‘Essentially a futuristic take on Die Hard or The Raid.’

Prime Video has just added Dredd, the acclaimed 2012 sci-fi action film based on the 2000 AD comic strip Judge Dredd.

Karl Urban (The Boys) stars as the title character – a law enforcer given the power of judge, jury and executioner in a dystopian metropolis called Mega-City One that lies in a post-apocalyptic wasteland in a near-future United States.

“One day, Dredd is partnered with Cassandra (Olivia Thirlby, Oppenheimer), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities,” the plot synopsis reads.

“A report of a terrible crime sends Dredd and Cassandra to a dangerous area controlled by Ma-Ma (Lena Headey, Game of Thrones), a drug lord who will stop at nothing to protect her empire.”

The second adaptation of the Judge Dredd character following a ’90s Sylvester Stallone vehicle, the 2012 reboot is widely considered a vast improvement on its predecessor – earning rave reviews upon release.

In particular, critics praised its great cast – which also includes Ireland’s own Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars) – as well as its hard-hitting action scenes, its stylish visuals, its fascinating world-building and its faithfulness to the source material.

The movie is also noteworthy for being written by Alex Garland, who would go on to direct such modern classics as Ex Machina and Annihilation – as well as the excellent action flick Civil War, which was also recently added to Prime Video.

You can read some of the positive reviews for Dredd below:

Financial Times: “A film made with love for the simple, cool and assured cult genre classics such as Rollerball, Robocop and Escape from New York.”

The Hollywood Reporter: “Dredd constantly impresses on a visual level, with a gritty style more akin to cult hits like District 9 or 28 Days Later than to standard Hollywood comic-book blockbusters.”

Philadelphia Inquirer: “For sci-fi action fans, it’s an instant classic.”

Time Out: “[Director Pete] Travis makes the most of limited resources: the industrial backdrops are stunning, the action scenes sizzle and the eye-of-the-addict Slo-Mo sequences are sickeningly beautiful.”

Toronto Star: “Essentially a futuristic take on Die Hard or The Raid: Redemption, this is a violent, gory and faithful execution of the character that fans should rejoice at.”

How to watch Dredd

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Dredd is now available to stream on Prime Video in Ireland and the UK.

If you want to watch it but want to save the cash, you could use this technique with an Amazon Fire Stick to save money.

The trick is something called ‘leapfrogging’, which is a way to skip between shorter, cheaper subscriptions to watch what you want to watch without signing up for expensive year-long contracts.

For example, you can get a basic Netflix package for €8.99, and stream what you want to watch via your Fire Stick and cancel it before your next bill.

You can then take advantage of the free trials of other services without signing up to them, all from the same place on your Fire Stick, so it’s super easy and convenient!

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