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Parents' Guide to

Dredd 3D

By Jeffrey Anderson, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 17+

Extreme violence, drugs in intense comic book tale.

Movie R 2012 95 minutes
Dredd 3D Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

age 17+

Based on 8 parent reviews

age 17+

Excellent movie, but definitely not for kids

Common Sense Media's review is spot on. There is a significant amount of on-screen violence, death, and destruction. For older teens and adults, this movie is a joy, an excellent action movie with great pacing and action throughout. I highly recommend it.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much swearing
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
age 17+

Its a Pass

Simple plot. Great pacing. Great atmosphere. Minimalist character development but has good shining subtle character moments and subtext here and there. May be too grim for some, but perfect for hardcore action junkies. Lots of bloody violence with some gore in a few scenes. While graphic the camera rarely lingers of the (plentiful) blood. While not quite as brutal as The Raid, violence is dramatically used effectively. A teen is hit by a car leaving a sizabble blood splat on the assailants windshield. After the car is wrecked we see the occupants with blood and cuts on thier faces. A couple dead bodies with some blood around them are seen in a shopping center. An auto sweeper smears a large pool of blood left by a fat corpse. A man's head is burned from the inside by an incindiary round, we see it glow, char and smoke. A hobo is crushed offscreen by a large metal gate. We see a blood pool start to form from under it. Bodies are briefly skinned in a flashback (we only see an already skinned leg). Some brief but fairly large blood splats in a gang war flashback. A character is said to have bitten a pimps member off (her face is shown bloody around the mouthskinned bodies are splatted form a great height and are very gory looking. They also make a wet slam that leaves civilians horrified. We then see the bodies from a birds eye view. We later see one with a smashed head with brains splattered about after a cop removes a tarp. A flashback shows a character with bloody eye holes (he screams in pain after Mama gouges them. A room of security gaurds are shot up. We see some blood on a screen. A man is shot in the head unexpectedly. We see some blood spurt and form under his head. A head briefly explodes (Largely obscured by flames). Dredd is shot and we see some blood trickle out of his wound. Another man is shot form behind several times and we see blood splat trickle out of his wounds. A man has his head literally shredded apart (top half of head is gone) and spalttered on a wall behind him by point blank smg fire (brief but very graphic). A man is shot and a largeblood splat stains a wall. A head is seen shot form behind, with brains briefly exploding out. Several miscellaneous shooting with some blood spurts and wounds briefly shown. Several bodies are shown form a low angle with blood around them after a shootout in smoke. A survivor is shown gurgleing on his knees with a puddle of blood forming under him. He is shot with a brief blood spurt. A minigun barrage wastes many civilians. Only some blood is shown but this is very intense and scary. A group of thugs is roasted by a flame barage. Many on fire but nothing particularly graphic. A slow mo sequence shows bullets going trough 2 cheeks and 1 torso. One is particularly graphic as we see the cheek tear apart. A character is shot in the side with some blood and is thrown of a balcony in slow mo and we see a blood pool form over the screen under her face as we see a view of it hitting the pavement form under it. While we see some of her skin burst in split second the fast expanding red obscures graphic splatter detail. A man in a phone booth is ostensibly wounded (blood stains on the glass) after a friendly shooting . A man has his arm gibbed into pieces of indescernable flesh (we see the partially cauterized stump and bloody stained shirt) by an exploding gun and is kicked in the head. An imaginary rape is vaguely shown. We see the womans moaning face and a brief naked breast briefly swing around. We see a very blurry image of a fully naked woman being raped form behind from a distance in another imaginary as well as another where we see a woman remove her top from the back with no nudity and the man forces her head down near his groin. This is preceded by an image of a different woman spitting blood as if she bit his member off. A man has his leg shot with brief blood spurt. The f bomb count is around 40. 4 or 5 scenes of people using a fictional inhalant drug (Slo Mo), 2 of which are forced.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (8 ):
Kids say (28 ):

No subplots, romances, or comic sidekicks get in the way of the pure action in this adrenaline-filled movie. Both Dredd 3D and the earlier The Raid: Redemption are set in a high rise with the bad guy at the top, where every floor is more dangerous than the one before it. Fortunately, the two movies are different enough -- and enjoyable enough -- that they can exist side by side. Based on the popular comic book, Dredd 3D is extremely violent but minimalist at the same time. Even Urban, as Dredd, speaks only when necessary and only in an emotionless murmur.

Director Pete Travis uses space well and also incorporates an awesome production design, such as a skateboard ramp that hangs off the side of the building several hundred feet up. The "Slo-Mo" drug trip sequences in particular are quite dazzling. Thankfully, even these flashier elements are all employed solely for the purpose of underlining and enhancing the action. Overall, Dredd 3D isn't as rich or as deep as The Dark Knight Rises or The Avengers, but it's good, solid comic book fun.

Movie Details

  • In theaters: September 21, 2012
  • On DVD or streaming: January 8, 2013
  • Cast: Karl Urban , Lena Headey , Olivia Thirlby
  • Director: Pete Travis
  • Inclusion Information: Female actors, Bisexual actors
  • Studio: Lionsgate
  • Genre: Action/Adventure
  • Run time: 95 minutes
  • MPAA rating: R
  • MPAA explanation: strong bloody violence, language, drug use and some sexual content
  • Last updated: June 20, 2023

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