The police department and the US’s Judicial System become one; due to the criminals of the future becoming more aggressive and violent, demanding an organization that can unite both departments. The police officers, now called “Judges,” decide on the charges, arrests and forms of execution, if necessary.

The audience immediately follows Judge Dredd to his base, where he is asked to help train a new recruit. Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), the newly recruited judge, possesses psychic abilities that allow her to see a person’s past and their thoughts.

Dredd and the rookie discover a new drug, Slo-Mo. When they think they’ve found the criminal responsible for this, they experience a lockdown at a tall building, where everyone wants them dead. While under lockdown they manage to track down “Ma-Ma” (Lena Headey), the person behind the distribution of the Slo-Mo drug. They must then find a way out of the building and decide on the arrests and executions for this crime.

Anyone who has read the comics or played the Judge Dredd video games will love the way that this story is adapted to the big screen. Karl Urban’s portrayal of Judge Dredd is almost spot-on for what fans have been looking for. The film also sets ground rules with itself, so that the judges and criminals have their fair share of what they can and can’t do.

As amazing as “Dredd” was, there were some occasional flaws. The first being that the scenes with the Slo-Mo drugs in use seem to take longer than they need to. There is also a segment in the film dealing with “bad judges,” which might confuse certain viewers, since almost all of the judges were good in both the comics and games of “Judge Dredd.”

Anyone who loves comic book, action or cop films will love “Dredd.”

Rating: 4.5 stars