

The main problem with it is everything is vying for attention and it harms the overall look.

Even the DNA film has green screen to fill out the interiors.

Toni Scandella

I liked the line 'Eat recycled food! It's good for the environment, and OK for you!' and the bit where Mean Machine says 'Izzat so?' was faithful to the comics... and there _were_ some good bits of design, as lots of people will concede.

I don't even blame Stallone all that much - he was just making another Stallone movie.  Some of those are quite good fun.

Aside from that, everything else was a disappointment.