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| Mega-City One as realised by 2000AD artist Gary Erskine |
Did you spot the difference? The cinematic city totally lacks the claustrophobic nature of the true Mega-City. There's breathing room between the tower blocks - that's not right! In the long shots it looks like it could be any major 21st Century city.
And if they can't get a simple detail like that right you have to question how else the film has deviated from the established canon.
At least (I believe) in this one, Dredd keeps his face covered the whole time...
"During a routine day on the job, Dredd (Karl Urban) is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture- a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan's inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound's control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival."Sounds as though the film could do justice to Judge Anderson though and what geek doesn't love Lena Headey (Sarah Connor Chronicles, Game Of Thrones, 300), right?
Dredd opens here a week on Friday and in the meantime check out the British website and American website for the film.
I don't know. I've not read 2000AD since the early 80s but the picture seems a bit too bright and glossy to me whereas the trailer seems to capture the concrete and grime I remember from yesteryear. Of course, it was a long time ago and may be mis-remembering.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I've read 2000AD properly for about a decade, but I've always seen Mega-City One as a claustrophobic city on many levels and that's just not the impression I get from the trailer. That said the costuming, vehicles etc all look great and if the film's any good then I'll eventually forget that everything looks so wide-open and spacious ;-)
DeleteYou're right, those block towers are way too spread out. How can you have a block war when the next tower is a mile away? And the plot sounds similar to The Raid: Redemption. Other than that, though, the visuals look pretty good. I'll probably go see it.
ReplyDelete-Ed Green
It's a DVD purchase/rental for me, not so much a reflection on the film as the stupid prices our local cinema charges ;)
DeletePleased to hear I'm not alone in thinking their MC1 looks wrong - the "block wars" point is a very good one. That was something, at least, that the Stallone movie got right!
Thinking back to other urban films, Bladerunner and the fifth Element both had cities that seemed to loom over everything that happened, to be a part of the story almost. You'd think that that would be the goal for any story set in Mega-City one.
ReplyDeleteYou would have thought that, yes ;) MC1 is as much as character in the stories as Dredd, Anderson and co.
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