By This is the kind of list that is very hard to narrow down every year. You have to account for everyone’s tastes, try to figure out exactly what qualifies a film as ‘underrated’, and then chop the nominees down to just five. There are always films that we see and think are fantastic but have gone unappreciated, and this year had more than its share. The whole gamut of film genres had films that deserved more attention, from kung-fu extravaganzas to comedies that warmed the heart. There are certainly more films that we would have loved to nominate, but in the end there can only be one that takes home the Golden Pterodactyl. It may be a little belated, but Flixist’s most underrated film of 2012 is…
From the ashes of the Sly Stone abomination from the nineties a beautiful phoenix has arisen, and its name is Dredd. To be fair, this film has nothing to do with the previous attempt to adapt the hard-edged Judge for the big screen, which is a credit to its quality because it stands alone beautifully. There’s no convoluted story, or some absurd conspiracy. It’s about a day in the life of Judge Dredd (played unflinchingly by Karl Urban) and his cadet (the lovely Olivia Thirlby) as they find themselves at odds with a drug kingpin named ‘Ma-Ma’ (Lena Headey). What unfolds is action that is so unnecessarily gory that it borders on the obscene…and it’s f*cking awesome. Everyone moment of it. Why do we feel it’s underrated? Well, action movies are supposed to have universal appeal, and it seems reasonable to think that a lot of people probably made the assumption that this was just going to be sent out to die as some quick cash grab, so there;s no doubt that there are plenty of people who missed out on something special.
If your a fan of straight forward action and bad-ass comic book characters, it doesn’t really get any better than this. Movies rarely come this slick and trimmed, with all the fat cut away, leaving only 100% Grade A entertainment. Buy it, borrow it, whatever, just watch it and please spread the word so we can get some more delicious Dredd sometime in the near future.
The Man with the Iron Fists
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World