Exclusive: First poster and new images for the comic adaptation Dredd with Karl Urban arrives!

June 8th 2012, 1:11pm

Not to be confused with Sylvester Stallone’s effort, “Judge Dredd”, the new comic adaptation version of the famed British comic book character, DREDD, is coming to theaters this year, courtesy of director Pete Travis (VANTAGE POINT) and star Karl Urban (RED) as the titular character.

And today, we have an exclusive look at the first poster and two new images for the adaptation, which also stars Lena Headey and Oliva Thirlby.

Get judged:

And here’s a synopsis:

In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.

There’s a couple things going for this film; 1) It’s an R-rated pic, which the filmmakers have been adament about from the get-go, 2) The script is written by Alex Garland, who wrote the now classic 28 DAYS LATER, and 3) Karl Urban has been a champion for the character and the role, i.e. he’s dedicated to what he’s putting onscreen.

Now, we could argue the merits of those points all day, but the bottom line is that DREDD feels like it’s got its heart in the right place in terms of delivering a faithful adaptation of the violent comic series that began in the 2000AD comic anthology series. There have been some complaints about the helmet being too big, but I think it’s a nitpick. Looking at the comic, the guy isn’t exactly wearing a bicycle helmet.

Judge Dredd creator John Wagner recently attended a screening of the film and had this to say about it:

“I went up to London yesterday to see the completed Dredd film. I’ve had reservations about certain aspects of it, and made them plain to the team at DNA. All but one of them – a little quibble at the beginning – have been addressed. And what a lot they’ve added. Music is on the button. SFX are excellent. Filming is impressive. I’ve not seen a modern 3-D movie before but I like it. I found myself reaching out trying to touch things that were dancing before my eyes.

Karl is a great Dredd and Olivia gets Anderson completely. This is Dredd as it should be done – true to character, visceral, unrelentingly violent (but not off-puttingly so). It will open, I believe, sometime in September. No doubt you’ll let me know what you think when you’ve seen it, but this has my recommendation.”

I’m looking forward to seeing a trailer as a lot of the images we’ve seen so far look pretty promising. If nothing else, I’m hoping for a solid, bloody, action-packed romp that can topple the “meh” Stallone version.

You can be judge, jury, and executioner when DREDD opens on September 21, 2012. In the meantime, you can follow DREDD on Facebook here and via Twitter @LionsgateMovies.