2. Tensionless Action
In film that is first and foremost an action spectacle, it is surprising how flat the action feels. Theres plenty of gun play, but very little of it sticks in the mind. There is one standout sequence early on involving a drug bust, shocking because of the explicit violence and the sudden nature of it all. After that, the film devolves into minor set pieces all lacking in tension. There are so many small action sequences someone is shot in a corridor, someone is shot in a stairwell, someone is shot in a room, someone is shot in a room by someone in a corridor that quickly there is no threat from the countless goons attacking the Judges. Each kill just happens to a faceless character with no sense of impact or violence. It ends up with the heroes feeling too indestructible to ever be in any peril. (SPOLIERS in following paragraph) When a group of rouge Judges show up it looks like things could get interesting. But instead it gets even more banal. The stupidity of these new adversaries is unbelievable; three of them all die from taking the time to talk to the people they are being paid to kill. And in a bizarre casting choice, the lead rouge has a very similar jaw line to Karl Urban and thus it is painfully hard to tell who is actually fighting who. It all ends up like watching someone else play a video game on an easy setting.