Karl Urban has said that he has been offered the role of Judge Dredd in a new adaptation of the British comic book lawman. No papers have been signed but Urban says that he's a big Dredd fan and would like to play the role in the Alex Garland penned script.
Dredd has so much potential as the character (or lack thereof) has so much history to take from and so many iconic villains to play off. I for one would not be adverse to seeing Judge Death as his enemy or the famed zombie invasions of mega city. Just as long as they don't try to cram every single reference into one script.
Most folk remember the Stallone vehicle as a big steaming pile of monkey poo, and it was. The main problems were that they didn't really convey the epic nature of a mega city, the brutal world of a near prison society ruled over by judges of a seriously fascist nature. The old film was a joke, Dredd's world is dark, fear filled and unfair. They also took too many recognizable parts of the comics, no doubt put there for fans, and then changed them, at once pleasing and then alienating the very people those elements were grafted into the film for. Poor move. And as for the biggest mistake of all? Taking his frickin helmet off. Once that happened, it was no longer a Judge Dredd film.
I'm a big fan of Urban's so i say give him the role and lets see two or three good Judge Dredd movies.