Soundtrack Review: Dredd (2012)

Dredd Soundtrack Review: This is a review of the film score Dredd by Paul Leonard-Morgan.

“What a weird mix this score was from start to end.”

Dredd is a new film based on the infamous Judge Dredd character from the 2000AD comic book series. In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO. The film is directed by Pete Travis and starring Karl Urban, Olivia Thirlby and Lena Headey. The score is composed by Paul Leonard-Morgan.

Track List

1. She’s a Pass	100
2. Mega City One	80
3. The Plan	80
4. The Rise of Ma-Ma	60
5. Anderson’s Theme	60
6. Lockdown	100
7. Cornered	80
8. Kay Escapes	40
9. Mini-Guns	100
10. Undefined Space	20
11. Bad Judges	60
12. Judgment Time	40
13. Hiding Out	20
14. Order in the Chaos	100
15. Slo-Mo	60
16. Taking Over Peach Trees	80
17. It’s All a Deep End	60
18. Judge, Jury and Executioner	60
19. Any Last Requests?	60
20. You Look Ready	80
21. Ma-Ma’s Requiem	80
22. Apocalyptic Wasteland	100

Last time I heard a score from Paul Leonard-Morgan I was excited by it. It felt just right and I loved the themes he managed to incorporate in such a cold and electronic environment. With Dredd he seemingly starts where he left off. ‘She’s A Pass’ is really great and what I expected this score to feel like. I wanted a heavy, electronic and metallic awesome score when I saw that Paul Leonard-Morgan was doing it. Not quite what I got though, because this score goes from brilliance to awfulness within 50 minutes of music.

Cues like ‘Undefined Space’, ‘Kay Escapes’ and ‘Judgment Time’ are just sound effects and barely listenable on CD. Then you have cues like ‘Lockdown’ that starts with an exciting bass line with some anticipating percussion sequences before the rough eletronic sounds sneak through and from 0:52 it’s all awesomness and I can see Dredd kicking some serious ass to this kind of music.

Conclusion

What a weird mix this score was from start to end. What started with a really great cue didn’t continue in the same street and some cues on here are really awful. Overall I ended up being confused and disappointed. I guess I have to wait until I see the movie to see how it all fits.

GEEK SCORE: 69