4. Lack Of Satire
What really intrigued me about Dredd was its satirical nature. The comic strip had initially been a response to the Thatcher government and evolved to pass comment on many other elements of society as the world it was published in evolved. This made an adaptation produced in such an interesting period as our own a delicious concept. Think of all the interesting comments that could be made about the modern state of the world; the banks, the reliance on technology and of course, police bureaucracy. There is not even a semblance of satire in Dredd. How is that even possible? The film is about a law enforcer who judges the criminals and often executes them on the spot. That is all set-up in a brief introduction that plays up the coolness of it all, not even pausing to muse its implications. Throughout the film the Judges are presented as brave heroes and nothing else; no attempt at questioning the ethics of this society. The film excises any semblance of smarts and replaces it with dumb and repetitive action (more on that later). I watched the reboot of The Sweeney just before Dredd. That film, from the director of numerous Danny Dyer gangsta flicks, said more about the attitudes of the public and the police than a film based on series famed for its satire.