Trapped
I’ve heard rumors that they’re thinking of doing a new Judge Dredd movie in Hollywood. This got me to thinking about how it’s possible to take 30 years worth of story and convert it into a three movie box set. To make matters worse, the source comic progresses in real time- unlike Spiderman who has been in his 20s forever, we’ve seen Dredd grow from a 30something star judge to a 60something old fogie. An old fogie who can kick your ass six ways to Sunday, but an old fogie none the less.
I’ve always thought that there were three distinct ages of Dredd: absurd Dredd, ironic Dredd, and satiric Dredd. In the beginning the comics were just plain silly. Dredd was an over-the-top future lawman whose singleminded dedication to The Law was played for laughs. At some point, though, something changed. The stories took on a darker edge. Dredd became the villain in his own comic. This is what I refer to as the age of Ironic Dredd. I’m using the literary meaning of irony here: a discord between the ideas expressed by the character and the message received by the audience. This lasted up until the prelude to Necropolis, when Dredd began to realize his mistakes handling the democracy movement. He eventually resigned and took the long walk into the cursed earth. Thus began the age of Satire. Satirical Dredd is more human; he has to make hard decisions and he makes mistakes. This Dredd still believes that law is the best way to ensure justice, but he’s come to realize that there are problems with the Judge System.
And now my idea for the thrillogy…
Movie One would cover the first Robot War and the birth of the democracy movement. I can see the trailer now: you see something mechanical moving, the screen goes black, the voiceover says “Call me Kenneth” and suddenly there’s the sound of a drill… ooh, goosebumps. Anyhow, in this movie the setting is established and Dredd’s arse-kicking bona fides are established. All over Mega City One robots start turning on their human masters. Judge Dredd leads the fight to defeat them. While this is going on we’re introduced to young America Jara and Bennett Beeny. There’s a growing democracy movement in the city, which is boosted by the robot rebellion- after all, what’s the point in surrendering your freedom for security if the judges can’t even keep you safe? By the end Dredd stops the robots (thereby becoming a hero), and also brutally puts down a pro-democracy rally that America was attending (thereby becoming ironic).
Movie Two takes place some time later. Beeny’s musical career has started to take off, and America has gotten involved in the pro-democracy group Total War. Judge Dredd has taken on a cadet: fellow Fargo clone Judge Kraken (you think we have time to explain the Judda in a two hour movie!? Kraken is a Fargo clone here!). There’s a major threat in the city- maybe the Raptaur, I think the opening scene of that story with the eloping couple would make a nice tragic cinematic. Anyhow, while Dredd is trying to deal with the threat and train Judge Kraken, Total War is conducting a series of terrorist attacks. While dealing with all of this, Kraken proves himself to have very little regard for civilian casulties, causing Dredd to reflect on his own conduct. In the end the threat is defeated and they learn from Beeny about Total War’s final attack. Dredd promises Beeny that they’ll try to bring them in alive. The judges stop the terrorists, but Kraken shoots America. The movie ends with Dredd failing Kraken and resigning from his post, taking the long walk out into the cursed earth.
Movie Three would basically be Necropolis. A research lab or a rogue psyker accidentally unleash the dark judges on the city. In this movie continuity, let’s say that each of the dark judges killed off a different homeworld and they’re here to collect a new member. In the cursed earth Dredd feels something pulling him back to the city, but then it’s gone. Of course Kraken becomes the new dark judge, loads of people die, Dredd returns to save the day. Gotta include “Gaze into the fist of Dredd!” and Kraken’s death scene, which IMO is one of the best comic book death scenes ever. There should be an appearance by Beeny as well. In the end, the city is in tatters, the chief judge is dead, and Dredd pledges to be there for the reconstruction. Happy hollywood smiles and the promise of a brighter day as they start moving corpses to the landfill. Hooray!
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