Trailer Park: One-Liners Reign Supreme In The Debut Trailer For “Dredd”

In an attempt to erase the stink of the 1995 version of Judge Dredd, Lionsgate is rebooting the franchise this September. Starring Karl Urban as the titular grim hero, Dredd is directed by Pete Travis, and it's being advertised as a more accurate representation of the original 2000 AD comic book. Apparently that means more explosions and cheesy dialogue than ever. 

This debut trailer for the movie sets up the main conflict, which revolves around a new drug called Slo-Mo that has apparently infested the streets of the city. Of course, Judge Dredd is having none of that, so he goes on a mission to find out who is supplying the drug so that he could, ya know, judge them. The person controlling the drug is a woman named Ma Ma who lives at the top of a veritable fortress skyscraper in the city. So it's up to Dredd to fight his way up through this building to stop her. The plot is very reminiscent of The Raid, which was one of the better action movies in recent memory, so there is potential here. 

Unfortunately, the character of Dredd himself just seems like a generic "gritty" action hero in this trailer. His voice is deep and gravelly, and he only speaks in one-liners and clichés. He's like a mixture between Batman and Clint Eastwood, but nowhere near as brain-meltingly awesome as that sounds; instead, his character just comes across as very forced. But this is only a trailer, so there is a possibility that the character will be much more fleshed-out in the final product. 

Dredd hits theaters on September 21.  

[via Collider]