Dredd

Set in the grimly photogenic apocalyptic future movies have been warning us about for decades, Dredd 3D tells the story of the ultimate law enforcement agent, Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) – he’s judge, jury and executioner on every case he investigates – as he takes a rookie judge (Olivia Thirlby) through the paces of a normal day to see if her she has the potential to be a judge despite her miserable academy test scores. It’s pretty clear early on the ‘normal’ is not a word in Judge Dredd’s vocabulary when his investigation of a grisly murder at a ghetto apartment block leads him to go head-to-head with a ruthless drug queen named Ma-Ma (Lena Heady) and her psychopathic minions. Urban plays Dredd with such a 'world-weariness that you half expect him to put the business end of his high tech weapon into his mouth and pull the trigger. If it wasn’t for the job, and the code of honor that makes him show up to do it every day, he might, too. Thirlby, best known for playing the wacky sidekick in light comedies like Juno and The Answer Man, shows she has a brass backbone as the rookie judge trying to prove herself. Like Dredd, her character never gets an instance to try and milk the audiences’ sympathy for her. And any fan can tell you that an action movie is only as good as the bad guy in it, and on that level Dredd 3D really scores bug time with Heady’s intense work as Ma-Ma. The script gives her plenty of moments to say and do lots of horribly nasty things, but it’s the way she makes ma-Ma feel like a threat when nothing is really happening that makes the part so effective.