Am I supposed to sympathize with Dredd?

(1995 movie)

I love Stallone but Dredd is a total asshole in this movie! He sends Schneider back to prison without listening to his case, because he's "heard it all" which is total bullshit for someone who's supposed to represent justice, and then he literally explodes a guy's expensive car because his license was revoked..

And now that he's being framed I'm supposed to feel sympathetic? Throughout the trial I was saying to him "I knew you'd say that" when he was defended himself, because that's another one of his unjust corrupt police characteristics.

I'm gonna continue watching but I'd like to know whether you guys sympathized with him being framed or thought that it served him fucking right!

TURN THE MOVIE OFF!

No you're not supposed to sympathize with him or anything. He is meant to be an asshole at the start.

In the 1995 movie Dredd does not represent justice at the start at all, quite the opposite, he represent the letter of the Law to a T. Almost like a robot. Justice and Law are not the same thing, that's kind of the whole point. His merciless and unwavering adherence to this letter of the law is the thing that gets put under pressure later. And he realizes that he does not need a stick up his ass 24/7

His trial is a mockery of the system, according to law that Dredd believes in so much he is guilty. While in actuality he is being unjustly imprisoned. It's there to reflect his own hubris back at him.

It's also just a good dumb action movie first and foremost. Don't over think it.

LAAAAAAAAAAAAW.

Seriously I'd say stop watching that shitty movie right now and instead watch the more recent Dredd movie with Karl Urban. It's actually good. And I genuinely mean that. The plot is incredibly similar to The Raid: Redemption, but even though it's a case of been there done that it's still good enough to go back there and do that again.

And there's one very special thing that the new one has over the old one, Karl Urban doesn't remove the helmet throughout the entire movie. There's no fucking ego like Stallone has where he needs actual face time on screen. Dredd has his helmet. Dredd is supposed to keep his helmet on. And that's what you get. The Stallone movie, to be frank, fucking stinks.

As for your question, don't know don't care. It's hard to care about anything when the thing you're supposed to care about is garbage.

1995 Dredd is a great movie, it's got charm and zest at least, there's an enthusiasm from the actors, some cool visuals (for the time) and a dystopian style, even the villain is more entertaining with a fire driving him (not the passive amoeba like MaMa who ultimately poses 0 threat)

New Dredd movie almost lulled me to sleep with poor action and little else to entertain, no real thematic substance, no funny lines, nothing to remember it by, just going through the motions of a below average action movie, and Urbans lack of jaw and a start of a double chin kept poking me in the eye the entire time considering that's the only thing you see of him the entire movie, and jeez that hilarious overbuff body builder walk he tries to do from time with no arm swing, ^.^

Production on Dredd actually started way before The Raid, so it's kinda unlucky that it was released later and earned those comparisons. It's weird how these themes in films seem to come in waves. Last year we had those two Snow White/Mirror Mirror films as well.

The Raid is middling at best and the new Dredd movie is excellent. It actually has some character work to go with the action. And like Sweep said, lots of times we get these odd coincidences in film releases. They happen way more than you think, just an odd quirk of the industry.

And the Stallone Dredd? Well, others said it best with "LAAAAAAWWWWW"

But the action in The Raid is way, way, way better. Also... LAAAAAAAAAAW!

@sweep: To hear Hollywood writers tell it, one of the reasons why we sometimes start to see a lot of movies all at once with similar subject matter and themes is that when writers shop their scripts around, even those scripts that get rejected sometimes influence movie studios to copy some portion of an idea and use it for another project.

You're supposed to do the exact opposite of that.

It's not middling at best. Get real. If you think it's action is middling I doubt you have watched any action movies. They are both awesome.

Stop watching the original and slip in the new one. There are very few times where a remake is better than the original, but damn if the new Dredd wasn't damn amazing.

Also, no. I believe the whole point of the movie was not to sympathize with him and understand the parody/satirical nature of his position.

eh it's not even a remake.It's just a new adaptation of a source material or I suppose you could say reboot. I agree on it being better for sure, but a lot of why it was better was because it wasn't a remake.

That's like saying Batman Begins was a remake of Tim Burton's Batman.

The Raid is amazing and the new Dredd movie is good, too. The action is a little slow/old fashioned in the sense that it's all shooting and whatnot but seeing Dredd work his way around a clusterfuck of a situation with a new rookie with him is really entertaining and it's pretty satisfying seeing these horrible, horrible people get some simple, violent justice....in a kind of messed up way.

Also his delivery of "I am the law" actually kinda gave me a chill when I watched the movie. It's treads this awesome line between being goofy (because, really, "i am the law" honestly) and being terrifying because Urban really sells that Dredd fucking means it. Good shit.

If I understand the character correctly, you're never really supposed to sympathize with Judge Dredd.

The New Dredd is cool and the raid is amazing end of story

No, you're not supposed to sympathize with the law. Fuck the police.

I love Judge Dredd, but that movie is shit.

The new movie Dredd, however, is awesome.

Turn that piece of shit off and watch the new movie.

The Stallone movie isnt that bad, but then again i havent watch it since i was a child. How can it be bad if it gave us this?

And without that movie we never would of gotten this (probably? i just wanted to post this video since this tread reminded me of it)

Also that new Dredd movie was totally fuckn' balls to the wall awesome, too bad it probably wont get a sequel D:

The Stallone movie was fine; it was campy as shit, but that's kind of the point. The new movie is a much better take on the source material, though, and a better movie all around. Also it doesn't have Rob Schneider in it, so that's an automatic plus.

As for sympathizing with Dredd, it's a bit easier if you understand the source material. He may seem like a complete asshole, but compared to everything else in that world, he's one of the closet things to a true good guy you're gonna get. He's not corrupt, and he believes in the law. That law happens to be extremely strict with severe punishment, but considering it's in a world constantly on the brink of collapsing into complete chaos, it's a necessary evil. The new movie does a much better job of conveying that than the Stallone one, because it doesn't try to lighten up the mood with constant humor and super hammy acting.

I probably haven't seen the original Judge Dredd movie since 1995 (though I loved it when I was a kid), but, holy shit, the new Dredd is awesome. If you haven't seen it, you need to stop whatever you're doing and go watch it right now.

Not to mention this years Olympus Has Fallen and White House Down. Which have the EXACT same plot. Not similar themes like the others. The same exact plot.

On the topic of Dredd and The Raid, I would say comparing Dredd to The Raid is a compliment because The Raid is a rad fucking movie. Dredd is pretty awesome too. It has no right to be considering its predecessor and its source material but it's pretty damn awesome.

I'm just going to reaffirm that the new movie is excellent.

@mariachimacabre: The new Dredd isn't good despite its source material its good because of its source material.

It's a story of redemption. He starts off an asshole and learns the error of his ways. I loved this movie when I was a kid.

The new movie is cool and all that, id just really like a Dredd movie with Judge Death in it.

Personally I prefer Demolition Man.

All restaurants are Taco Bell and the "three seashells"...is there a connection?

As for The Raid, Dredd (2012) and Judge Dredd (1995). The original movie sucks except for that great (cheesy) line. The new Dredd movie was very good, but The Raid was visceral. Completely awesome.