I don't know if Dredd is even all that known in the US beyond the Stallone train wreck. Is he? The staple of 2000AD has been a bit of an icon over my end of the world since I was a kid. Like many 2000AD stories, Judge Dredd is a little twisted in its viewpoint, with the 'hero' effectively being a hardass cop in an oppressive police state where life has little or no meaning. It really blossomed in Thatcher's Britain and became almost like a warning story - this is where the world is headed. As such, given where we're at right now, it seems more relevant again than it has been in years.

But that's the comic. What about the movie?

It's Judge Dredd, plain and simple. It avoids just about every mistake of that earlier fiasco and brings the soul of the comics into what is a pretty small and contained, yet hyper-violent and impressive movie. It's a tense story all set in one building. People have said it's pretty much the same idea as The Raid (I haven't seen it) and it involved Dredd and rookie Anderson getting trapped in a huge residential block where just about everyone is out to kill them. Written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later) it manages to get a hell of a lot out of that one location and while the setting feels small, it's never slow. Actually it's pretty relentless from start to finish.

It has a sort of raw feeling to it, like Mad Max or even Robocop, and yet also has some amazing visuals. It's one film I'd actually say is worth seeing in 3D due to a few particular sequences where they really push it. For such a grimy, dirty movie, it gets really pretty at times.

I've seen the movie twice now and loved it both times. Karl Urban makes a pretty awesome Dredd and the whole film manages to wipe the stain from the Stallone movie clean away. Totally recommend it.