Watched: Dredd
Observations:
- Wow, this was violent.
- Actually, that merits some expansion, because this film does some odd stuff with violence. It isn’t a spoiler to say that there are some major slow-motion sequences in this film (with narrative reason), and it almost makes the violence… beautiful? I don’t know. It’s an awkward one to negotiate, this, because having your face shot open is always gross, but there’s more going on here. It’s hard to put my finger on it.
- The cast! Cersei! Domhnall Gleeson! Avon Barksdale! (I’m bad with names.)
- This is really pretty, too. Where the plot sags (and it does, from time to time) the sheer visual splendour more than makes up for it.
- That said, I wondered about halfway through what seemed strange about the cinematography - then it dawned on me that this was all initially filmed in 3D. You can tell. There are focus shifts that only make sense if you’re viewing it behind magic glasses, and a few gratuitous leaping-out shots that look odd on a laptop screen. It doesn’t quite throw you out, but you pick up on it every now and then.
- This one probably isn’t for the squeamish. The violence is played for the visual, visceral nature of it rather than horror, but there are still some pretty disgusting things that happen in this film. It fits - the universe is all coherent - but it is pretty gross if you’re not prepared to accept it at face value. Basically, if you don’t like Tarantino, you definitely won’t like this.