Capsule reviews of 'Dredd 3D,' other new releases

A wickedly dark comic streak breaks up the vivid violence and relentless bleakness of this 3-D incarnation of the cult-favorite British comic series "2000 A.D." The visceral visuals, shot in 3-D by Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire" cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, feature extreme close-ups and sequences of super-cool slow-motion photography, which wisely are spread sparingly throughout the course of the picture. Karl Urban stars as the stoic Judge Dredd, the baddest bad-ass of them all in a dystopian future where enforcers like him serve as judge, jury and executioner. Dredd is the most fearsome of the judges in the squalid, densely populated Mega City One, with his ever-present helmet and a low, monotone grumble that recalls both Christian Bale's Batman and Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name. (For the uninitiated, Dredd is actually much funnier than this description makes him sound; his terse, deadpan responses to the most absurd and depraved situations provoke the biggest laughs.) Olivia Thirlby has a calm yet confident presence as the rookie Judge Anderson, who happens to have been assigned to Dredd for training upon one particularly bloody day. Her psychic abilities make her an asset when things get especially chaotic, and her slightly ethereal nature provides a nice complement to Dredd's intense groundedness. Dredd and Anderson respond to a triple homicide at the Peach Trees housing complex, a 200-story ghetto ruled by the ruthless prostitute-turned-drug-lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey). When they take one of her lieutenants (Wood Harris) into custody, Ma-Ma puts the whole place on lockdown and insists she'll keep it that way until the judges are killed. R for strong bloody violence, language, drug use and some sexual content. 98 minutes. Three stars out of four.