Stallone-free Dredd woos Comic-Con fans

The annual San Diego Comic-Con is now in full swing, and Wednesday night, fans who crammed into the Reading Cinemas Gaslight were treated to a free screening of the upcoming science fiction action movie Dredd.

Based on the long-running British comic book character who originated in the 2000 A.D. magazine and later in his own comics, the movie returns the authoritarian supercop to his violent, darkly satirical roots. That's something the 1995 American movie adaptation, starring a miscast Sylvester Stallone in the title role, didn't do. That earlier version had a huge budget and occasionally looked visually impressive, but fans of the comics were disappointed by its tonal imbalances, its inability to maintain a satirical edge (something the comics always had), and the fact that Stallone didn't wear a helmet for the majority of the movie, abandoning one of the integral physical characteristics of the original character. It's like an actor playing Batman without the cape.

Though Judge Dredd is a well-known figure in British pop culture, will mainstream American audiences respond favorably to the character? Regardless, Comic-Con fans did and reportedly cheered the movie on after the screening.

Dredd hits theaters in late September and is directed by Pete Travis and written by Alex Garland.