Almost Good

There's about as much right as there is wrong with this movie. A lot of folks here are looking at what's wrong. It's a stretch, but change a few things and you could have had a classic.

I think the first offender on watching is the score. The music is too awestruck, like everything the citizens of Mega City do is amazing. The music build up all the sites. However, to these characters it's just another day. Continuing through the film, the score attempts to singlehandedly deliver every emotion with the subtlety of a jackhammer.

Rob Schneider is totally pointless, an archaic comic relief piece. Common to have in the day, but no effort is made to give him a use.

There are scenes that come at a disconnect. When Dredd and friends enter the lab at the end, they go in through the head of the Statue of Liberty, but this is never established. After the dust settles there's a shot showing a hole in the statue with the audience confused as to how that came about. The clone situation is a non-starter with them just forgotten about. The whole solution to the plot comes about quick with little to it. The film basically needs another act.

I think the script has too many elements from the comics. They jammed too many locations and characters that made truncated subplots. First movie and already Dredd is removed as a judge! I mean that works as its own movie, but save the plot for a sequel. As is, so much of Judge Dredd sounds like Demolition Man. Toughest cop in the future deals with his mirror opposite, framed for crime, has female cop helping him, Rob Schneider is useless.

The effects are great, much better than many recent preceding films. Stallone looks great in the role, but was purportedly against keeping the helmet on. You look at how the recent Dredd flopped and understand that the average Joe sees movies on star power a d that a major draw won't hide their face for am entire movie, well you start to understand how things came to be here.

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