Karl Urban

News, Reviews & Features
  • Star Trek Beyond

    Movie Review | Ali Gray | 21st July 2016

    The things you remember from Star Trek Into Darkness: the theatrical dramatic pause before the shitty Khan reveal; Benedict Cumberbatch doing that weird over-enunciation thing he thinks makes bad dialogue sound better; Kirk kicking the warp core like a broken printer; the bit where Bones basically cures death; Tribbles; the platform game level at the end where Spock channels Super Mario. The things you don't remember from Star Trek Into Darkness: the good stuff, I guess? I don't recall it being a terrible film, quite enjoyable in the moment in fact, but a post-viewing breakdown revealed the story to have as much structural integrity as a piss-soaked newspaper. Star Trek Beyond, however, rights everything that Star Trek Into Darkness put wrong. It may not be as polished or as ambitious as its predecessor, but it is far truer to the core themes of what Trek is all about; crucially, it's a film that looks to the future, not the past.

  • Riddick

    Movie Review | Ali | 1st September 2013

    I love Vin Diesel. I love his voice, I love his face, I love the shape of his big baldy head and - to a lesser extent, admittedly - I love his films. He seems like a genuinely nice guy, so when he announced he re-mortgaged his house in order to get Riddick funded, I believed him. If any other Hollywood big shot claimed they'd put their house on the line to resurrect one of their fallen franchises it'd seem like a desperate career move, but Diesel has a Fast & Furious fallback; he didn't need Riddick to happen, he just felt the character still had life left in him. And he was right.

  • Star Trek Into Darkness

    Movie Review | Matt | 4th May 2013

    Right from the very first scene, which sees Kirk and Bones sprinting through bright red flora to escape from a primitive alien tribe, Star Trek Into Darkness proves to be a film of relentless adventure. It’s non-stop action through and through, and, once this opening chase sets the pace, the film seems to always be constantly accelerating. As such, the film spends all of its time going somewhere; and it goes quickly, it goes loudly and it goes spectacularly. The only problem is that it never seems to live up to the franchise’s original mission statement and go boldly.

  • Dredd

    Movie Review | Ali | 3rd September 2012

    Dredd, of course, is not the first time we've seen the surly 2000AD lawman on screen. The first adaptation was, to put it bluntly, dreddful: completely mishandled, badly cast and creatively bankrupt. Fans were not happy, and with good reason. I mean, I can just about understand the casting of Martin Shaw, but relocating the story from Mega City One to the British legal system was bizarre and the recasting of the title character as a lovelorn High Court Judge was sacrilege. Hang on. Oh. Yeah, never mind. I was reading the Wikipedia page for BBC1 legal drama 'Judge John Deed'. I guess most of what I said also applies to the 1995 Sylvester Stallone Judge Dredd movie. Except the bit about Martin Shaw.

  • Let's all cheer up Judge Dredd

    Movie Feature | Ali | 13th July 2012

    It's a hard life policing Mega City One. No overtime, packed cells and no temps to write up your paperwork. Being Judge Dredd must suck. Let's turn that frown upside down!

  • First official picture of Karl Urban as Judge John Deed

    Movie News | Ali | 20th July 2011

    After Martin Shaw's dreadful portrayal of the 2000AD future-cop, we finally get a look at Karl Urban's grittier take on Mega City One's high court judge. Look, it was either this or a helmet joke.

  • RED

    Movie Review | Rob | 25th October 2010

    Think back to The A-Team's tagline: "There is no Plan B". Seeing as RED is the fourth movie this year that features a group of highly-skilled heroes who enjoy banter between gunfights, after The A-TeamThe Losers, and The Expendables, it would seem that not only is there is a Plan B, there's a Plan C and a Plan D as well.

  • New Judge Dredd movie renamed Dredd, is still ridiculous

    Movie News | Ali | 7th September 2010

    The new Judge Dredd movie has a new cast, a new title and a synopsis, yet it still sounds thoroughly unbearable. You can practically hear the critics writing up their 'Dredd-ful' puns already. Like I am.

  • Judge Dredd to appeal to the Urban market

    Movie News | Chris | 19th August 2010

    And by Urban market, I mean folks who were bamboozled by a thoroughly bland actor doing a serviceable impression of DeForest Kelley.

  • Star Trek

    Movie Review | Mark | 9th May 2009

    Let's play a little game of word association. If I said 'majestic', 'enjoyable' and 'meaningful', you wouldn't think Star Trek, right? No. But if I said 'lazy', 'predictable' and 'dull'.... well, that's Star Trek down to a tee - at least, that's how it's been for the past decade and a half. Of late, Star Trek has been a poten...