DREDD 3D

DREDD 3D
Written by Alex Garland
Directed by Pete Travis
Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headley

Chief Judge: Sink or swim; chuck her in the deep end.
Judge Dredd: It’s all a deep end.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot remember seeing JUDGE DREDD, the 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone, that was based on the comic book of the same name. My brother tells me I needn’t relive it, describing it as Stallone at his worst, and Rob Schneider at his worst (which is really saying something when you think about it). And as this latest adaptation, by British director, Pete Travis, is entirely unrelated to the previous film, I’m glad I don’t have to. That said, DREDD 3D may end up being just as memorable in the end.

Screenwriter, Alex Garland, is responsible for some of the more interesting Danny Boyle films, like 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE, so it is rather puzzling to me how thin his work on DREDD 3D is. I understand the action is the point here, but there is truly nothing of note going on in this film. Two judges, which is to say futuristic police officers who have the authority to capture and sentence their perpetrators on the spot, are trapped inside a 200-story building that is run from top to bottom by a ruthless street gang. It’s two against dozens, which is certainly a good tension builder, but the depth stops there.

I preferred this movie when it was called THE RAID: REDEMPTION. At least that one relied on the action itself instead of special effects. Maybe DREDD 3D is just not for me. I think there was maybe just one too many heads exploding against the pavement in a bizarre slow motion effect that exists somewhere between glitter and gore for my taste.

DREDD 3D

DREDD 3D
Written by Alex Garland
Directed by Pete Travis
Starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headley

Chief Judge: Sink or swim; chuck her in the deep end.
Judge Dredd: It’s all a deep end.

No matter how hard I try, I cannot remember seeing JUDGE DREDD, the 1995 film starring Sylvester Stallone, that was based on the comic book of the same name. My brother tells me I needn’t relive it, describing it as Stallone at his worst, and Rob Schneider at his worst (which is really saying something when you think about it). And as this latest adaptation, by British director, Pete Travis, is entirely unrelated to the previous film, I’m glad I don’t have to. That said, DREDD 3D may end up being just as memorable in the end.

Screenwriter, Alex Garland, is responsible for some of the more interesting Danny Boyle films, like 28 DAYS LATER and SUNSHINE, so it is rather puzzling to me how thin his work on DREDD 3D is. I understand the action is the point here, but there is truly nothing of note going on in this film. Two judges, which is to say futuristic police officers who have the authority to capture and sentence their perpetrators on the spot, are trapped inside a 200-story building that is run from top to bottom by a ruthless street gang. It’s two against dozens, which is certainly a good tension builder, but the depth stops there.

I preferred this movie when it was called THE RAID: REDEMPTION. At least that one relied on the action itself instead of special effects. Maybe DREDD 3D is just not for me. I think there was maybe just one too many heads exploding against the pavement in a bizarre slow motion effect that exists somewhere between glitter and gore for my taste.

TIFF Review: NEVER LET ME GO

Written by Alex Garland

Directed by Mark Romanek

Starring Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield

Famed music video director, Mark Romanek, takes on Kazuo Ishiguro’s much loved and heavily praised novel, NEVER LET ME GO, as his second venture into feature filmmaking. It is a daring challenge indeed given the underlying questions about the value of human life but Romanek takes the challenge head on. I have not read the novel but, from what I understand, he gets the tone just right. That said, if the tone is meant to be one of cold disassociation, than perhaps it was never meant to be a film to begin with.

NEVER LET ME GO is a hybrid of science fiction and romantic drama. The prologue to the film tells us that a medical breakthrough discovered in 1967 has increased the life expectancy of human beings to over 100 years but does not tell us how. We are then introduced to Kathy, Tommy and Ruth (Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley, respectively) in 1978 at a boarding school called Hailsham. There is clearly something special about this school and the children that go there and it is our job to piece that together bit by bit. While that is happening though, a love triangle develops between these friends that is meant to be this great affront to love. It seems secondary to the mystery awaiting us and therefore never feels meaningful even after the mystery is solved.

When a younger Kathy sits on her bed, listening to fictional singer, Judy Bridgewater, sing, “Never, never, never let me go,” she cries quietly to herself and yearns to know what that feels like. She looks human, she emotes like a human but she knows she isn’t like everyone else. Watching the film, NEVER LET ME GO, is perhaps best exemplified in this scene. Like the little girl, it too wants to be held and cherished, for its beautiful imagery and solid performances, but whether or not that is even possible is up for debate. Again, like the little girl, the film too might be lacking a soul.