Dredd
Lionsgate | Release Date: September 21, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
60
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
7
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
95
NPRJoel ArnoldSep 20, 2012
Dredd works because it's an action flick with wide appeal that takes risks it doesn't need to - in its delightfully off-putting violence and daring style - and those choices pay off in a singular and exhilarating movie experience. It's savage, beautiful and loads of fun. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyDarren FranichSep 19, 2012
Paul Leonard-Morgan's thumping techno soundtrack is thrilling. And Urban manages to give a credibly wry performance using little more than his gravelly, imitation-Eastwood voice - and his chin. Read full review
80
Paste MagazineScott WoldApr 3, 2018
This is a film that aims squarely at respecting its source’s established fan base, and cares little for casualties who can’t hang on through its grindhouse paces. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternSep 20, 2012
What's exceptional is the orchestration of color, form, light and dark (lots of dark), 3-D technology and digital effects into a look that amounts to a vision. Read full review
80
Village VoiceSimon AbramsSep 18, 2012
Dredd is proudly degenerate - and it never feels compelled to slow down and explain itself. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith UhlichSep 18, 2012
The impressively lean script by Alex Garland (28 Days Later) is shorn of almost all superfluity beyond a few dud Schwarzeneggeresque kiss-offs, while Anthony Dod Mantle's sensational widescreen cinematography harkens back to the tension-inducing inventiveness of early John Carpenter. Read full review
80
The GuardianPhelim O NeillSep 7, 2012
In a world of compromised adaptations, Dredd is something of a triumph. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterStephen DaltonSep 3, 2012
Pitched at the right level to please original fans, but still slick and accessible enough to attract new ones, Dredd 3D feels like a smart and muscular addition to the sci-fi action genre. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 26, 2012
Absolutely, 100% kickass. Now would someone please get busy on the "Tank Girl" do-over, please? Read full review
75
Washington PostSean O’ConnellSep 21, 2012
This, finally, is the Dredd movie comic book readers have been anticipating. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubSep 20, 2012
The themes are also dated. There are times when Dredd 3D feels like an escapist companion piece to "The Day After." But there we go again, thinking too much. No sense in ruining such a fine piece of cheap entertainment. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnSep 20, 2012
Fitfully uneven, Dredd is nevertheless an intriguing consolidation of action-movie excess -- and even makes a solid case for its aesthetic appreciation. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineNick SchagerSep 19, 2012
The story places a premium on delivering its disreputable sex-and-violence goods with a minimum of fuss or pretension. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliSep 18, 2012
If there's a serious disappointment, it's the villain. Ma-Ma, despite being played with over-the-top zest by Lena Headey, isn't a very impressive foil for the mighty Judge Dredd, even when she calls for "back-up." Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriSep 22, 2012
Dredd 3-D places you firmly in an unreal, dreamlike world and rouses you with its unexpected grace and its rhythms and its movement. The plot ceases to matter after a certain point: This is a great big beautiful music video, and there's nothing really wrong with that. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaSep 20, 2012
This breathless science-fiction thriller isn't just gory. It practically revels in graphic violence, with several scenes shot in excruciating slow motion. Read full review
70
VarietyGeoff BerkshireSep 3, 2012
Grim, gritty and ultra-violent, Dredd reinstates the somber brutality missing from the U.K. comicbook icon's previous screen outing. Read full review
67
The PlaylistTodd GilchristJul 25, 2012
Dredd is a video game procedural tied to great visuals, but one without deeper substance to make its experience remotely meaningful. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandSep 20, 2012
For sci-fi action fans, it's an instant classic. For everyone else, it's a dark, bloody mess. Read full review
60
Boxoffice MagazineKate ErblandSep 15, 2012
The stylish sci-fi film makes some eye-popping and unexpected choices that add up to one heck of a fun film. Read full review
60
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Sep 3, 2012
There was much to dread about this new iteration of Dredd, but it's a solid, occasionally excellent take on the character, with Urban's chin particularly impressive. Read full review
60
Total FilmJonathan CrockerSep 3, 2012
Grungy, compact and delightfully violent, Dredd wants to hit you as hard as it can. The sequel may be the movie you really want, but for now, justice has been done. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesMark OlsenSep 20, 2012
Dredd's cinematography is one of its strongest assets speaks to the film's larger problems - the parts and pieces just don't have the total impact they should, like a punch sailing helplessly through the air rather than forcefully smacking its target. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeTom RussoSep 20, 2012
Pretty clearly determined to deliver the antidote to Stallone's movie, the filmmakers take their cues from Christopher Nolan's Batman filmscape, dropping Dredd into a fictional concrete sprawl (actually South Africa) that's relentlessly grounded, visually and dramatically. In a generic way, the environment works. Read full review
42
Portland OregonianStephen WhittySep 20, 2012
Olivia Thirlby adds some humanity as the empath. And as the scarred queen of a drug cartel, Lena Headey chews the scenery, and some of her costars, with relish. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla DargisSep 20, 2012
Every so often there's a suggestion that a police state may actually be a lousy idea, but this thought dies even faster than the disposable characters. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 20, 2012
Calling Dredd 3D a movie is sort of a lie. It's a premise, and there are levels to reach, and always there's another grimy hallway to stalk, and then you turn right or left, and then kill some more. Read full review
33
The A.V. ClubKeith PhippsSep 19, 2012
Dredd, a second attempt at making Judge Dredd a movie star, overcorrects, veering in the opposite direction with a dark - literally and otherwise - nearly humorless bit of ultraviolence distinguished largely by a fondness for spurting CGI blood. Read full review
25
New York PostKyle SmithSep 20, 2012
All I wanted to do was escape from this aggressively ugly world and its equally unattractive characters. It's not that the movie is in bad taste or cheesy (though it is) but that all of its hyperviolence adds up to nothing: This thing is dedd. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierSep 20, 2012
The drug that Ma-Ma trafficks in, Slo-Mo, slows its user's brain to 1% of its normal speed. Dredd unfortunately makes you feel as if you, too, have partaken. Read full review
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