Dredd: The movie that made Kiwi actor Karl Urban a legend drops on Neon

Dredd (R18, 91mins) Directed by Pete Travis ***½

Kiwi actor Karl Urban's first Hollywood headline role came with plenty of baggage.

Not only was he playing one of the most beloved comic-book anti-heroes of the 20th century, but he also had to make up for the bad will generated by the last cinematic outing of Judge Dredd.

Best described as a farrago, the 1995 big-budget, big-screen adaptation of John Wagner and Carlos Ezquerra's long- running 2000AD strip (Judge Joe Dredd debuted in Issue 2 in 1977) was saddled with a young director out of his depth and a miscast star (Sylvester Stallone), who didn't understand the character. He even took off his helmet. Confusing Americans and irritating Britons, it derailed Danny Cannon's career for five years (until he pitched up on CSI) and sent Stallone into a direct-to- video "time out" for his sins.

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Happily, 17 years later, Pete Travis' (Vantage Point) take on Mega City One's top lawman is much more palatable fare.

Set in the dystopian city of 800 million, which stretches from Boston to Washington, DC, Dredd focuses on a day in the life of Judge Dredd (Urban).

The only thing standing between humanity and chaos, judges have the power to act as judge, jury and executioner, and they're kept plenty busy, with 12 serious crimes reported every minute.

But they are losing the war in the city, able to respond to only 6 per cent of callouts and being forced to lower their recruitment standards.

Struggling to pass the entrance examinations, Judge Anderson (Olivia Thirlby) is given 24 hours with Dredd to prove herself in the field. Although she possesses special skills, Dredd doubts her ability to cope in sticky situations.

And that's about to be put to the test when a callout to the infamous Peach Trees complex goes pear-shaped.

The building is locked down, with the two judges inside, and they are hunted down by druglord Madeline "Mama" Madrigal (Lena Headey), who manufactures addictive drug SLO-MO.

Writer Alex Garland's (The Beach) surprisingly simple premise (it's all but confined to a single towering location) is one of the film's major strengths.

It allows the action to be concentrated and the tension to build as Dredd and his rookie battle the odds to stay alive.

Sure, there will be plenty of people howling at the film's striking similarities to Gareth Evans' The Raid, but everything looks and feels in keeping with the milieu that Wagner and Ezquerra first created in the comic.

Among all the pyrotechnics and bullet-filled mayhem, Urban (Star Trek, Priest) is a striking presence, seemingly all business, but still managing to generate more emotion and pathos within a helmet than Stallone did without.

Impressively, the film's two women also get beefier roles than is traditional. Thirlby (Juno) is more Sarah Connor than simpering sidekick, while Headey's (TV's Game of Thrones) unpredictable crime matriarch evokes memories of Tina Turner's Aunty Entity in Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome.

It's a solid action film, which disappointingly hasn't led to more outings for Urban in the helmet.