As such, I can't begin to tell you how wrong and lumpen-headed I felt the Danny Cannon-directed, Stallone-starring Judge Dredd movie was. I remember being on set, interviewing those making it, and yet, all the while, a voice in my head was screaming at me: "No. No. No. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong."
The movie was released and died the death it deserved, although it also put pay to the idea of any other 2000AD characters being adapted for the cinema for a long, long time.
I am very optimistic for the Judge Dredd reboot that Alex Garland for many, many reasons. Garland loves and respects the material and the movie is being put together from that place.
The Stallone movie cocked up Dredd in so many ways, not least by showing Dredd (ie Stallone's) face. The new film won't be making that mistake, and so I was always intrigued by who would they get to play the title character bearing that in mind. If the casting rumours are to be believed, and Karl Urban is in negotiations to play Dredd, that's a great choice.
Urban can definitely act and has done good work in films as diverse as The Bourne Supremacy, Lord Of The Rings and as Bones in JJ Abrams' Star Trek. And he's certainly got the jaw.
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Back in the early 80s, I bought every weekly UK comic every Saturday morning (Eagle, Hotspur, Battle, all them, even the Marvel UK reprints) – except 2000AD!!! Quite why it didn’t appeal to me back then I have no idea as I loved comics and science fiction.
I stumbled upon a comic shop in Glasgow a few years later. Watchmen was in the middle of its run (talk about a random moment to discover a comic shop), I started going in every few days whenever I had enough money to buy a few comics, and a regular finally convinced me to start buying 2000AD since he was writing the lead strip. This was Zenith and Grant Morrison.
Anyway, I pretty much skipped Dredd in the comic (for Zenith, Tyranny Rex and a few other strips which always seemed more interesting). So I have no attachment to the character at all. But you didn’t need any to see that the Stallone movie sucked big time. Atrocious film in every way. And to think Danny Cannon supposedly had an affair with Diane Lane during filming – maybe that threw him off his game.
I, too, was a big fan of Battle, as well as Action and Roy Of The Rovers.
I love JUDGE DREDD too and with the exception of the always lovely Diane Lane, Sly's take on the material was gahd-awful! Man, what a stinker!
I think that Karl Urban would be a great choice to play Dredd. He certainly would bring the intensity required that's for sure. IMO, he stole every scene he was in in the STAR TREK reboot and was quite good in the BOURNE film he did. Be curious to see who will direct this new DREDD film. I heard rumblings that it might be Paul Greengrass?
Nope, it's Greengrass protege Pete Travis who made Vantage Point and Omagh.
I really hope they can pull it off-apparently the budget is quite low. I'd love to see follow up movies of other 2000AD properties- ABC Warriors, Rogue Trooper, Sam Slade:Robohunter, Halo Jones, Ace Trucking Co. , Slaine . . . .
Here's hoping. Many of those properties have been optioned...
Halo Jones is begging for it. It's three sci-fi spectaculars (god, I hate using the word trilogy these days) gift-wrapped for cinema. I'm sure Moore would be thrilled to see it happen!
Thrilled, maybe not. But I'm sure he'd have something to say about it.
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