Film / Dredd

"Ma-Ma is not the law. I am the law."

"Negotiation's over. The sentence is death."

— Judge Dredd

Dredd is a 2012 action film based on the Judge Dredd comics series. Karl Urban stars as the eponymous Dredd, Olivia Thirlby as Judge Anderson, and Lena Headey as the main villain, Ma-Ma. The film was directed by Pete Travis and written by Alex Garland.

In the far future, America has become an irradiated wasteland. In the ruins of what was once the United States lies Mega-City One, a vast, dystopian megapolis riddled with violence and bloodshed that stretches from Boston to Washington D.C—with the streets being plagued by criminals of all stripes. The only force of order remaining in the city is the Judges, a group of law enforcement officials belonging to the Justice Department who acts as Judge, Jury, and Executioner for any criminal unlucky enough to encounter one.

The film revolves around Judge Joseph Dredd, a decorated veteran Judge, and Cassandra Anderson, a rookie Judge with a genetic mutation that gave her powerful psychic abilities. After Anderson is assigned to Dredd for her final evaluation, the two respond to a triple murder at a 200-story apartment slum named Peach Trees, where they unknowingly stumble upon the creators of the city's latest drug scourge. In response, prostitute-turned-drug lord Madeleine "Ma-Ma" Madrigal and her ruthless clan trap everyone inside, prepared to protect their empire at all costs. With no way out and the body count rising, the Judges are forced to fight their way up the tower to Ma-Ma, because There Can Be Only One Law in Mega-City One.

Just another day on the job for Judge Dredd.

A spin-off comic, Dredd: Underbelly, was released in September 2013; a sequel, Dredd: Uprise was released the following year, followed by another sequel, Dredd: Dust and an Anderson Spin-Off titled The Deep End in 2016. A web-animated mini-series about Judge Death dropped in 2014. Adi Shankar has been trying to get a sequel to the film made after a strong outcry from fans and supporters alike. A crowdfunding project was made in an attempt to help get the sequel off the ground, but as of March 2015, the film is most likely scrapped. As of January 2016, the sequel campaign has shifted its focus to attempting to get a Sequel Series made instead, and there are some unspecified talks with Netflix on that possibility. In May 2017, a series titled Judge Dredd: Mega-City One was confirmed to be in development.

Not to be confused with the 1995 film adaptation starring Sylvester Stallone.

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You are hereby sentenced to read about the tropes found in Dredd:

• Abnormal Ammo: The Lawgiver handgun carried by the Judges fires several different types of ammo. Seen in the film are standard^note Regular bullets hotshot^note a flare that can burn an enemy from the inside out incendiary^note Bursts open mid-air to rain down burning white phosphorus armour-piercing,^note Can punch right through armor and even concrete walls, stun^note A round with a Taser like effect, and high-ex.^note Short for High Explosive Rapid-fire and silencer are also available for standard rounds.
• Action Girl: Judge Anderson who is taken on a pass/fail run with Dredd. She demonstrates that she is capable in combat and willing to do her job. She even stands firm against Dredd when she frees Clan Techie.
• Adaptation Distillation: Though the film isn't based on any specific storyline, many elements from the comic's 35-year run are featured in the film.
• After the End: The movie takes place after nuclear war has rendered most of the Earth uninhabitable, except for a few giant "mega-cities."
• Aggressive Negotiations:
  • The hostage-taker's attempt at bargaining his way out of a jail sentence. It doesn't end well for him since Dredd just shoots him mid-negotiation.
  • Ma Ma attempts the same with Dredd, only this time with explosives threatening the top 50 blocks of Peach Trees. Dredd doesn't go for this either.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Subverted. An enemy has Dredd at his mercy, and Dredd asks him to "wait," which seems like he's going to beg for his life. The enemy mocks him for it but gets shot down by Anderson, and Dredd then clarifies, "Wait for her to shoot you."
• Alliterative Name: Madeline Madrigal. The first two letters of her real name give us her criminal name Ma-Ma.
• All There in the Manual: The movie gives us a basic rundown of Ma-Ma's origin. The full story features in a strip published in the Judge Dredd Megazine.
• An Arm and a Leg: An attempt to use Anderson's Lawgiver gets the unauthorized user's hand blown off.
• Anti-Hero:
  • Dredd is willing to do anything to uphold the law as written. While he cares about Mega City and the people he protects, he tortures and kills perps even when they've already surrendered. Regardless, he is also shown using only the proper amount of force when needed and doesn't shoot to kill until the other options are expired. For example not firing on the van in the opening scene until they run over an innocent, and using stun rounds on a pair of scared, stupid kids. He also shows willingness to break the rules when it counts. Instead of flunking Anderson for losing her primary weapon, he gives her the pass she deserves. Likewise, he refuses to execute a murder suspect on a "mere" 99% certainty of guilt.
  • Anderson is a conflicted version. Although depicted as a kinder, gentler judge compared to Dredd, she nonetheless kills an unarmed perp at Dredd's urging (as under the law, that's what his punishment is), but is reluctant and soon also feels awful on learning that he had a family. She later mostly kills perps only in defense and is insistent on mercy to one who'd been forced into committing his crimes. However, she does also shoot some more who are down, showing it gets easier. She acts more like Dredd in the end.
• Anti-Villain: Clan Techie, who only works for Ma-Ma under the constant threat of violence. Ma-Ma personally gouged his eyes out with her bare hands to install his cybernetic eyes. He's apparently not a bad guy, and clearly feels uncomfortable with Ma-Ma's treatment of Anderson. At the end, he helps Dredd and Anderson into Ma-Ma's fortified hideout. Anderson insists on not punishing him for his numerous crimes, despite Dredd's reluctance.
• Armor Is Useless: All Judges wear protective suits of armor, but we never ever see them actually proving effective. This may be understandable in case of a futuristic weapon such as Lawgiver (especially when it's firing armor-piercing rounds), but even contemporary, real-life guns (which would be obsolete in distant future) penetrate them just as easily. This becomes evident when Anderson wields good old Heckler & Koch MP5A3 submachine gun against corrupt Judges and manages to gun down both Kaplan and Lex with zero trouble.
• As You Know: Justified as Dredd is either instructing Anderson or checking to see if she remembers what she was taught in the Academy.
• Badass Biker: Dredd and every other Judge when on their Lawmasters.
• Badass Boast:
  • Ma-Ma starts the action in earnest with one:
    Ma-Ma: Peach Trees, this is Ma-Ma. Somewhere in this block are two Judges. I want them dead. Until I get what I want the block is locked down. All clan, every level, hunt the Judges down. Everyone else, clear the corridors and stay the fuck out of our way until the shooting stops. If I hear of anyone helping the Judges, I will kill them and the next generation of their families. As for the Judges... sit tight, or run. It makes no difference, you're mine.
  • Dredd throws it back in her face after Anderson has been captured:
    Dredd: Inhabitants of Peach Trees. This is Judge Dredd. In case you people have forgotten, this block operates under the same rules as the rest of the city. Ma-Ma is not the law. I am the law. Ma-Ma is a common criminal. Guilty of murder. Guilty of the manufacture and distribution of the narcotic known as Slo-Mo. And as of now, under sentence of death. Any who obstruct me in carrying out my duty will be treated as an accessory to her crimes. You have been warned. And as for you, Ma-Ma: Judgment time.
  • A downplayed version with Dredd's Establishing Character Moment where he's about to take on three men armed with automatic weapons. What makes it so badass is that for Dredd, it's not a boast at all, just a statement of fact.
    Command: Do you require backup?
    Judge Dredd: No. (accelerates his bike)
• The Bad Guys Are Cops: Judge Dredd and Anderson call for back-up when their coms start working again, but the Judges who eventually show up (and relieve the real back-up) are actually hired by Ma-Ma to protect her drug operation.
• Batman Cold Open: The sequence at the beginning where Dredd chases down a group of perps has no connection to the plot besides introducing Slow-Mo and serving as Dredd's Establishing Character Moment.
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: Anderson gets into one with Kay when she delves into his mind for information. Lacking powers of his own, Kay doesn't take long to fold.
• Beauty Inversion: Lena Headey's character, Mama, has scars all over her face, her hair is a mess, her teeth are in terrible shape, and she wears very basic unflattering outfits.
• Becoming the Mask: Anderson's character arc is leaving behind her more humanistic civilian persona and adopting that of the Judges, who are appropriately personified by the permanently masked Dredd.
• Big Bad: Ma-Ma. Head of a ruthless drug syndicate, with a well-deserved reputation for violence and brutality and responsible for the drug slow-mo and the wave of crime it produced.
• Big Damn Heroes: Anderson escapes her captors and stops an attempt to execute Dredd by a corrupt Judge Lex.
• Bilingual Bonus: The head of the backup Judges is named Judge Lex. Lex being Latin for law.
• Black Boss Lady: The Chief Judge. She is responsible for many Judges who operate in the harsh conditions of Mega City One, including Dredd. She makes it very clear she is in charge and readily gives Dredd an order to give Anderson a very rare Pass/Fail field exam.
• Black Comedy: Used ostentatiously in the beginning to establish the film's Crapsack World and more subtly done the rest of the time.
• Blinded by the Light: When the crowd of gunmen outside the medical center refuses to disperse after Dredd warns them, he detonates the remote speaker-ball, emitting a blinding flash of light enabling Dredd and Anderson to quickly eliminate their opponents despite being outnumbered.
• Bloodier and Gorier: Compared to the 1995 Stallone film adaptation, this movie does not shy away from being graphic in its violence, particularly during scenes using Bullet Time where bullets ripping through bodies and craniums bursting apart under impact are rendered in lavish detail.
• Bloody Smile: As Anderson is having a mental one on one with Kay she inverts one of his fantasies of forcing her to go down on him by having it appear to be Ma-Ma who looks up at him with a bloody smile, a callback to her "feminizing" her previous pimp with her teeth.
• Bond One-Liner:
  • "Choke on that."After crushing the throat of one of the corrupt Judges he was struggling against with a powerful blow to the trachea.
  • After hypothesizing that Ma-Ma's deadman switch won't be in range at the bottom of the tower, he simply says, "Yeah," when the place doesn't blow up.
  • Before Dredd takes out Alvarez with a Hi-Ex round, he and Lex discuss the fee to take out Dredd. Lex tells Dredd that it's a million credits split four ways, to which Dredd responds "three ways". When Dredd kills Alvarez, he says "Two way split."
  • Dredd is at the mercy of an enemy and appears to be begging for his life by saying "Wait." His enemy mocks him asking him what he is waiting for until Anderson comes from behind and blows him away in a burst of automatic fire. At that point, Dredd finishes with "For her to shoot you."
• Book Ends:
  • Begins and ends with roughly the same monologue about Mega-City One and the Judges.
  • Also, the story starts off with Dredd gearing up and heading out on patrol. The movie ends with Anderson, geared up, heading out on patrol.
  • The conflict is started when Ma-Ma has three men doped on Slo-Mo and thrown off the balcony to make an example out of them. The conflict ends when Dredd gives her a Karmic Death, doping Ma-Ma and throwing her down.
  • A twinkly, ethereal musical theme is playing when we first see Ma-ma at the beginning of the film when she is in the bathtub, high on Slo-Mo. At the end, during the above-mentioned Karmic Death sequence, we hear the same music as Ma-Ma falls to her doom, once again under the influence of Slo-Mo.
  • Right before the drug bust that kicks everything off:
    Dredd: Ready?
    Anderson: Yes sir.
    Dredd: You don't look ready.
    Right before the final confrontation:
    Dredd: Ready?
    Anderson: Yeah.
    Dredd: (approving) You look ready.
• Boom, Headshot!:
  • Judge Anderson and Dredd deliver plenty to various unfortunate Mooks:
  • Of particular note is the cruel way Dredd takes out the perp he's chasing at the start. The hotshot round he uses fries the inside of his head.
  • One of the two Slo-Mo clients that were with Kay during the bust gets one through the face. Appropriately, the entire scene is in slow motion.
  • One of the corrupt Judges that tries to take down Dredd meets the business end of a High-Ex round. The boom extends to more than just his head.
  • A key moment in Anderson's character development is when she does this after she's ordered by Dredd to execute a wounded mook.
  • The medic who initially refused to help Dredd and Anderson is shot in the head by the corrupt judges after he says he would be willing to testify about what was really going on.
  • Shortly after freeing herself, Anderson disarms a mook and sends an automatic rifle burst at his chin, upwards. Viewers get a very detailed look at his head disassembling.
• Boring Insult: An indirect version. When Dredd delivers his verdict over the PA system, he makes a point that Ma-Ma is a "common criminal," specifically to deflate the image of untouchable power she's created for herself.
• Bottomless Magazines:
  • Averted - the film makes a point of highlighting what a major concern this would be even for Dredd in a lockdown situation. Once he realizes they're trapped, he tells Anderson to conserve ammunition, and as the movie goes on, a major source of drama is his dwindling ammunition. Luckily, after dispatching four corrupt Judges sent by Ma-Ma, Dredd takes their ammo and is armed to the teeth for the final conflict.
  • Also averted in the Gatling Good scene, where we see ammunition packs being wheeled up before they open fire. When Dredd makes his miraculous reappearance, Ma Ma can't even shoot him because she's used up all her ammo.
• Bring My Brown Pants: After losing a Battle in the Center of the Mind against Anderson, Kay wets himself.
• Building of Adventure: And given that Peach Trees is a 200 story mega block housing over 75,000 people, there's plenty of scope for adventure.
• But for Me, It Was Tuesday: For Anderson, this was a hellish baptism of fire into the life of a street judge that rocked her to her very core and changed the way she saw herself and the world around her. For Dredd, it was just another drug bust, although the appearance of the corrupt judges probably made it a bit more memorable than usual.
  Chief Judge: What happened in there?
  Dredd: Drug bust.
  Chief Judge: You look like you've been through it.
  Dredd: Perps were... uncooperative.
• By-the-Book Cop:
  • Dredd adheres very strictly to the letter of the law in general. His first mission is to protect whatever peace there is, not kill criminals, and he always follows protocol. It's not his fault most of the perps he faces are Too Dumb to Live after he gives them ample warning.
  • Near the climax, Anderson reveals to Dredd that she knows she's failed her assessment due to losing her sidearm, an automatic disqualification, yet points out that until her assessment is officially over she is still a Judge and she will dispense justice and fight. This willingness to uphold the law despite gaining nothing from doing so is probably the reason Dredd gives her a passing grade.
• Call-Back: When they prepare for their first bust and Dredd asks if she's ready, Anderson says she is, and Dredd expresses his doubt. When they're about to breach Ma-Ma's penthouse:
  Dredd: You ready?
  Anderson: Yeah.
  Dredd: (approving) You look ready.
• Calling Your Attacks: Justified because the Lawgiver Pistol's special rounds like High Explosive and Incendiary are voice activated.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: Ma-Ma doesn't kill Kay for getting her drug operation exposed, but only out of practical concerns, because Dredd has already killed too many of her soldiers by that point and she's short on manpower.
• Casting Gag: Avon Barksdale is still in the drug game, but now he answers to an even bigger and more psychotic boss.
• The Cavalry:
  • Subverted. Four judges do arrive as backup. Turns out they've been bribed to kill Dredd. Fortunately, Dredd and Anderson figure this out quickly.
  • Also subverted earlier when two judges arrive at the building, but they decide to wait outside for a while when the Clan Techie convinces them that there's a technical malfunction with the blast doors. They get sent off on their way when the other four arrive.
• Character Catchphrase: Judge Dredd's iconic "I am the law." Unlike its hammy treatment in the 1995 film, in this film Dredd says it so casually that it's easy to miss.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • A bunch of kids are seen playing on a skateboard ramp installed on a balcony of the Peach Tree Block, which is sealed off by the lockdown. When trapped on the same floor by Gatling gun fire, Dredd blows a hole in the wall to escape to it.
  • The Lawgiver guns are keyed to a specific ID as seen in the opening sequence when Dredd puts his gear on. Later in the film, when Kay tries to execute Anderson with her own weapon, the ID check fails, causing the gun to explode, destroying his hand and part of his lower arm.
• The City Narrows: Peach Trees is one for Mega City One. A hot bed of crime and poverty, it also serves as the center of Slo-Mo distribution and manufacture in the city. Ma-Ma was able to ruthlessly take over the block due to the low presence of Judges across Mega City One. Peach Trees had not seen a judge for a long time until Anderson and Dredd showed up to investigate a trio of grisly murders meant to send a message to rival gangs.
• Closed Circle: The very premise is trapping Dredd and the rookie he's saddled with in a high-rise building and forcing them to fight it out.
• Closer to Earth: Initially played straight with Anderson, who's portrayed as caring considerably more about people than Dredd and then subverted over the course of the film, although she's still able to convince Dredd that letting Clan Techie go is the right thing to do.
• Combat Medic: Every Judge is provided a very basic field medicine kit, which apparently contains just enough equipment (quick clotting bio foam, sutures, and possibly morphine) for patching holes.
• The Comically Serious: Most of the movie's humor comes from Dredd himself, who reacts to every outrageous and terrifying thing with his trademark stoicism.
• Concealment Equals Cover:
  • Averted. The miniguns used by Ma-Ma chew through the entire side of the block they're fired at, and one lucky shot actually went clean through the reinforced blast doors at the back. Dredd orders Anderson to take cover behind the elevator shaft because it offers the strongest protection, but even this gets chewed through by the barrage of fire.
  • Later on, Dredd hides behind a brick wall but the corrupt Judge Elite Mook hunting him just fires straight through it with armor-piercing rounds, eventually nailing Dredd in the side.
• Conservation of Ninjutsu: The four Judges called in as backup for Ma-Ma get taken out in short order, two by Dredd and two by Anderson. Justified in that Anderson is psychic, and Dredd is way too experienced to fall for the ruse.
• Contemplating Your Hands: We first see Ma-Ma in the tub, stoned on Slo-Mo, grooving to the splash patterns her hands are making in the water.
• Continuity Nod: When Ma-Ma is falling down at the end, she is shown passing the booth where Dredd made his "I am the law" speech as well as the floor wrecked by the minigun fire.
• Continuity Reboot: Of the 1995 film Judge Dredd into a more dark and gritty film.
• Conveniently an Orphan: Like all orphans in Megacity One, Anderson is given a Judge Aptitude Test at age nine, though in her case she was rated unsuitable and only let in because of her abilities as a telepath. It's not stated why the Hall of Justice prefers orphans as Judges, but the job has an extremely High Turnover Rate and requires a ruthless detachment. Anderson's family is shown to be a motivating factor for her decision to be a Judge — her introductory scene shows her holding a well-worn picture of her parents and smiling at the associated memories.
• Conveniently Timed Attack from Behind: Anderson when she rescues Dredd from Judge Lex by firing a burst of automatic fire into Lex's back before he can finish off Dredd.
• Cool Bike: The Law Master motorcycles of the Judges. Not only is their design and coloration with the Judge symbol on it unique, they include other special features such as machine guns and voice activated features like "crowd control" with the bike warning bystanders away under penalty of law via a built in loudspeaker. Unlike the Lawmasters in the Stallone version, the props were actually built realistically and actually worked properly.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: If Mama’s gang just quietly killed and disposed of the rival gang members it’s likely the Judges never would’ve investigated a missing persons case in a crime riddled slum. But wanting to make an example out of them by gruesomely murdering them in a very public place in broad daylight got the attention of the Judges.
• Covers Always Lie: See those blocks on the poster that're on fire? The movie takes place exclusively inside only one of them and the threat is not city-wide.
• Crapsack World: Mega-City One is, for lack of a better term, a shithole, located on the edge of the radioactive wasteland that covers most of North America. According to Dredd there are tens of thousands of crimes in Mega-City One every single day, and the Judges only have the manpower to respond to around 6% of all that. Violent crimes are so common that rookie Judges have a 20% mortality rate, comparable to military forces directly involved in extended combat. That's not over the course of their first year, that's over the course of their first day.
• Crooks Are Better Armed: Zig-zagged: on the one hand, the heavily outnumbered Judges use extremely advanced sidearms capable of using a variety of ammunition types and firing settings, as well as being in possession of sophisticated stun grenades. On the other, Ma-Ma's cartel is in possession of five or six Gatling guns that they pull out against Dredd at one point. Then there's the fact that the cartel is able to bring some crooked Judges onto the payroll.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The three drug pushers in the beginning are skinned, dosed with Slo-Mo, then tossed off the top-floor balcony so they can experience every moment of their unavoidable deaths in agonizing detail. Because of the sheer height of the building and the effects of the drug, from their point of view it took 15-20 minutes to make the fall. Ma-Ma recieves a similar fate when she's shot in the stomach by Dredd (which, for reference, is excruciatingly painful), dosed up on Slo-Mo, and thrown through her own 200th floor window. Complete with Plummet Perspective and a close-up in slow motion of her body smashing against the concrete.
• Cue the Sun: Justified when the Lock Down is ended and the blast doors are opened at the end of the movie, letting in the outside light.
• Cyberpunk: So much that the cinematographer admitted to basing the film's look partly on Blade Runner.
• Danger Deadpan: Exemplified in Dredd and Ma-Ma but evident across most of the characters; not surprising given that the majority of them are either professional highly-armed police officers or hardened highly-armed drug dealers.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the Stallone version, this film is much more dark and gritty in tone.
• Dead Hat Shot: When Dredd completely blows up Judge Alvarez's head, a huge bloody piece of his Judge helmet falls to the ground in front of Judge Lex.
  Judge Lex: Motherfucker!
• Day in the Life: Dredd, despite being a non-stop action film, is actually like this. The creators chose to make it a "day in the life of Judge Dredd" type story as opposed to trying to adapt one or more of the big storylines of the comic where the entire city is in peril. This is most emphasized at the end after Dredd has killed hundreds of mooks, nearly died himself, and dismantled an entire drug network, he casually notes it down as a "drug bust".
• Dead Man's Switch: Ma-Ma uses one linked to a bomb to try and protect herself. Emphasis on try.
• Deadpan Snarker: Dredd.
  Anderson: He's thinking of making a move for your gun.
  Dredd: Yup.
  (Beat)
  Anderson: He just changed his mind.
  Dredd: Yeeeee-up.
• Death by Looking Up: An unfortunate beggar, sitting beneath Peach Trees' blast doors, is crushed to death when Ma-Ma puts the block under lockdown.
• Death Glare: Dredd can do this even with his eyes obscured. Also check out the scene when the Clan Techie has trouble convincing the operator that they have an unscheduled war drill, with Ma-Ma hanging on his shoulder giving him a cold lizard stare.
• Designated Girl Fight: The only female corrupt Judge hired by Ma-Ma goes after Anderson, while the three males contracted by Ma-Ma go for Dredd. It's then subverted when Anderson unceremoniously kills her and moves on to kill the one that has cornered Dredd. If there was ever any doubt, Dredd later proves he has no problem killing women.
• Destination Defenestration: Dredd drops the Big Bad out a window after issuing a death sentence. Justified, in that she has a transmitter that will destroy the top fifty floors of the block and Dredd needed to make sure she was out of range when she died.
• Destroy the Security Camera: Dredd does this when he and Anderson are "trapped" in a section of the Peach Trees block as a warning to Ma-Ma.
• "Die Hard" on an X: With Dredd trapped in a huge skyscraper, trying to take down a gang. The plot is basically Judge Dredd does Die Hard.
• Dirt Forcefield: A justified one appears when Kay starts his Battle in the Center of the Mind. To begin with, he's as bloodied and beaten as he is in real life, yet when he realizes he can imagine whatever he wants, he's instantly spotless.
• Dirty Cop: Four Judges are called in by Ma-Ma when Dredd proves too formidable an opponent to take down on her own.
• The Dragon: Caleb is Ma-Ma's right hand man. Though he gets killed rather simply by Dredd about halfway through.
• Dramatic Ammo Depletion: Ammo conservation is a serious problem once Dredd and Anderson are locked in the building. Dredd actually runs out late in the film, really heightening the drama when he's up against an armed foe. It's nothing but pure chance he manages to get his hands on more magazines for the final battle.
• Dramatic Unmask: Averted, although still worth noting because of how common they are in comic book movies, how judges wear helmets that conceal their face, and how the previous movie did it. Dredd never takes his mask off at all. The original intention was for this trope to be played straight, but Karl Urban, in keeping with the character, refused to take his helmet off.
• The Dreaded: Appropriately, Dredd fits this trope, at least within the Justice Department. The knowledge that Dredd is in Peach Trees is enough reason for Judge Lex to demand a million-credit bounty. That said, he's not as known and feared by the general populace as he is in the comics.
• Drugs Are Bad: In a broad sense in the film with the use of narcotics being illegal, but the spotlight is given to the new kid on the block, Slo-Mo.
• Drugs Causing Slow-Motion: The aptly-named Fantastic Drug Slo-Mo is reported to slow the user's perception of time to 1% its normal speed. The slow-motion effect of the drug is made a focal point in several action set pieces, especially near the end of the film when Dredd administers the drug to Ma-Ma before throwing her through a window from the top floor of the Peach Trees block, so she experiences the fall to her death in slow-motion.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: Anderson, in a way. After getting disarmed, which Dredd told her earlier was an automatic fail, she gives him her badge and admits she's not cut out to be a judge. After she leaves, Dredd, the most feared and badass judge in the entire city, tells the chief judge she has passed.
• Electronic Eyes: The Clan Techie sports them for working with computers; it's the result of Ma-Ma gouging his eyes out with her thumbs before the surgery.
• Elite Mooks: Basically the role of the four dirty Judges hired by Ma-Ma late in the film.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Ma-Ma's gang consists of white people, black people, and Asians (justified as the Ma-Ma clan has taken on the survivors of other clans they've defeated). However, there is an odd lack of other women.
• Evil Gloating: Invoked and exploited. Judge Dredd gets into a gunfight with a group of corrupt Judges while running low on ammo, and ends up getting shot by the last one, Judge Lex. Dredd tricks Lex into going into a monologue by asking him to "Wait". Lex cannot resist mocking an apparently terrified Judge Dredd, but then Anderson arrives and finishes him off. Dredd clarifies his statement: "Wait for her to shoot you".
• Eye Scream:
  • The Clan Techie has cybernetic eyes he uses when he's working with computers. The area around them looks pretty badly irritated, and to make matters worse, it's later shown that Ma-Ma gouged his eyes out with her thumbs before the surgery.
  • When Anderson guns down Judge Lex, one of the bullets goes through the target's head, taking an eye with it for the ride.
• The Faceless: As in the comics, Dredd's face is never seen with his helmet off. The back of his head is seen with the helmet off once as he is in the process of getting dressed for work. Even then he is heavily silhouetted leaving the view obscured.
• Fair Cop: Anderson. A young rookie judge. Kay comments on her as being pretty as part of his attempt to intimidate her.
• Fantastic Drug: Slo-Mo, which causes the user to experience time at a fraction of its normal speed.
• Fantastic Racism: Mutants aren't normally allowed to become Judges, but Anderson's skills are too useful. We see her disturbed by some anti-mutant graffiti in one scene, though the trope isn't really emphasised.
• Fascist, but Inefficient: According to Dredd, the Judges can only respond to a small percentage of serious crimes.
• Fate Worse than Death: Dredd and Kay both say this will happen to Anderson if she's taken alive. Subverted when she is captured, but Ma-Ma forbids any torture or rape in order to successfully cover her death up as a drug bust gone bad.
• Finish Him!: Dredd orders newbie Anderson to put a bullet through a disabled mook's head.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Dredd and Anderson develop into this over the course of the film.
• First Day from Hell: From Anderson's perspective. From Dredd's, it's Tuesday.
• Flaying Alive: Ma-Ma has this done to the three drug dealers that Kay caught in the beginning of the film. Followed shortly after by Destination Defenestration.
• Fluffy the Terrible: A crimelord called Ma-Ma ruling over a slum tower named Peach Trees.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Ma-Ma was a petty prostitute getting abused by her Pimp, before she became the most violent and ruthless crime lord in Peach Trees.
• Gang of Hats: The three gangs that dominated Peach Trees before the Ma-Ma Clan took over all had their own distinctive looks, including "The Judged" who tattooed their heads to look like judge helmets and wore improvised judge outfits.
• Gatling Good: More like Gatling Bad. Ma-Ma and her mooks attempt to take out Dredd and Anderson using mounted rotary cannons, which carve up the entire floor they're on. Dredd manages to escape by blowing a hole into a exterior wall nearby.
• Genius Bruiser: Dredd is not the standard run-and-gun action hero. He's perfectly capable of setting traps, using squad tactics, and taking third options.
• Genre Throwback: Minus the movie being a comic property, the action scenes seem to resemble the gory 80's action movies.
• Good Cop/Bad Cop: When Dredd is violently interrogating Kay and Anderson intervenes, it seems as if Dredd is playing the bad cop while Anderson plays the good cop. Turns out what Anderson does to Kay is worse. More like Bad Cop/Worse Cop.
• Gorn: Many of the gory parts of the film are rendered in high detail with a few using slow motion.
• Groin Attack:
  • Ma-Ma reportedly bit her pimp's penis off, at the start of her rise from a prostitute to a drug lord.
  • When Anderson ventures into Kay's mind, he imagines that she's performing fellatio on him, which she changes into Ma-Ma biting his penis off.
• Gunpoint Banter: Justified; the two people talking are behind cover and maneuvering for a shot at each other, while a third gunman who isn't talking is working his way around Dredd's flank while his partner is holding Dredd's attention.
• Headphones Equal Isolation: A man wearing headphones is run over by the robbers because he didn't hear Dredd's siren. When Peachtrees is put into Lock Down, a child doesn't notice because he's wearing some kind of virtual gaming helmet.
• He Knows Too Much: The main plot is kicked off when Kay is arrested by Dredd and Anderson, since his position in Ma-Ma's gang makes him privy to information that could unravel their entire operation.
• Heel–Face Door-Slam: Peach Trees' Medic, after refusing to allow Dredd and Anderson to use the medical center as a sanctuary, has an attack of conscience and offers to testify about recent events when Judge reinforcements arrive. Unfortunately the Judges have been summoned by Ma-Ma and one of them puts a bullet through the Medic's temple as reward.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Judge uniforms consist of leather-looking jackets. Justified in that they patrol on bikes and the sturdiness of leather would be good backing for even ballistic armour.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic:
  • Notably averted by Dredd who keeps his helmet on for the entire film apart from the Lock-and-Load Montage in his first scene.
  • Played straight with Anderson who wears one while riding her Lawmaster but otherwise doesn't wear the helmet because it interferes with her telepathic powers. Even when Dredd notes that a bullet to the head would interfere with them more. Her handwave is taken directly from the comics.
• Heroic Resolve: Anderson displays this when she and Dredd encounter the Clan Techie, and Anderson, reading his mind, sees how badly abused he's been by Ma-Ma, and lets him go. Dredd reminds her that letting a perp go is both a fail in terms of her assessment, and a felony. She in turn observes that she's already failed, because she let herself be relieved of her primary weapon, but as long as the assessment is still under way, she has the right to dispense justice as she sees fit. As such, she's determined that the Techie is a victim, not a perp, and she intends to finish the job she and Dredd started, even though she knows that her chances of ever being a Judge are now zero. From the expression on what we can see of Dredd's face, this would seem to be the moment when he decides that she has, in fact, passed; they just had to execute four Judges for corruption, so a Judge willing to show mercy to the innocent and punish the guilty without hope of personal gain is indispensable.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • Played with. Kay is ordered to shoot Anderson, so he decides to do it with her own Lawgiver. As Lawgivers are designed to prevent strangers from using them, this goes poorly. For him resulting in part his lower arm and all of his hand being blown off.
  • Ma-Ma's plan to bring in outside help in the form of corrupt Judges to kill Dredd and Anderson ultimately only serves to provide them with more ammo.
  • The entire plot of the movie is kicked off by Kay trying to score points with Ma-Ma by suggesting that she might want to make an example of the three rival drug dealers. He could have just killed them himself and disposed of the bodies without drawing the attention of the Judges.
• Hollywood Hacking: Averted for the most part by Clan Techie. Gaining control of the building involves a team of gunmen storming the operations room and monkeying with the hardware, and then Techie has to make a number of high-pressure Bavarian Fire Drill phone calls to convince other controllers in Mega City One that the sudden lockdown of the building is both authorized and warranted, because otherwise it would prompt a larger response from the Judges. A Freeze-Frame Bonus also shows him using NMap, a genuine network scanner frequently used in computer security circles. Inquisitive techies will notice that Clan Techie is probably using Linux or one of the BSD variants to hack/control the Peach Trees system. Whenever he's hacking something, you can see he's actually using bash instead of going through the usual graphical eye-candy associated with the trope.
• Hostage Situation: Consistently defied with Dredd. Once you've been sentenced, you have a choice between surrender for standard punishment or resist for summary execution. Or, if you're already sentenced to death, you can choose how quick it will be.
• Human Shield: The one thug left standing after the opening car chase takes a hostage and tries to negotiate with Dredd. It doesn't work.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Downplayed with Dredd and Anderson, but in certain shots it is clear he is at least half a foot taller than she is. In real life, Karl Urban is 6'1" to Olivia Thirlby's 5'4".
• I Am the Noun: Dredd's catchphrase: "I am the law." Unlike the Stallone movie, it's saved for a suitably dramatic moment (see Badass Boast).
• Implacable Man: Mobilize all your heavily-armed thugs, level the apartment with your giant mounted miniguns, call in your cavalry. It won't make a difference. Dredd will walk through that Hell and bring you to justice without even moving above a run.
• Impossibly Cool Weapon: Lawgivers, the standard sidearm of a Judge. Looks like a Hand Cannon, sounds like God slamming his car door, and fires an assortment of ammunition for a variety of devastating effects.
• Improbable Infant Survival:
  • Dredd, when cornered by two juves, gives them the option of a body bag or the juve cubes. When they attack him, he uses stun rounds on them.
  • In the aftermath of the attack by the rotary cannons, a lone child crawls from the rubble caused by the destruction since he was lucky enough to be just short enough that most of the fire was above his head. However, his older sister was shown hiding next to him earlier, and her absence has tragic implications.
• Impromptu Fortress: The film places two Mega-City One judges trying to investigate a death at a large housing block, which has a gang fortified in the top floors.
• Instant Death Bullet: Usually employed against mooks as per standard action movie rules, but memorably Averted twice:
  • An early gunfight leaves a wounded survivor. Since he attacked a judge, Dredd demands that Anderson executes him. Turns out he was the husband of the woman they ask for refuge later.
  • At the very end Ma-Ma's fancy dead man switch linked to her heartbeat fails because the bullet doesn't kill her.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: Dredd becomes suspicious of the corrupt Judges when he runs into one who claims to be Dredd and Anderson's backup, yet doesn't ask about Anderson's status.
• Ironic Name:
  • One of the crappiest places in Mega City One is named Peach Trees.
  • The corrupt Judge Lex's name means "law".
• It Gets Easier: Anderson has a hard time putting down a wounded perp, but does so on Dredd's orders. She's a lot quicker on the trigger after that, to the point where later in the movie she coldly shoots a disabled mook in the back as she walks over his body.
• Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Subverted. Dredd attempts to beat the information he needs out of Kay partly because he is royally pissed at Ma-Ma's recent massacre. Anderson stops him, since she can get better results with her Psychic Powers.
• Just in Time: After getting shot in the abdomen, Dredd stalls a corrupt Judge just long enough for Anderson to come to his rescue.
• Karmic Death: Dredd gives Ma-Ma a taste of her own "medicine", giving the same treatment that she gave to competitors in the beginning of the film: He gives her a dose of Slo-Mo before tossing her out a window, similar to how she dosed the three competing drug dealers before throwing their skinned alive bodies off the balcony.
• Kill It with Fire:
  • At the start of the movie, Dredd uses a Hot-Shot round to kill a perp, frying the guy's skull from the inside and leaving no blood spatter on the hostage.
  • Later, in Peach Trees, Dredd uses an Incendiary round to torch a group of thugs who've converged on what they think is his current position.
• Lancer vs. Dragon: Anderson is the secondary protagonist of the movie and she defeats one of Ma-Ma's dealers, Kay, in a psychic duel. Later, Kay meets his demise when he tries to fire Anderson's Lawgiver, which promptly blows his arm off in a very messy way.
• Leave No Survivors: Attempted murder of a Judge carries the death penalty. Judges can carry out sentencing for crimes on the spot. This confers upon Judges the right to execute almost anyone who participated in a shootout against them. Even if the perp is wounded and helpless.
• Little "No": Dredd manages to turn this into a Badass Boast.
  Dispatch: Do you require backup?
  Dredd: No.
• Lock-and-Load Montage:
  • The film begins with Dredd gearing up and checking his Lawgiver, which displays the DNA ID check and ammo types.
  • Dredd and Anderson both get one just before they storm Ma-Ma's final strong point.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • Near the final confrontation, Anderson notes that although she can technically no longer succeed in the test due to losing her weapon, she's still considered a judge until the evaluation is over. This means she has the power to render judgement as she sees fit, including pardoning the Clan Techie with no other evidence of his innocence than her visions.
  • In keeping with his tradition of engaging in this trope in the comic series one possible interpretation of Dredd giving Anderson a pass despite the loss of her firearm is that the rules of the assessment are that losing her Primary Weapon is an automatic fail. Given that Anderson is a psychic his passing her is an acknowledgment that her primary weapon is her psychic abilities.
• Loyal Phlebotinum: The Lawgivers have biometric locks that limit them to a specific Judge. Kay learns this the hard way.
• Ludicrous Gibs: A lot of blood and body parts go all over the place through out the film.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: Ma-Ma orders her mooks to make it look like the Judges walked in on a gang turf war and were killed in the crossfire. In this Crapsack World, it would count as an 'accidental' death.
• Marquee Alter Ego: Averted both in the film and on the poster. Dredd is only seen without his helmet briefly at the beginning, his back to to the camera in a darkened room.
• Meaningful Echo: "Are you ready?" Dredd asks this of Anderson three times. The first two, he looks at her sceptically or adds that she doesn't look ready. Third time, after she's gained his respect, he amends the statement.
• Meaningful Name: A psychic who just happens to be named Cassandra. However, this is more of a reference than anything else, as Dredd shows plenty of trust in her abilities. He doesn't, however, like the idea of someone who didn't qualify to be a Judge being given a pass for field testing, especially when 20% of rookie Judges are killed on their first day of duty and they're the ones who passed their initial training.
• Mega City: Mega-City One, covering the eastern US coast from Boston to Washington, DC in one giant city.
• Mercy Kill: When Kay has Anderson captured and at his mercy, he claims that shooting her is this. As he says, she's "not cut out for this; if it didn't happen today it would be tomorrow, or a week from now" and that being shot by him is merciful compared to what someone else might do. It ends up being subverted a few moments later, however, when he stupidly tries to shoot her with her own gun, which self-destructs because of the Lawgiver's biometric scanner.
• Mind Rape: Taken to its most literal extreme with Judge Anderson and Kay. Since her abilities are always on, he tries to get to her by imagining himself actually raping her. She smacks him with her gun to make him knock it off. Later, during their Battle in the Center of the Mind, he tries it again. This time, however, Anderson is ready and changes the experience somewhat.
• Minor Crime Reveals Major Plot: A triple homicide reveals a massive drug operation headquartered in Peach Trees.
• A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: Averted. Kay thought he could do that to Anderson. Big mistake.
• Mirror Character: Never outright stated, but a subtle theme of the film.
  • Both Caleb and Dredd instruct their ally to shoot and kill an already severely wounded and incapacitated enemy.
  • Dredd and Ma-Ma both make almost identical speeches over the building's PA system: they both essentially boil down to "I'm coming for you; anyone who gets in the way will die."
  • Dredd and Ma-Ma both resort to fairly brutal means of killing their enemies. Ma-Ma has her victims skinned alive; Dredd burns a squad of mooks alive with an incendiary round.
  • Dredd and Ma-Ma are both shot in almost the exact same spot on their bodies.
  • Dredd and Ma-Ma both execute an enemy by dosing them with Slo-Mo and throwing them off the 200th floor of the building.
  • To make the metaphor visual: when Ma-Ma dies, her blood briefly forms the red 'X' pattern that appears on a Judge's helmet.
  • Lampshaded when they finally meet face-to-face. "You're a piece of work, Dredd. But then so am I."
• Missing Mission Control: The baddies jamming communication between Dredd and Mission Control is a key plot point, as it suddenly removes the possibility of backup from the equation and leaves Dredd and Anderson isolated.
• Mook Lieutenant: Big Joe is clearly one of these, commanding a fairly large group of the Ma-Ma clan, telling them to take up positions while setting up an ambush for Dredd and Anderson. Of course, he goes down just as easily as the rest.
• More Dakka:
  • Ma-Ma takes this approach when she decides to get Gatling Good.
  • Averted with the lawgivers. Automatic fire is an option on them, but Dredd and Anderson never resort to firing more than short bursts.
• Ms. Fanservice: Kay imagines Anderson naked in his mind during his soon-to-expire Reason You Suck speech. It quickly becomes Fan Disservice, though, when she telepathically changes his fantasy into Ma-Ma biting his dick off. There's a later shot of Anderson baring her midriff as well... after she's been shot and Dredd is dressing the wound.
• Mutants: A result of the atomic wars that occurred in the backstory. Some are stated to have no arms, three arms, etc. Anti-mutant graffiti can be seen in the Peach Trees block. Anderson is a borderline case, being a telepath. Kay even points out how lucky she is that her mutation does not affect her physical appearance. Dredd indicates that mutants are generally banned from becoming Judges; Anderson was let in because her telepathic ability exceeds any recorded case.
• Mythology Gag:
  • A news ticker contains the info: "Judge Palmer deploys Stumm Gas on day six of Fergee Memorial riots". Fergee was a character who had several memorials built in his honor around the city after the events in the comic story The Day The Law Died, not to mention Dredd's Plucky Comic Relief in the last film.
  • A city block is named Sternhammer.
  • A "Joe Soap" billboard with Joe Saturday's face on it can be seen, referencing the classic 2000 AD story "Chronocops" by Alan Moore.
  • There's a poster for a movie called Krysler's Mark, referencing the "Judge Child" storyline.
  • Graffiti referencing at least two stories from the comic Chopper and The Art of Kenny Who and fan film Judge Minty.
  • One of the first perps seen wears a jacket with "Drokk", a classic Dredd not-quite-swear word, painted on the back.
  • On one of the screens at control in the Hall of Justice it shows that Judge Hershey, a recurring character in the comics, has been assigned to the riots in the city.
  • While cornered by two of the crooked judges, Dredd asks one of them how much he was paid to "betray the law".
  • One of the judges who responds to Dredd's call for backup first, the two waiting outside when the Cavalry Betrayal arrives, is credited as Judge Guthrie. The other is credited as Judge Volt.
  • One of the Judges under Lex is named Alvarez, after a minor Judge from the storyline "The Pit". That Alvarez was also corrupt, and also got gunned down by Dredd.
  • Peach Trees is located in Sector 13.
  • Dredd's face is never seen. The only time he is seen without the helmet is from behind, with most of his body in shadow during the Lock-and-Load Montage at the beginning.
  • Zwirner's arrest record shows Judge Griffin as an arresting officer.
  • The first victim in the food court is a Fattie with the trademark belliwheel seen just to the side of his body. Another Fattie can be seen at his own apartment having his snacking interrupted at the beginning of Peach Trees' anti-nuke lockdown.
  • Also in the food court a meat wagon is removing the dead bodies for 'recycling'. In the comics bodies are 'recycled' as food.
  • The film's poster was based on the iconic image of Dredd standing in front of the Statue of Liberty in "America".
• Naïve Newcomer: Anderson plays this role, but the movie inverts the usual dynamic; rather than Anderson asking Dredd questions, Dredd gives Anderson pop quizzes throughout the film as part of her assessment.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: The eponymous Judge Dredd. The traitor judges note he has a well known reputation making the cost of their services to eliminate Dredd go up.
• Neck Snap: Judge Anderson finishes off Kay by kicking him hard enough in the face to do this.
• Never Found the Body: Scrupulously averted by Ma-Ma and her clan.
  Caleb: They're not dead until we find them dead. Or part of them, anyway.
• New Meat: Judge Anderson takes this role here. Her inexperience is underscored by her lack of combat experience until the events of Peach Trees.
• Nice Girl: Anderson, although she justifiably grows more ruthless as the film goes on. She's still a nice person by the end, though.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Dredd and Anderson are cut off from outside support, running low on ammo without hope for a resupply:
  • Dredd takes ammo off the body of one of the corrupt Judges.
  • Anderson takes one of the gang members' submachine guns and presumably extra ammo for it after Kay tries and fails to kill her with her primary weapon, destroying it in the process, and thus freeing her to use alternate munitions.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: The guy running the med center refuses to shelter Dredd and Anderson for fear of collateral damage. He later tries to help out Dredd's "backup" by telling what's really going on... except they're on Ma-Ma's payroll. He's shot dead on the spot.
• No Hugging, No Kissing: There's no sexual tension between Dredd and Anderson and no romantic subplot of any kind. Apparently, the original script included a kiss between Dredd and Anderson, but this was cut at the request of John Wagner.
• No One Could Survive That!: See Gatling Good, but subverted. Ma-Ma's dragon matter-of-factly states that, until a body is found, they're to assume otherwise.
  Gang member: There's no way they survived.
  Caleb: They ain't dead until we find 'em dead. Or part of 'em, anyway.
• No OSHA Compliance:
  • Peach Trees has a skateboard park built on the outside of the seventieth floor with no safety rails of any kind. The only saving grace is a moderate amount of flat ground between the ramp and the edge.
  • Peach Trees comes equipped with blast doors to be closed in front of the entrances and windows of the building in the event of a nuclear attack to protect the residents inside. Unfortunately if you happen to be at the entranceway, and are sitting or are otherwise unable to move within approximately two seconds after the emergency lights activate and the alert warning sounds, you will be quickly crushed by the massive blast doors.
• No Sense of Personal Space: Ma-ma switches this trope on when she's upset with someone. In one scene, she's practically caressing Clan Techie... whilst sliding a knife over his belly. He is appropriately terrified.
• Not So Stoic: Dredd drops his usual unflappable demeanor when he's faced with rotary cannons and runs like hell. Though, being Dredd, he still manages to flee in a fairly composed and soldierly manner despite the situation.
• Not With the Safety On, You Won't:
  • Dredd pulls this trick on two juves who hold him up. They think he's lying but check anyway, and that moment gives Dredd enough time to draw his Lawgiver, turning it into a Mexican standoff.
  • Anderson also pulls a version of this on Kay when he has her Lawgiver. Although in this case, it was a "pull the trigger and it explodes instead" variety.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • A big one happens with Dredd when he finds the Gatling guns pointed at him. About the only time you see him look or sound worried.
  • Ma-Ma has one after seeing Dredd stroll nonchalantly out of the wreckage caused by her rotary cannons and throw her Dragon off the balcony. Later, she has a second one after Dredd makes his speech and then leaves a trap for the team she sent to converge on his location. The incendiary ammo probably helped deal a psychological blow.
  • At the start of the movie, the collective reaction from the three nameless criminals when they realize they're being pursued by a Judge can only be described as sheer panic.
• One Bad Mother: Ma-Ma, the evil drug lord in control of the city slum that the movie takes place in. Played with in that it's a shortened form of her real full name, Madeline Madrigal.
• One Bullet Left: Dredd, when cornered by two corrupt Judges and out of standard ammo, takes a desperation shot with his last remaining round: a Hi-Ex. The victim's head explodes, making sure he won't be a problem. Unfortunately, this also clues in his other opponent that his gun is now empty.
• One-Man Army: Dredd and Anderson are together for most of the conflict, but Dredd proves more than a match for Ma-Ma's forces when they're separated.
• One Riot, One Ranger: Typically how Judges are dispatched. A disproportionate ratio of crimes to Judges really cuts down on available backup. A display in the Hall of Justice, when the triple homicides are reported, show that Judge Hershey has literally been assigned to handle a riot by herself.
• Only a Flesh Wound: Both Dredd and Anderson get shot in the abdomen and, after applying basic field dressing, are able to walk shortly thereafter without any ill effects. Dredd even kicks a door down about a minute after patching himself up. To be fair, Dredd does use a personal medkit with some sort of cauterizing gel (possibly somewhere along the lines of medi-gel in Mass Effect or biofoam in Halo) to patch himself up, while the fighting was over by the time he helped patch Anderson up. In Dredd's case, the damage from the bullet wound was justified as the result of an armor-piercing round which went straight through him. There was no bullet to remove and minimum trauma, provided it hit nothing critical on its way through.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: As in the comic books, the only one who can use a Judge's Lawgiver pistol is the judge to whom it's assigned. Kay finds this out the hard way when he attempts to shoot Anderson with her own gun, only to have it backfire and blow off his hand.
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Several times, most blatantly in the opening narration, where Karl Urban mispronounces America as "Americer".
• Order vs. Chaos: A major theme of the franchise. Judges have tyrannical powers and routinely engage in Police Brutality by contemporary standards, but in the Crapsack World of Mega City One, they're the only thing keeping society from falling apart.
• Orphan's Plot Trinket: Anderson's photo of her parents, which also functions as a Tragic Keepsake. Anderson's parents had died of cancer and her desire to help those who grew up in bad block like she did drives her to become a Judge.
• Outrun the Fireball: Dredd has to outrun the destruction caused by three Gatling guns fired by Ma-Ma and her crew.
• Perpetual Frowner: Just like the comics, Urban's audition for Dredd could very well have been showing how well he can scowl while not seeing the top part of his head.
• Pet the Dog:
  • Dredd is ruthless as he needs to be as a Judge and spends most of the movie teaching Anderson the same principles. Towards the end of the movie, Anderson spares Ma-Ma's tech guy because she could tell he was coerced and brutalized and when she stood by her decision, Dredd allowed it and seemed mildly impressed. Early on, perhaps out of pragmatism more than anything else, he lets a homeless guy slide on a vagrancy charge, so long as the guy isn't there by the time he gets back. The homeless man stayed put, and ran out his charity with Dredd ordering him to come with them.
  • Dredd also elects to stun, rather than kill, two would-be young gang members after his attempt to intimidate them into surrender failed. This after killing gang members outright and ordering Anderson to carry out a execution sentence on a wounded criminal that was trying to kill them.
• Pin-Pulling Teeth: Justified as Dredd is peeling the cover off the adhesive side of a breaching charge rather than trying to pull the pin out of a grenade.
• Plummet Perspective: Ma-Ma gets a good, long look at just how far she's about to fall. The fact that she's on Slo-Mo when it happens ensures she has a lot of time to think about what she's about to go through before she hits the ground.
• Police Are Useless:
  • Dredd's backup gets locked outside the building by the Clan Techie, who covers with a story that Peach Trees is in lockdown because of a drill and that they can't override the drill because of a fire. Later, four Judges show up and demand that the doors open, and the doors open immediately, because they're on Ma-Ma's payroll.
  • The Judges are extremely effective, but there is so much crime in the Mega City, and they are spread so thin that only 6% of reported crimes are investigated each day. Ma-Ma was able to conquer the entire Peach Trees block and the three individual gangs specifically because a Judge hadn't visited the building in years.
• Poor Communication Kills: On the villain's side, Anderson manages to escape capture not only due to her executioner's stupidity, but because Kay never bothered to mention that she's a psychic, in spite of him repeatedly getting on the wrong side of her powers.
• Pop the Tires: Dredd ends the opening chase scene by making his motorbike gun down a wheel of the van of Zwirner's gang, causing them to crash.
• Pragmatic Adaptation: Due to budget constraints the over-the-top look of Mega City One and the Cursed Earth were toned down significantly. To go along with this theme other things were toned down as well. Most notably the Judges' uniforms were much more realistic body armor as opposed to the spandex with gigantic shoulder pads. They did however keep the iconic helmets and badges. The Lawmaster cycle was also toned down to the point of actually being a usable practical effect. Because of these changes the movie places much more emphasis on the crapsack world Mega City One is and focuses much more on the characters.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Ma-Ma. She doesn't want Anderson raped or tortured... because she's still hoping to cover up what's going on. She goes to great lengths to kill Dredd, Anderson and their prisoner... not because she's Ax-Crazy, but because if the Judges interrogate Kay and find out what her real business is, she's as good as dead anyway, so she has nothing to lose by resorting to overkill. Long as Kay doesn't spill his guts, anything that went down during Dredd and Anderson's visit could be chalked up to the Judges getting killed in the line of duty.
  • She also opts not to kill an underling who failed her, noting that as much as he deserves it, the Judges have left her under too severe a manpower crunch to bump off any of her own men.
• Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:
  • "Judgment time."
  • "Let's finish this."
• Precious Photo: Anderson is introduced looking at a photo of her and her parents when she was a kid, which she then tucks away in her sleeve. After being captured, Kay has a glance at her photo and drops it to the ground. After his arm gets blown off by Anderson's lawgiver, she gets the photo back.
• Precision F-Strike:
  • If you watch the film with subtitles on, there are a number of others hidden in background dialogue.
  • After watching one of his fellow corrupt judges head explode, Lex has one.
    "Motherfucker!"
  • Dredd exclaims an "S" word variant when he sees Ma-Ma's rotary cannons spinning up and aiming at him.
    Dredd: Oh, shit.
• Pre-Mortem One-Liner:
  • "You have been judged. The sentence is death."
  • "Defense noted."
• Protagonist Title: Judge Dredd is the protagonist, with more audience-relatable Anderson backing him up.
• Psychic Powers: Anderson, who can read minds and mess with them as demonstrated with her interrogation of Kay.
• Put Down Your Gun and Step Away: Subverted. Ma-Ma orders Dredd to put down his Lawgiver or she'll blow up the building. Dredd, being the no-nonsense individual that he is, simply shoots her non-fatally, doses her up with Slo-Mo, then tosses her out the window.
• A Real Man Is a Killer: Rare female example with Anderson. She wants to be a Judge, but clearly lacks the level of ruthlessness and emotional detachment necessary for the job. During the raid on the apartment, Dredd methodically eliminates every hostile while Anderson can't even fire a shot. She's more willing later on, but the true turning point is when Dredd orders her to execute a perp. After this, she's more sure of herself and Dredd's respect for her grows accordingly. By the end of the film, she's gunning down mooks almost as effectively as Dredd.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Dredd shows himself to be this with the vagrant living outside of Peach Trees, giving him until Dredd and Anderson come back out with their perp to clear out instead of spending months in jail. The hobo doesn't move, but Dredd does say "I gave you a warning, get up." He also prevents Kay from being executed under a 99% chance that he is the murderer. He also allows Anderson's sparing of Clan Techie, in light of her explanation. As noted previously, Dredd is as ruthless as he needs to be, and not an ounce more.
• Recursive Ammo: The Incendiary round for the Lawgiver, which is a round that splits into multiple white phosphorus submunitions.
• Red Filter of Doom: When Peach Trees gets locked down with anti-nuke shielding, everything is dipped in ominous deep red lighting.
• Revealing Cover-Up: At first Ma-Ma's reactions seem pretty typical for someone trying to hunt down two Judges... until she indiscriminately slaughters an entire floor of civilians with three gatling guns in an attempt to kill them without concern for their hostage. Dredd quickly figures out that this massive overreaction can only mean that the hostage they're toting, Kay, knows more than Dredd or Anderson had realized.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder:
  Anderson: Wrong answer?
  Dredd: You're the psychic.
• Rock Bottom: The homeless man at the entrance to Peach Trees has a sign saying: "Will debase self for credits". He doesn't even bother moving when Dredd threatens him with imprisonment, with the implication that they at least feed prisoners in the isocubes.
• Satire: Like the comics, it plays off the desensitizing of the population due to the graphic violence that surrounds them. After Dredd executes Zwirner in the mall food court, a cleaning machine goes by, wiping up the mess and trailing a cart of dead bodies, with an announcement that the food court will reopen in a half hour sounding in the background. Also, near the beginning, when Dredd and Anderson go to Peach Trees to investigate the murders of the three men dropped from the top floor, there's a rather large group of people standing around the dead bodies, one of them taking pictures with his cellphone.
• Say My Name: After calling her "rookie" throughout the movie, Dredd calls his partner "Anderson" at the very end, when we discover he's decided to pass her as a Judge.
• Scarred Equipment:
  • Dredd's armor and helmet are thoroughly scratched up from years of service policing the violent streets of MegaCity One and reflecting his status as a veteran Judge.
  • Anderson's equipment starts out pristine, showing her to be a rookie who's new to the mean streets of Mega-City One. As the movie progresses and Anderson earns her title as a Judge, her equipment becomes increasingly scarred and showing signs of wear and tear like Dredd's.
• Scenery Porn: There are some beautiful panning shots of Mega City One, overlapping with Scenery Gorn once we get up close and realize what a Wretched Hive it is.
• Schizo Tech: The film happens in a future far enough that there exist such things as autonomous robots, cybernetic eyes, and kilometre-high buildings as wide as several present-day skyscrapers and housing many tens of thousands of people each; however, said massive buildings stand alongside normal everyday highrises, transportation still means cars and rusty minivans not different in the slightest from the ones we have now, and - with the significant exception of Lawgivers - all the guns are exactly the same we shoot today.
• Seen It All: After what is portrayed as the toughest day of Anderson's life, Dredd is asked what happened and gives a casual reply of "Drug bust", even off-handedly mentioning "uncooperative perps" when asked about the devastation visited upon the city block. Just another day on the streets for Judge Dredd.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: Comes in handy to prevent Judge Lawgivers from falling into criminal hands as Kay finds out to his loss.
• Sequel Adaptation Iconic Villain: Alex Garland wrote Judge Dredd's arch-enemy the Dark Judges into one of the film's early drafts, but since they're a subversion of Mega-City One's justice system itself, it would have made no sense to feature them before setting that system up, so they were saved for a sequel that did not materialize. Instead, the Big Bad is a slumlord named "Ma Ma", who is original to the film, but shares similarities with several minor villains featured in the comic.
• Shoot the Hostage Taker: In the opening, Judge Dredd is faced with a fugitive holding a gun to a woman's head. Unwilling to negotiate beyond "life in prison" or "summary execution", he eventually fires a hot-shot into the perp's mouth, melting his brain from the inside.
• Shout-Out:
  • One building is named after Elysium, Neill Blomkamp's then upcoming follow-up film to District 9. Producer Alex Garland has stated Blomkamp's films were a huge factor in getting Dredd made.
  • There are several city blocks named after those involved with Dredd, like seasoned Judge Dredd illustrator Carlos Ezquerra and the creator John Wagner.
  • In the first stairwell shootout, Dredd gives the mooks "twenty seconds to comply" and then "ten seconds to comply." This is a reference to the famous ED-209 scene in the original Robocop. The character of RoboCop was based in part on Judge Dredd.
  • The Hostage Situation scene with the perp using a Human Shield is exactly like another famous scene from that movie, except instead of shooting the perp in the groin like RoboCop did, Dredd shoots him in the head. Interestingly, that's what Robo was supposed to do in the original script.
  • There are a few points where the Clan Techie is listening to the theme from Snuff Box.
  • Ma-Ma's full name is Madeline Madrigal. Madeline and Madrigal are twin antagonists in The Dresden Files.
• Shown Their Work:
  • The movie shows realistically what happens to a person after a gruesome injury. Those slow-motion shots of bullets deforming and tearing open people's bodies? That's not exaggerated for the sake of Gorn; that's what a speeding bullet really does to flesh.
  • This film shows a lot of the issues that sprout up when a setting fully embraces Democracy Is Bad. People can't live together peacefully, so all that's left is the Appeal to Force, which in this setting is often the ruthlessness of Dredd and his fellow judges. The situation is nearly the same as in many countries without some sort of democratic leadership. The only thing holding everything together is mutual self-interest or fear.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: At the end, Ma-Ma tries to intimidate Dredd with the reveal of a deadman switch wired to enough explosives to demolish the top ten floors of the block. Dredd calmly states he has already passed sentence, puts a bullet in her to disable her, and then throws her through an interior window so the transmitter won't be able to send a signal through 200 floors of steel and concrete.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Dredd takes Anderson on a Pass/Fail examination and the Chief Judge literally tells him to use this method.
• Skewed Priorities: Our heroes are locked inside Peach Trees and armed gangbangers can be heard coming down the stairwell towards them, so Anderson is startled when Dredd demands a tactical evaluation, as she's still a rookie under assessment. To Dredd, of course, this is just another day at the office.
• Skyscraper City: Mega-City One is an exaggerated version of this; there are the basic buildings, modern skyscrapers a couple dozen stories high, and horizon-dominating "mega blocks" each hundreds of feet wide and hundreds of stories high.
• Slasher Smile: Ma-Ma, in a flashback. Ironic in that it's her face that's been slashed.
• Slice of Life: The entire movie is basically the day in the life of a Judge, although admittedly it doesn't usually get quite as intense as being forced into a Closed Circle with a vicious gang lord.
• Slow Motion: In-Universe, thanks to the Slo-Mo drug that makes the user's sense of time crawl at a tiny fraction of normal while under the effects of the drug.
• Slow-Motion Fall: Both the three thugs Ma-Ma has thrown off the top floor to send a message, and Ma-Ma herself, go out this way.
• Small Girl, Big Gun: The only time we see Ma-Ma using a gun is when she's using a massive Gatling gun on the Judges.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Ma-Ma acts like she's in complete control of the situation and thinks she's far more important than she actually is, despite the fact that her influence is only through Peach Trees and that Dredd and Anderson easily make it through everything she does to try and kill them (the only time they're really in trouble is during the gatling gun scene). She also believes that the two are just a pair of run-of-the-mill Judges, something that the corrupt ones that come to kill Dredd calls her out on before giving her his fee.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: The Slo-Mo theme, a curiously flute-y and ethereal piece among the crunching electric guitars and thudding bass, was inspired by a slowed down version of a Justin Bieber song, of all things.
• Spandex, Latex, or Leather: This film departs from the more faithful spandex uniforms used in the Stallone film,◊ instead opting for a leathery look similar to the original but closer to realistic police armor.
• Spoiler Title: Not in the picture itself, but in the soundtrack. The movie focuses on Dredd and his rookie as he decides whether or not she'll be inducted into the force. The first track on the soundtrack? "She's a Pass".
• Spotting the Thread:
  • Dredd figures out there's more to the triple homicide in Peach Trees than he initially thought when Ma-Ma demolishes half a floor of the block to try and keep them from interrogating Kay, who as far as Dredd and Anderson can tell is just a low-level dealer and doesn't warrant the kind of attention that two dead Judges would bring.
    Dredd: Ma-Ma locks down the whole block and massacres an entire quadrant of men, women, and children just to kill two Judges. Sound like overkill to you? I'll tell you what I think. I think if we'd executed you in the bust, Ma-Ma would have let us walk out of here. What she doesn't want is you taken back to the sector house. She doesn't want you interrogated. She's afraid of what you might say, and that's got me curious.
  • Dredd realizes that his supposed backup isn't on the level when one of them doesn't ask about his partner.
• Star Scraper: The mega-structures meet the qualification line by a slim margin; Dredd mentions that Ma-Ma's penthouse is at least a kilometer above ground, and Peach Trees is only one of many such structures.
• Stealth Pun: Double, even. When Dredd and Anderson are interrogating Kay, they are in a classroom. They get an education and Kay gets schooled.
• Steel Ear Drums:
  • While an argument could be made that Dredd's helmet comes with built in ear protection, Anderson spends the whole movie with no ear protection.
  • Averted in the opening sequence, one of the perps is firing a machine pistol while inside a van. The other perp, who is riding shotgun, covers his ears and they communicate with each other shouting, being deafened by the gunfire. The perp also can't put a single bullet into Dredd despite very short distance, too, given their crazy driving.
  • Ma-Ma stands near three Gatling guns all firing continuously at the same time, with no ear protection. A little later, she doesn't even need to raise her voice to give commands on where to fire. None of the mooks appear to wearing any hearing protection either.
  • During the flashback explaining how she came to power, Caleb walks up and shoots at the camera, with the gun *very* close to Ma-Ma's ears.
  • No one in the film is wearing any sort of hearing protection despite the frequent use of firearms, indoors, in a building made entirely out of concrete. Anyone who's been to an indoor shooting range of similar construction will tell you, just the echoes of gunfire in such a place can cause serious ear damage.
• Stop, or I Will Shoot!: Two young gang members find the fully armored Judges and approach them from behind:
  Amos: Freeze!
  [The judges turn around and look at them.]
  (Beat)
  Judge Dredd: Why?
  Amos: Why what?
  Dredd: Well, why should I freeze?
  Amos: Because otherwise I will shoot you.
  Dredd: With the safety on? ^note It isn't, but this gets them to check it and gives Dredd enough time to aim his weapons at them and stun them.
• Storming the Castle: Dredd and Anderson are forced to attack up the tower through Ma-Ma's forces and strong points due to being trapped in the tower.
• Stupid Crooks: The criminal who survived the car crash from the opening chase scene might have gotten away clean if he'd just slipped away in the crowd while Dredd was inspecting the wreckage, instead of attracting attention to himself by firing off his gun and killing random civilians. When he's cornered while holding a hostage at gunpoint, he further refuses to surrender, despite Dredd's offer of life with no parole being incredibly lenient given his crimes, which carry the death penalty.
• Supporting Protagonist: For all intents and purposes, Anderson is the one who gets a character arc. Dredd is her mentor, guiding and assessing her progress from wide-eyed rookie to hard-bitten lawbringer.
• Swiss-Army Gun: The Lawgiver has a variety of different ammo types that are loaded by voice command. It also has an option for rapid fire mode and silencer mode.
• Take a Third Option:
  • After surviving Ma-Ma's Gatling gun attack, Dredd asks Anderson what their options are. Anderson points out that standard protocol is either hide or defend until backup arrives. Dredd offers a third option: attack.
  • Ma-Ma tries intimidating Dredd by noting that she has a dead man's switch tied to her heartbeat. Instead of backing down, Dredd shoots her in a non-fatal spot and tosses her out a window to the bottom floor...where the switch's transmitter won't be able to send a signal to the receiver.
• A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Dredd executes the Big Bad in the way the three rival dealers at the start of the film were killed, giving a dose of Slo-Mo just before a Destination Defenestration, though he leaves out the Flaying Alive part.
• Terse Talker: Good luck getting Dredd to say more than one word to give his opinion on something. When told that all of the "Slo-Mo" in Mega City One is coming from Ma-Ma's gang, his reply is simple: "Interesting". From him, that's a big deal.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill:
  • This is part of Ma-Ma's trademark violence. She uses a set of three Gatling guns to absolutely shred an entire level of the block. This actually ends up as a plot point, as Dredd realizes no one would go to such lengths to kill a Judge unless they had something big to protect. Additionally, it wrecks a lot of her hacker's connections and blows a hole in the side of the building, enabling the Judges to re-connect with Mission Control.
  • Instead of shooting a mook dead early in the film, Dredd fires a special incendiary round into the mook's head, which causes the poor bastard's brain to burn from the inside.
  • During a confrontation with a pair of perps, Anderson shoots one from below the chin; despite one bullet being enough, she keeps firing until the perp's head disintegrates.
  • Dredd uses a hi-ex round to blow up an opponent's head, because that was the only round left in his gun.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!:
  Kay: (pointing a gun at Anderson) Any Last Words?, bitch?
  Anderson: That's funny, I was about to ask you that... bitch.
• Thousand-Yard Stare: Anderson's reaction to her first execution. She snaps out of it on catching Dredd staring at her.
• Throw the Dog a Bone: Anderson lets Techie go after seeing the shit Ma-Ma put him through.
• Too Dumb to Live: Yup, the best place for a homeless person to lounge about is directly below the blast door of an apartment complex. It's not like it can drop on you and squish you like a tomato.
• Took a Level in Badass: When Anderson walks into Peach Trees, she's a marginally qualified and obviously green rookie. By the time she walks out, she's a battle-hardened Judge who's willing to stand up to Dredd when she believes that Justice and Law do not always agree on a specific case.
• Torture Always Works:
  • Ma-Ma knows Kay will crack if the Judges take him back for interrogation, so she makes sure none of them leave.
  • This is subverted later when Dredd starts to beat Kay up, only for Anderson to say she can get the information from him without (physical) force.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The trailer shows Anderson revealing the secret that Kay was keeping as well as several shots of Dredd throwing Ma-Ma out of a window. It's pretty much the entire arc of the movie, major twists included, condensed into a minute and a half.
• Tranquil Fury:
  • Based on Anderson's psychic probe, Dredd is made up of this.
    Anderson: I can feel anger... and control... but... there's something else, something... behind the control...
  • Ma-Ma also veers between this and being a Soft-Spoken Sadist.
• Trapped in Villainy: Clan Techie is only working for Ma-Ma under threat of torture or death—and that's on top of her already having gouged his eyes out with her thumbs. This leads Anderson to let him go at the end.
• Truer to the Text: Very much fulfilled, inasmuch as this representation of Dredd was regarded as far more faithful than the 1995 version.
• Turn in Your Badge: At the end, Anderson does this on her own, without a single prompt, knowing full well that she committed a couple of failing offenses in her assessment and even admitting so earlier. She then leaves, and can be seen refusing medical treatment in the distance. In the end, however, Dredd gives her a passing grade.
• 20 Minutes into the Future: The Judges have futuristic uniforms and equipment, and pretty much everyone else has early 21st Century clothes and electronics. A freeze frame bonus of Ma-Ma's police profile on a computer reveals the film takes place in 2100 (the profile says Ma-Ma was born in 2061 and is 39 years old).
• Understatement:
  • When Anderson tells Dredd what she found in Kay's head—Ma-Ma is the source of all the Slo-Mo in Mega-City One—his only reaction is, "Interesting."
  • At the end, when the Chief Judge asks Dredd for his assessment of the situation, Dredd simply replies, "Drug bust."
  • After being locked in a building with a well-armed drug gang, multiple residents and four corrupt judges all trying very hard to kill him, his only comment is: "Perps were... uncooperative."
• Unflinching Walk: For most of the movie, Dredd barely moves above a calm, methodical walk.
• The Unreveal: Anderson is asked by the Chief Judge to read Dredd's mind. She senses anger and control, but there's something else behind the control...the Chief Judge quickly cuts her off.
• Unusable Enemy Equipment:
  • A Judge's sidearm will not work for anyone other than the Judge, explosively reinforced, but Lawgiver ammo clips are interchangeable, which lets Dredd appropriate a fallen Judge's loadout to replenish his weapon.
  • Thus, when Kay attempts to use Anderson's Lawgiver, the biometric Self Destruct takes his arm off and frees her to use gang weapons.
• Vice City: Mega-City One is home to nearly a billion people, with crime so rampant that the people policing the place have to act as judge, jury, and executioner. Even then, they struggle badly—Dredd says the Justice Department is only able to respond to around 6% of calls for serious crimes. (One can only imagine how many crimes don't even get reported in the first place.) Making matters worse: a fifth of all rookie Judges are killed in their first day on the job.
• Villain Ball:
  • As much as Ma-Ma tries to be a competent villain, she only solves her problems with violence — which the doctor points out in the beginning;
    • Her overreaction to Kay's capture by both locking down the building and attempting to kill them by tearing up half a floor with gatling guns pretty much leads to her downfall; the collateral damage to the building wrecks a lot of her hacker's connections and it lets the judges communicate with the outside, and it's such obvious overkill that Dredd figures out how important Kay really is, and has Anderson read his mind to discover that all the Slo-Mo in Mega-City One is being made in Peach Trees.
    • She routinely abuses the Clan Techie even though, as far as we know, he is literally their only computer expert on staff; he thus gives up the code to her safe room to save his hide.
    • She hires corrupt Judges to take out Dredd after her own men prove inadequate, but this just serves to resupply Dredd and Anderson with more ammo for the final assault on her safe room.
  • After wounding Dredd and cornering him, corrupt Judge Lex engages in some Evil Gloating, in part due to hubris... which lasts just long enough for Dredd to be rescued by Anderson killing Lex.
• The Wall Around the World: Mega-City One is surrounded by a wall to protect against the irradiated wasteland outside. Those born near the wall tend to be mutants.
• We Have Reserves: This is played straight in the beginning: when Kay's distribution shop is hit, Ma-Ma dismisses it as the cost of doing business... until she learns that the Judges took Kay alive. The film also averts this later: Ma-Ma refuses to execute Kay for his incompetence because Dredd has killed so many of her men that she can't afford to lose any more.
• Well-Trained, but Inexperienced: Anderson went through the full Judge training in the Academy, but hasn't been in the field before. Thus despite having all the necessary skills, drills and knowledge, she initially hesitates to kill, especially when it is a flat-out execution of a wounded and helpless perp. But after the harrowing experiences she goes through, she manages to detach herself emotionally from the killing and is just as efficient as Dredd when it comes to fighting, showing it wasn't lack or insufficient training, but of the hands-on experience.
• What Measure Is a Mook?: Anderson is reluctant to execute a mook, but Dredd insists that she execute him for attempted murder of a Judge. To make matters worse, she later discovers that he has a wife worrying about him at home as well as a young child. Mind you this is close to the beginning of the movie, and as the day goes on she abandons the luxury of doubting herself.
• Would Hit a Girl: Dredd has no problem at all with attacking women, throwing Ma-Ma through a window and watching her plummet to her death.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Dredd switches to stun rounds when fighting a couple of kids who pull guns on him. All of the adults that pull guns on him are handled with lethal ammunition.
• Wretched Hive: Mega City One is a Crapsack World — it's mentioned that the Judges can only investigate six percent of all reported crimes every day, simply because it's become so rampant that they can't handle it all. Even so, Peach Trees still manages to top that. It's pointed out that this is a crucial difference between this film and its predecessor; in Judge Dredd, MC1 seems more like a Shining City with a Wrong Side of the Tracks, ruled by increasingly corrupt Judges. Dredd makes it quite clear that MC1 is only better than the Polluted Wasteland that surrounds it because some places have water and electricity, with the Judges being the only thing keeping the Cursed Earth from reclaiming it.
  Gizmodo: It's an important distinction: Mega-City One is not a police state, it's a state of anarchy in which a tiny handful of lawmen (and women) try to keep order against all odds.
  • The state of things is beautifully summed up early in this exchange between Dredd and the Chief Justice:
  Chief: Sink or swim. Put her in the deep end.
  Dredd: It's all the deep end.
• You Have Failed Me: Subverted. Ma-Ma says that normally she'd have killed the mook Kay for getting captured by the Judges, but with the casualties Dredd is inflicting, she needs every man she can get.
• Your Head Asplode:
  • The results of a Hi-Ex to the face. It splatters one of the corrupt judges head's all over the room and a bit more.
  • When Anderson breaks out of captivity she pushes an enemy's submachine gun under his chin and holds down the trigger. Half of his head evaporates in a fountain of gore.
• You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Ma-Ma has a Dead Man's Switch linked to explosives which have the potential to kill everyone in Peach Trees, and is confident Dredd will not kill her. He instead wounds her, then tosses her 200 stories down where the signal won't be able to get through all the steel and concrete.

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"What happened in there?"
"Drug bust."
"You look like you've been through it."
"Perps were... uncooperative."

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