Dredd, Karl Urban's latest action gunfest, is currently holding steady on Rotten Tomatoes at a 77%. For its genre, that's a solid score - more than I expected it to be garnering, before I saw it myself. Resident Evil: Retribution, on the other hand, is maintaining a 26%. It should also be noted that none of the flock of Resident Evil movies currently rates above 34% (the first one; the next highest is that whopping 26%).
Why is this significant? Because I need you to know how utterly criminal it is that there will undoubtedly be another Resident Evil movie, but Dredd will never see the sequels it has so gloriously earned.
I saw both films. Retribution was fun, and short, and so clearly a bridge to the next RE chapter that it was almost breathtaking; in terms of plot, you learn nothing new and maybe one important thing happens. It reminded me very much of the fourth Terminator film that way, in that it exists solely to remind you that the franchise continues to chug along. It has the requisite amount of action, lots of character death, and Mila Jovovich in a fairly ridiculous amount of leather and buckles. Stuff blows up and blows up good. I had fun watching it.
Stuff blows up and blows up good in Dredd, too. Urban, stoically costumed in leather armor and that inscrutable helmet, shoots a lot of people with voice-activated ammunition. People die in hilariously over the top ways. Both films share a genetic component; the same dystopian, gun-slinging, face-kicking helix exists on both screens.
The difference is the core that helix wraps around, and maybe this is because we're looking at volume 5 of a franchise versus a new film (well, sort of, but this hardly counts as a sequel to Stallone's 1995 travesty). Retribution feels no need to tell you a story, because you already know what's going on; whereas Dredd is a pretty impressive piece of tight storytelling wrapped up in some surprisingly beautiful cinematography.
One of the things that impressed me the most about Dredd was how much trust it places in its audience. It is not heavily leaden with exposition; instead, you see a shot of barren countryside, a dense and dreary metropolis, and you hear maybe two lines about the state of the world. That's it, but that's enough; at this point we have seen so many dystopian, post-apocalyptic settings that we know the drill. Likewise, no time is wasted telling you how incredibly badass, capable, incorruptible, and the best at his job Dredd is - you know it from his manner and how the other characters around him treat him. There's more showing than telling going on here.
It is also extremely well filmed. Long, foreboding shots of empty, rusted corridors and sparkly drug-induced hazes against the standard post-apocalyptic gray and brown color palette make for some striking visuals, coupled with smart camera motion and well choreographed action (I could always see who was hitting who, and if you've been reading this blog enough you'll know that scrambled, jerky action sequences are a particular pet peeve of mine). Dredd understands that there is a time and place for jerky filming, which is sparely and to make the audience uncomfortable (there's one haunting shot of Lena Headey as the crime lord gouging someone's eyes out that lasts maybe five seconds and gets two replays - I'm still cringing thinking about it, but the point is that it doesn't overstay its welcome).
The last thing I want to remark on is the pretty fantastic job that Karl Urban does in this role. His acting is so Spartan, so economical, because he doesn't need to grandstand. It's reminiscent of the way that Ryan Gosling played the Driver in Drive, in that Urban also lets the little things speak for him instead of actually saying anything. It's all there in the creak of his armor, the set of his chin, the way he never uses three words when one will do. His helmet, which covers most of his face and never comes off, contributes to rather than hinders his performance; it adds to the menace (in contrast is Olivia Thirlby as the Rookie, who never wears her helmet and trades on her empathy - it's also effective, but in a very different way). He's all rock solid justice, being hurled against Lena Headey's mercurial ragemonster crime lord: the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. Watching them battle it out in the enclosed tower environment is not only incredibly fun, but a memorable experience.
Do the Resident Evil movies blend together in your head the same way they do in mine?
Why is this significant? Because I need you to know how utterly criminal it is that there will undoubtedly be another Resident Evil movie, but Dredd will never see the sequels it has so gloriously earned.
I saw both films. Retribution was fun, and short, and so clearly a bridge to the next RE chapter that it was almost breathtaking; in terms of plot, you learn nothing new and maybe one important thing happens. It reminded me very much of the fourth Terminator film that way, in that it exists solely to remind you that the franchise continues to chug along. It has the requisite amount of action, lots of character death, and Mila Jovovich in a fairly ridiculous amount of leather and buckles. Stuff blows up and blows up good. I had fun watching it.
Stuff blows up and blows up good in Dredd, too. Urban, stoically costumed in leather armor and that inscrutable helmet, shoots a lot of people with voice-activated ammunition. People die in hilariously over the top ways. Both films share a genetic component; the same dystopian, gun-slinging, face-kicking helix exists on both screens.
The difference is the core that helix wraps around, and maybe this is because we're looking at volume 5 of a franchise versus a new film (well, sort of, but this hardly counts as a sequel to Stallone's 1995 travesty). Retribution feels no need to tell you a story, because you already know what's going on; whereas Dredd is a pretty impressive piece of tight storytelling wrapped up in some surprisingly beautiful cinematography.
One of the things that impressed me the most about Dredd was how much trust it places in its audience. It is not heavily leaden with exposition; instead, you see a shot of barren countryside, a dense and dreary metropolis, and you hear maybe two lines about the state of the world. That's it, but that's enough; at this point we have seen so many dystopian, post-apocalyptic settings that we know the drill. Likewise, no time is wasted telling you how incredibly badass, capable, incorruptible, and the best at his job Dredd is - you know it from his manner and how the other characters around him treat him. There's more showing than telling going on here.
It is also extremely well filmed. Long, foreboding shots of empty, rusted corridors and sparkly drug-induced hazes against the standard post-apocalyptic gray and brown color palette make for some striking visuals, coupled with smart camera motion and well choreographed action (I could always see who was hitting who, and if you've been reading this blog enough you'll know that scrambled, jerky action sequences are a particular pet peeve of mine). Dredd understands that there is a time and place for jerky filming, which is sparely and to make the audience uncomfortable (there's one haunting shot of Lena Headey as the crime lord gouging someone's eyes out that lasts maybe five seconds and gets two replays - I'm still cringing thinking about it, but the point is that it doesn't overstay its welcome).
The last thing I want to remark on is the pretty fantastic job that Karl Urban does in this role. His acting is so Spartan, so economical, because he doesn't need to grandstand. It's reminiscent of the way that Ryan Gosling played the Driver in Drive, in that Urban also lets the little things speak for him instead of actually saying anything. It's all there in the creak of his armor, the set of his chin, the way he never uses three words when one will do. His helmet, which covers most of his face and never comes off, contributes to rather than hinders his performance; it adds to the menace (in contrast is Olivia Thirlby as the Rookie, who never wears her helmet and trades on her empathy - it's also effective, but in a very different way). He's all rock solid justice, being hurled against Lena Headey's mercurial ragemonster crime lord: the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object. Watching them battle it out in the enclosed tower environment is not only incredibly fun, but a memorable experience.
Do the Resident Evil movies blend together in your head the same way they do in mine?
The first RE is the last one that I could even remotely call "good." Notably, it's the only one I never get mixed up with the others.
ReplyDeleteAlso notable: No boob-armor on the female judges- they get the same standard vests that the men do. Not only are the Judges an equal-opportunity employer, they issue appropriate uniforms.