You know how Robert Downey Jr has become totally synonymous with Tony Stark, or even how you can't possibly imagine anyone but Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones? That. Thats how much Karl Urban inhabited the role of Dredd in the first film, and why it'd be a Grud damn shame not to give him another run at it. Not only is Urban superior to Stallone in that he never takes the helmet off, he's superior because he never has to. His voice, his square jaw, the way he carries himself say more than he could with his face. He also imbues the character with a little more nuance than the character initially had in the comics. For the most part Dredd is a static, fairly one-dimensional character, but Urban gives him just enough to feel real amongst the chaos of the Peach Trees block. He's also pretty good in the action scenes, but that's not surprising, given he's a veteran of both the Star Trek and Lord of the Rings movie franchises. Not only would it be ace to see Urban play Dredd again, but the actor's probably also the best chance the sequel has of getting made. Besides the cache he has from appearing in those aforementioned box office smashes, he's also directly part of the campaign to getting a second Dredd, turning up at conventions and doing readings of 2000 AD comics and actually precipitating that bit of news we started this article with. At least give him a chance to say "I AM THE LAW" again.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
