“THE HELMET'S TOO BIG”
Don't be ridiculous. IT'S A HELMET, not a balaclava. It needs to be practical, protective, and also house a bunch of tech (the comms devices and the respirator, for example). The first photos of the helmet were lit from an angle which hid some of Karl Urban's face, making it look bigger than it actually is. The helmet looks superb, and far better than the Stallone version.
“IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE THE COMIC COSTUME”
Shush. It's far closer to the ORIGINAL version of Judge Dredd's costume from his first appearances at the back-end of the 1970s. The Stallone Judge Dredd costume was pretty accurate in terms of looking like the 90s version of the comic costume, aside from the nose guard over the visor, but the Karl Urban version features smaller shoulder parts, and a more practical appearance, like the original, rather than Sly's spandex.
“KARL URBAN ISN'T MUSCULAR ENOUGH”
In relation to what? Look at the first five years of Dredd's comic stories. Judge Joseph Dredd was intended to be lean, not huge. That aspect made the character all the more fearsome in those early days; commanding so much authority without being a hulking brute was a great idea.
“WHY AREN'T THERE HUGE FUTURISTIC CITYSCAPES?”
Because it's not set that far in the future, for one thing, and keep in mind the world in the film has been through an apocalyptic war which has resulted in the creation of The Cursed Earth outside of the Mega Cities. Granted, the comics did show huge cityscapes, but they began with the 1970s sci-fi aesthetic, an era in which everyone expected that the world of the future would actually be different, but seeing as civilization has now been stunted by reality TV, social media, vapid celebrities and an apathetic populace, our development into the future society of SF is still a long way off. The film is a gritty look at a bleak future, not a flashy firework display like the 1995 version.
“THE PLOT'S STOLEN FROM 'THE RAID'”
It's similar, but not stolen. Dredd was deep into production when The Raid came out, and I can only imagine how annoyed the cast and crew of Dredd must have been when they found this out. This is literally a coincidence, and given the comics context of the flick, it'll come across in a different way.
“THERE'S NO JUDGE DEATH”
Of course there isn't. This is the first film to bring Judge Dredd to a contemporary audience, and as such it needs to be kinda low-key. The story of this film is pure Judge Dredd and pure 2000AD, and will bring those concepts and styles to a new audience. Chucking in the Dark Judges now would be too early, but it would make a great sequel. Really, any of the big Dredd comic stories would be a bit too much for a new audience to take in. America, Necropolis, The Cursed Earth, any of them would be too much for the current audience to latch onto without this introductory adventure.
TOO DROKKING RIGHT...
This DREDD film looks like a great way to bring the character to a new generation, and will hopefully see 2000AD gain a legion of new readers. Karl Urban looks and sounds spot on as Judge Dredd, Olivia Thirlby is an intriguing choice for Cassandra Anderson (aka Psi Judge Anderson), Lena Heady is an unexpected and exciting prospect at the big villain, and the whole thing looks about as good as Dredd can do here and now. Give the film a chance, and you may very well be surprised. This isn't a remake of the Stallone film, and that's a good thing. This is Dredd for the current generation, and his word is the law.
