2. Dredd
When I was young, dumb, and full of...well, let me stop myself there...Full of Awesome! I loved consuming all kinds of Sylvester Stallone films. cheesier, the better. Judge Dredd was one of them. As an avid reader of the comic, I felt he represented the character well, that is, I felt he "would" represent the character well. While I had no ill thoughts of the film as a teenager, it was plainly awful, and full of the usual one liners that I hated. However, the latest remake of the film was actually quite good, if you can get passed the myriad of random and copious uses of the "Slo-mo" effects. I say this as well, knowing that in my mind, I still compare this film to another that released just before it, The Raid: Redemption. On the surface both are similar in premise. Tall building, drug dealer inside is bad, go get him...holy s**t, bad guys have an army and we can't get out, shoot the s**t out of everyone inside...last man standing wins. Yet In my opinion, Redemption, did a much better job, even if its DNA is encoded as a martial arts film, while Dredd is a Sci-Fi comic book film. With that said, Dredd was a much better representation of the comic book, this time around. I won't lie, the Power Ranger fashion of calling out certain weapons and abilities, seems childish and stupid to me, especially the way its done in this film. Yet, it was kept at a minimum, and not abused as a gimmick (as in the first). The epic grandeur of the weak aspects of society versus the ruling body was extremely evident, especially in the interpretation of their "Blocks", the megastructure buildings, within megacities. It was almost pedantic in it's display of a dystopian culture, almost a necessity in relation to its cultural significance. A purist relationship of the impoverished with the disenfranchised, and maintenance of permanent underclasses as criminals. I'll say this about the Stallone Dredd, at least the motorcycles were cool...these were just bleh. Yet the current film does resonate the ills of one aspect of society beautifully!