Too "fly" for the apocalypse?

“Dredd” is a film based on the comic “Judge Dredd”. The plot is set in a post-apocalyptic world, in which one gigantic mega-city has survived some kind of nuclear holocaust which left most of the world an irradiated desert. Curiously, life in Mega-City One goes on much like before, with skyscrapers, cars, lousy jobs and a lot of gang violence. The thin blue line against complete anarchy is the Hall of Justice and its “judges”, cops entitled to condemn and execute criminals on the spot. The concept has been filmed before – remember Sylvester Stallone and Max von Sydow?

I know this is supposed to be science fiction, but sometimes “Dredd” feels like a documentary about 2017 Detroit. Or is it Chicago? Seriously, though, I didn't find this film *that* interesting. The main character isn't macho enough, the villain doesn't look villainous enough, and many characters are too well-fed and have too fancy uniforms for a post-apocalyptic hellscape. Virtually the entire plot takes place inside a sealed building, in which villain Ma-Ma's gang is trying to hunt down two “judges”, one of them telepathic. The politically correct angles feel forced, especially since the head crook is a woman, and the “judges” (who kill or imprison people simply for being there) are supposedly The Law And That's A Good Thing. There are also some plot holes.

I know this was a popular flick, but personally I would give it three stars and that only barely. Please don't sentence me to an isolation cube!