Having watched the trailer for DREDD, I was pretty excited to see this movie.  From what I gathered, the plot looks suspiciously similar to the plot for RAID: REDEMPTION: Judge Dredd and a rookie Judge goes into a building owned by a villainous. They're trapped, and the only way out is to go to the very top. 

Like you, I have a sour taste in my mouth with the 90's version starring Sylvester Stallone.  Why that failed is that it's a Hollywood (American) production, and had humor.  What you need to understand is that Dredd is clearly a British creation and needed British writers and actors. And if you've ever read 2000 AD or its various Judge Dredd spinoffs, the comic book is not funny.  If there are humor, it's dark humor.

I'm not surprise that critics are finding the new DREDD movie to be amazing.  See rave review from AMC below.

PS I recently re-visited the original Stallone movie, it's not as bad as you remembered.  I could have used less or no Rob Schneider, that character just did not fit in the Judge Dredd universe.