Karl Urban is the New Judge Dredd

According to Empire, Karl Urban is playing Judge Dredd in the new reboot. There’d been talk of this for a while, but his casting was finally confirmed by the movie’s producers at Movie Con (which I understand to be the UK's answer to the movie biz's presence at Comic Con). Most of you probably know Urban as Bones in the new STAR TREK, but he’s actually been quite prolific in this genre, acting in the likes of CHRONICLES OF RIDDICK, THE BOURNE SUPREMACY and DOOM. You’ll next see him as one of the antagonists in RED. I’ve been a fan of the guy since his turn as Eomer in LORD OF THE RINGS. He’s definitely has leading man chops but, unfortunately, when he's acting in that capacity, directors usually don't know to do with him. 
 
As you can see, he's certainly got the chin for a proper Dredd.

I bring that up because the producers were keen to stress that Dredd won’t ever be taking his helmet off in this. See, one of the character's trademarks is that you never see his face, so a lot a fans were upset about Sly Stallone going around "maskless" in the last attempt at a DREDD movie (way back in 1995.) == TEASER ==

The producers are planning to shoot this in Johansburg with a lot of the same crew who from DISTRICT 9. Here's howbreak down their take...

“The main thing about Dredd is that it’s a fantastic comic that was completely messed up 20 years ago… Our idea is to make a very hard, R-rated, gritty, realistic movie of Dredd in Megacity, so we’ve got to get the tone right. He’s not going to take off his helmet. His bike is going to feel real. He’s going to hit people and it’s going to feel real."

R-rated’s good, but I don’t know if gritty realism is what's needed for this. In fact, a lot of people (including Stallone, actually) thought the first movie was too restrained. It didn’t push the edgy black humor of the comic far enough.  
 
Either way, I’m eager to see this. JUDGE DREDD’s one of my favorite comics and Urban’s one of the most underrated actors, in my book. Finger crossed, this new movie will give them both a better time to shine.

Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE. Order them on Amazon here & here.