Dredd was hamstrung by comparisons with The Raid: Redemption upon its release, but a decade later, such comparisons are a bigger compliment than ever. Dredd arrived in 2012 as one of Karl Urban’s numerous comic book movie roles before his portrayal of Billy Butcher on The Boys. Dredd was also the second big-screen adaptation of the Judge Dredd comics, following 1995’s ill-fated Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone. While receiving a largely positive reception, Dredd not only faced an uphill battle in the shadow of its ’90s predecessor, but also another action movie that arrived that same year.
Just a few months before the release of Dredd, The Raid debuted to become heralded as a modern day action movie classic. The Raid focuses on an Indonesian police unit raiding an apartment complex full of criminals, and finding themselves a battle for survival. That ended up being a problem for Dredd, which came with a premise of Dredd (Urban) and his apprentice Judge Anderson (Oliva Thirlby) in a very similar situation in the crime-infested Peach Trees Mega-apartment complex.
Their shared baseline aside, The Raid and Dredd are very different movies, The Raid‘s video game template creating a further distinction between them, but the comparisons (coincidental at that, due to the two film’s production timelines) did Dredd no favors, with the movie becoming a box office failure. Still, Dredd’s reception by those who saw it was very strong, and continued to be so as it has been discovered over the years. What has changed for Dredd in that time span is how much being compared to The Raid has shifted from an unfortunate hindrance to an outright honor.
Dredd’s Cult Status Make Its Raid Comparisons More Beneficial
As The Raid has maintained its earned reputation as one of the best action movies of all time since its release, Dredd itself has grown into a cult classic, with calls for Karl Urban to return in a Dredd 2 and Urban himself showing enthusiasm at such a possibility. While that is a signifier of Dredd shedding the burden of being overshadowed its poor reception since its 2012 release, it also shows how much being linked to The Raid has come to benefit it. Being compared to The Raid has become a great seal of approval, and time has enabled Dredd to take advantage of that in a way that works far more favorably to it.
The Raid still stands as one of the pillars of action movies with its action-horror tone and martial arts fights, which remain very influential on contemporary fight choreography, Daredevil being one example of The Raid‘s impact. The more gradual accumulation of Dredd‘s strong reputation has allowed the comparisons between the two to be re-framed. Dredd’s positive reception in isolation has also made its comparisons to The Raid not something to be apologized for, but instead openly bragged about.
Dredd ended up being a victim of circumstance in several ways, its similarities to The Raid being among them. Years after its release, Dredd has flipped what was once a detriment into one of its greatest strengths after building its cult following parallel to Karl Urban’s acclaim as Butcher on The Boys. Comparing Dredd to The Raid is to bestow it with the recognition of being likened to one of the all-time greats of action movies. While it may have been a delayed reaction, Dredd’s cult status has partly come to be because it can be compared to The Raid.
