I have a confession to make: I have never read an issue of 2000 AD or Judge Dredd. In fact,everything I know about Judge Dredd comes from Anthrax songs and the movie with Sylvester Stallone. So when I first read about the new Dredd 3D, I think I said something like "Really? Why are they remaking that?"
Then I saw the trailer.
My initial reaction to the trailer was "It's a post-apocalyptic The Raid: Redemption? That might be cool."
Having seen Dredd 3D last night, I have no problems saying that being a post-apocalyptic version of The Raid is very cool indeed!
When I reviewed The Raid, I said:
...we are treated to police fighting criminals. They fight with guns. They fight with batons. They fight with knives. They fight with batons and knives. They use marital arts. There's no old cop on the verge of retirement. There's no maverick out to do his own thing. There's no romantic subplot. There is fighting, and there is lots of it. The purity of The Raid is absolutely refreshing.
That same kind of purity is in Dredd. There is nothing but ass kicking, gun battles, and criminals to be brought to justice. There's no grand backstory, there's no romance, there's not much humor... there is just Judge Dredd relentlessly mowing down those who subvert the law.
And if that isn't Badass, I don't know what is.