Dredd

Saw Dredd tonight, so I haven't gotten a whole lot of writing done.  Still working on that character building scene.  I'm trying to make sure it stays clean and fluid while still doing it's job, it may take a few good hard edits to make it right, but it's getting written.

As for Dredd.  Now this is the Judge Dredd movie I've been waiting for!  Not that I was explicitly waiting for a Judge Dredd movie after the Stallone mess, after that I would have been happy if Hollywood never touched the property again.  This Judge Dredd movie?  I'll take a few more thanks!

Karl Urban knows Judge Dredd, you can tell by his delivery of the character and the insistance that he keeps the helmet on throughout.  He plays on Dredd's one note, black and white moral code perfectly.  There is no middle ground, there is no room for negotiations, or plea bargains, or mercy.  There is right, and wrong, and if you're in the wrong, you get served justice.  It was perfectly in line with what the comic book Dredd was when he was at his best.

The movie is gritty, gory, a little melodramatic, and has just the right amount of good cheese (and not of the "groan" Rob Schneider variety either).  No one phoned in a performance, and no one overacted, which was a HUGE problem with the Stallone version.

Best of all, they did what so many said they couldn't: They pulled off the sheer scale of Mega City One.  Every exterior shot brought the point home that this was a sprawling hot mess of an ultra-megalopolis (take that Sim City!).

I would happily pay to see a sequel.

Anyway, tomorrow should be a good writing night.  I've updated my word count with what I did tonight (about 800 words give or take).

- Grimm