It lives up in a very awesome way. It is excellent. It is absolutely different, and not camp, so I’m not sure I can say I like it more than my beloved Judge Dredd, but Dredd kicks ass and takes no prisoners.

In a crime-ridden future, Judges are the law. Judge Dredd is assigned Rookie Cassandra Anderson. On her first day, they investigate the murder of three criminals in a slum tower block and uncover a major drug operation run by Ma-Ma.

The movie opens with an awesome action sequence and continues from there. The slo-mo drug motivates the beautiful slow motion photography. The violence is realistic and brutal. Men are thrown from great heights and splatter on the pavement. And as gruesome as that is, it is completely appropriate.

It is a shame that this movie performed so poorly because it was only a first glimpse at this world that I would have loved to seen more of this. The Judge is an inhuman, unforgiving character balanced only by the humanity of the rookie and protagonist only because the world and the people around him is so bad. And this world is a pretty near future. Just look at cities like Detroit and you will know what I mean. The movie does a great job at establishing this world, and if it ever gets a second change I would like to see the Judge’s authority questioned more.

Too bad that probably won’t happen.