New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Edwin Davies: The first couple of seconds of this trailer, specifically the combination of Mega City One skyline and the opening notes of that La Roux remix, comprise my favorite moment from a trailer in quite some time. There's just something about that kind of spooky, sad music and the enormity of the city that works for me. Beyond that, there isn't a huge amount in the trailer that I found to be all that impressive, other than how much it resembles The Raid: Redemption, but with Judge Dredd. I'm interested to see how it turns out since I think the trailer does a good job of establishing the world and the premise, but apart from the reveal of Mega City One there aren't any moments in the trailer that really wowed me.

David Mumpower: I must admit that the Dredd trailer doesn't do a lot for me. This may be the lingering distaste for the original coming into play, though. This sort of dystopian drug culture has been done to death. While I love Karl Urban, he is unrecognizable in the helmet so his presence in the trailer is insignificant. I presume this will not be the case with the movie yet this is the reason why I have always questioned the idea of a Halo movie. It is difficult to overcome that sort of anonymity to develop a rooting interest or emotional investment in a protagonist. The only aspect of Dredd's ads that I enjoy is the grizzled female drug lord. Simply by casting a woman rather than a run of the mill banger wanna-be, Dredd sets itself apart in this regard. I will be curious to see how much violence will be permitted from the male judge against the female antagonist. This is a rare event for a big budget action movie.

Reagen Sulewski: This sort of feels like a sequel more than a film that's trying a reboot, which may or may not be a bad thing - I think we're all sick of origin stories, aren't we? But it's also kind of a weird choice to keep the action so contained after building this great big world, like a reverse Die Hard set in Blade Runner world, only we barely get to see any of it. By casting Urban, they're already keeping expectations low, and it would be hard to throw under the Stallone version quality-wise, but I again have to wonder why this film exists at all.

Kim Hollis: I like Karl Urban. That might be the only nice thing I can say about this trailer, honestly. It's grim and the acting seems terribly wooden. I never saw the original film, either, though.

Continued:       1       2       3       4