There has been a trend lately of remakes and reboots, much to the chagrin of many critics and fans.
However, one definite sub-trend has emerged from within the depths of this fad: the push to remake adaptations so they more accurately represent the source material.
There are so many franchies which, when adapted into action films during the 80’s and 90’s, were taken too far from their original themes and attitudes.
Comic books adaptations were especially guilty of this. So, as a personal stickler for canon, seeing this trend is definitely heartening. One currently in production, is the Judge Dredd remake, titled simply Dredd.
Dredd started as an anti-hero comics character with a deep mythology, and a hardcore social message, but the Stalone film did the concept little credit, turning it into a pure action flick.
In a recent interview with LA Times, co-creator of the Judge Dredd comic, and consultant on the new film, talked about his feelings on the upcoming readaptation which is in post-production, though little is known about it yet.
“It’s impossible to cover every aspect of the character and his city – perhaps that was one of the failings of the first film,” he said. “They tried to do too much and ended up with not a lot. Dredd homes in on the essential job of judging – instant justice in a violent future city. I like the actors, they’re well cast and they handled their parts well.”
We’ve also recently gotten this synopsis:
“Dredd” takes us to the wild streets of Mega City One, the lone oasis of quasi-civilization on Cursed Earth. Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is the most feared of elite Street Judges, with the power to enforce the law, sentence offenders and execute them on the spot – if necessary. The endlessly inventive mind of writer Alex Garland and the frenetic vision of director Peter Travis bring “Dredd” to life as a futuristic neo-noir action film that returns the celebrated character to the dark, visceral incarnation from John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra’s revered comic strip.
Not much is known beyond that. The studio has yet to release any other promotional material, with the exception of a few costume shots which apeared in Empire magazine last summer, but when one of the creators of the original story vouches for an adaptation, that’s enough to make me take notice. I’ll be keeping my eye out for the first trailer, which we should see, at the latest, early summer this year.
Dredd, which also stars Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey, hits theaters September 21, 2012.
