We first see a huge wall of some sort with mega bastions and this asks the question “Why such a big wall?”. A ship appears, and when it docks there are strong metallic and piston sounds, the audience know its going to be set in the future. There is a voice of a surely redundant woman announcing that the ship arrived is full of parolees. We are the introduced to Herman Fergusson – played by Rob Schneider. If people knew of him, they would know he was a comedian, made famous by TV show ‘Saturday Night Live’. I think that Fergusson’s appearance combined with the woman’s voice gives a calmer impression and the audience will realize he isn’t an evil character. We also know he will not be the main character due to his role and his lack of lines – even those he speaks are not complicated. We are then looking through Fergusson’s eyes and his vivid, surprised expression at this Mega City. He looks to the sky and he says “Welcome Home” ironically. The use of sarcasm also identifies him as a humorous character. He steps into a hover vehicle and we are taken on a tour of the computer-generated skyline. The Computer Generated Imagery adds to the commercial side because the audience will be able to see the latest in technology. They arrive in ‘Heavenly Haven’ and a voice dictates “There is currently a riot in progress. Have a nice day!”. This adds some humor, but also it tells the audience that the city is in a bad state and dangerous. The creators of the city (in the story) must know about the riots because it is programmed to be said by this voice.
Herman then walks into his living accommodation. However it is taken over by people fighting a ‘block war’. It is quite stereotypical – everyone has a weapon and there is lots of violence. I think these are done on purpose, as they are quite comical events – the director wants the audience to understand everything and therefore enjoy it more. People cannot say that this was a “complicated” or “hard to watch”, another reason why it works as an enterprise movie.
Two people then arrive on a motorcycle. We notice one is a woman due to her voice, which is a stereotypical calm, relaxed voice – telling us she is not the main character because she’s too soft. The other is a rookie, referring to ‘Sims’ (simulators). Another stereotype of a guy that just wants to get straight into the action. They call for backup and the scene swaps to a person in metallic armour. It takes far longer to pan over the character and because of the more attention paid to him we realize that this is the main character. He appears to be very muscular and this is the first shot up close of a character so he appears quite big. He is covered in protection, we see his weapon and his armour gleams. The heroic music starts; he mounts his over the top motorcycle and drives off. We then see him driving through the flames at the block war; it is slightly slowed down to give a more dramatic entrance. Obviously this guy is going to put an end to the block war. The other judges are stunned by his entry; however the woman says “he knows what he’s doing” – the woman is looking up to the man. This also would tell the audience that the judge is on the good side and that he will handle the situation fine. I think the audience now realise this is Judge Dredd. He is very macho and masculine, in charge of everything. Judge Dredd gets off his bike and zooms in on him putting his bike stand down. I think this refers to that Dredd has arrived, and he is going to put his foot down. He then shouts “I am the Law!” with a very powerful voice. However it doesn’t appear to strike fear into anyone, probably not even the audience. It’s just a comical element. After his intro, there is a lot of fighting and the hero comes out on top without even a scratch. The rookie however tried to take on the enemy, but was just shot and killed. Dredd finishes the enemy off and shows that only he can win. That I believe was the introduction to the film. The future and sci-fi elements are quite visible and the action certainly is. I did notice a few odd bits that critics could pickup and rate the film badly – i.e. when Dredd says “these weapons are at a non-lethal range”, yet a few scenes before riots are killed by them… As with any superhero, a super villain is needed.
The super villain is portrayed as terribly evil as when we are introduced to him he is behind a mass of security systems. Large metal doors, hand print identification, automated weapons and many other devices, but finally a large force field. I think this represents that the villain must be kept on his own, and that he must be a superior criminal compared to the other people that can be kept in standard cells. He must be terribly evil.
The warden then gives Rico, the villain, a badge case which turns into a gun (the prison didn’t know this although you may expect them to scan everything that is sent to such an evil man… Yet I think it is obvious the villain would escape) and so he uses it to kill the head warden and two guards. The next time we see him in Mega City One.
This comic movie, like ‘Batman’ or ‘Spiderman’ is viewed by people for the action, effects, cast and storyline. It is not meant to send out any moral message or be taken seriously, but be a film that is probably created for the director and producers to earn a lot of money. For that reason, it succeeds in the way that it actually set out what it is meant to be.
There are barely any swear words in the movie meaning parents could take their children, bearing in mind it had an age rating of fifteen. Stallone, shooting everything up, being tortured, saving the city – could an action fan ask for more?
