- DREDD
Arriving in theaters later this year, Dredd will once againg
bring to life the "Judge Dredd" comic from the pages of "2000
A.D." with Karl Urban donning the iconic helmet, starring alongside Olivia
Thirlby as Judge Anderson.
The L.A. Times spoke with John Wagner who, in 1977, created
the character alongside artist Carlos Ezquerra.
"'Dredd' homes in on the essential job of
judging," says Wagner of the new film's plot. "Instant justice in a
violent future city... The plot is about Dredd and his world. It’s impossible
to cover every aspect of the character and his city. Perhaps that was one of
the failings of the first film. They tried to do too much and ended up with not
a lot."
Dredd was released theatrically back in 1995 and featured
Sylvester Stallone in the lead. That version was neither a critical nor box
office success, but Wagner promises that the upcoming film won't make the same
mistakes.
"My views haven’t changed," he explains,
"though apart from my initial viewing I haven’t seen the film since it
came out. They told the wrong story. It didn’t have that much to do with Dredd
the character as we know him. I don’t think Stallone was a bad Dredd, though it
would have been better and lent him more cred if he hadn’t revealed his face.
He was just Dredd in the wrong story. I envy their budget, though. Some of the
CGI was very good, and the re-creations of the Angel Gang and the robot. The
robot actually came from a Pat Mills story and didn’t belong in Dredd, but it
looked good. If the plot had revolved around characters like them the film
would have been more successful."
Optimistic about the cast of the new version, Wagner says
that Dredd will stay true to his creation.
"I like the actors," he says. "They’re well
cast and they handled their parts well. Olivia Thirlby is perfect as Anderson,
the young psi judge. She gives the character a touching vulnerability. Karl
Urban will not remove his helmet and will not kiss his costar."
Dredd hits theaters in 2D and 3D later this year, in
Septemeber.
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