I hope I speak for a lot of comic fans when I say I’m excited about the upcoming Judge Dredd movie, simply titled Dredd.
I loved the comic growing up, and feel it’s been long overdue for the right movie adaptation. Early word on Dredd is this is also a hardcore comic flick, a la The Punisher, it’s got an R rating, and it should hopefully erase all the bad residue of the disastrous Stallone Dredd misadventure.
Alex Garland wrote the new Dredd, and if his name sounds familiar, that’s because he also penned 28 Days Later and Sunshine, which were both directed by Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire). Now according to the site GiantFreakinRobot.com, Garland has big plans for Judge Dredd that include a potential trilogy, and he’s also thinking about turning the character into a cable series, which could really be a cool idea.
Garland did a Q&A on 2000 A.D. Online, and immediately my enthusiasm went up when he said he wanted to do something with the Dark Judges (Judge Death, Judge Fire, Judge Fear, and Judge Mortis), which would really make a hell of an epic battle.
“I would try to make [the Dark Judges] really scary,” Garland said. “Not play them for laughs. Just make them total malevolent and lethal. And use practical effects where possible, except for Fire, which would be an on-set nightmare.”
While mulling over plans for future Dredd installments, Garland continued, “I actually think that maybe the best way forward for Dredd is television. American TV has completely rewritten the rule book where filmed drama is concerned. Game of Thrones / The Wire / Breaking Bad…An equivalent version of Dredd would be f*cking great.”
I think it’s a great idea too, but then again, I’m obviously not an executive at HBO or Showtime. Still, if anyone at the cable networks is reading this, it would indeed be a great idea to bring Dredd to cable, and it could indeed open incredible new doors for graphic novels and comics over a much longer story arc. (Joss Whedon’s S.H.I.E.L.D. could be a game changer in this regard as well).
Dredd, which is in 3D, hits theaters on September 21, and let’s hope it finally does justice to a great comic character who always deserved to be portrayed on the big screen the right way.
