Funny / Dredd

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

---

• After Ma-Ma's goons destroy half the 75th floor in an attempt to kill the Judges, they go into the wreckage to find the bodies. And then, as Ma-Ma watches, Dredd just walks out of the smoke, dragging her right-hand man, tosses him over the balcony, and walks back into the smoke, without breaking stride. He doesn't even pause to glare at Ma-Ma. The sheer matter-of-factness with which Dredd does this, like he's just throwing a trashbag, not to the mention the reaction from Ma-Ma herself, transforms it from kind of horrifying to hilarious.
• This Uncomfortable Elevator Moment as Dredd and Anderson take a perp down an elevator:
  Anderson: (the telepath) He's thinking of making a move on your gun.
  Dredd: (who's Seen It All) Yep.
  Anderson: He just changed his mind.
  Dredd: Yeee-up.
• Earlier on in the film, when Dredd enters the Peach Trees block, he spies a homeless guy lounging around on the blast door perimeters of the Peach Trees block. He doesn't charge the homeless man for vagrancy, but admonishes him that he should be gone by the time he gets back, since he and Anderson have a triple homicide waiting for them. Later on, when Dredd is about to leave the block, the homeless guy is still there... but before Dredd can do anything more than begin to arrest the man, Ma-Ma then orders Peach Trees' blast doors to be closed in order to trap Dredd inside, upon which the homeless man only has enough time to look up and see the blast doors careening down on him. It would be horrifying if it didn't cross the line into being darkly hilarious.
  • The man's begging sign is again a mix of gross out and black comedy.
    Will debase self for credits.
• This exchange:
  Dredd: [I've] been wondering when you'd remember you left your helmet behind.
  Anderson: Sir, a helmet can interfere with my psychic abilities.
  Dredd: Think a bullet might interfere with them more.
  • Some may wonder if that wasn't a Take That! on the Stallone Judge Dredd's infamous removal of the ever-present helmet that his comic original was famed for never, ever, removing.
• After Dredd shoves Ma-Ma through the window at the end, it cuts to her perspective. With Dredd's hand still out from the push, it looks like he's waving goodbye.
  • With the broken glass appearing as snow, no less.
• Anderson and Kay discussing her abilities.
  Kay: What am I thinking of right now?
  Anderson: You're picturing a violent sexual liaison between the two of us in a pointless attempt to shock me.
  Kay: You're good. But I wasn't trying to shock you. If I was trying to shock, I'd be thinking about this: (imagines torturing Anderson)
  Anderson: (hits him) What are you thinking about now, huh?
• One scene has Dredd and Anderson cornered by 10 thugs. Dredd gives them a 20 second countdown and upon reaching 10 the leading thug tries to sound badass by cutting it by half. Dredd's response? The most nonchalant "Thanks for the heads up." and a swift wipe out with Anderson after a stun bomb detonates.
• The scene with the teenagers that are trying to get in good with Ma-Ma's Clan is absolutely absurd. They start off by asking each other why the other didn't shoot, then approach the Judges from behind shouting "Freeze!" It goes downhill from there.
  • Dredd's response to being told to freeze is simply to ask, "Why?" in the most nonchalant way humanly possible. Dredd isn't even angry or on guard, he actually sounds the most relaxed he's been the entire movie and he's at gunpoint.
• When Anderson has just escaped from Kay, Judge Kaplan (one of the corrupt Judges) goes to intercept her, thinking she would lower her guard if approached by another Judge. When they meet, Kaplan says "Lower your weapon, rookie, I'm your backup." Cue the screen going funky for a second and Anderson shooting her down and moving on without a word.
• After an entire night's worth of carnage, dozens if not hundreds of dead bodies, and Dredd himself wounded in action, we get this gem.
  Chief Judge: What happened here?
  Dredd: Drug bust.
  Chief Judge: Looks like you've been through it.
  Dredd: Perps were ...uncooperative.
• When the bodies splatter on the pavement at the bottom of Peach Trees, one guy is seen with a camera phone, taking pictures of the crime scene.
• Two Judges (who aren't corrupt) are stuck outside and unable to give Dredd or Anderson assistance because Techie is keeping them out and they can't go through the blast doors. The corrupt Judge Lex and his three fellow Judges come up and have the following conversation with them:
  Stuck Judge: Block's under lockdown. Malfunction with their defence system.
  Inside Judge: (into the intercom) Open up!
  (The blast doors open.)
  Judge Lex: (to Judges outside) You're relieved.
• The "Wait" scene, in which Dredd gets Lex monologuing.
  Dredd: (seriously injured and out of ammo) Wait...
  Judge Lex: 'Wait'? Are you kidding me? Did you say 'wait'? Judge Dredd... the Judge Dredd, finally gets on the wrong end of a gun, and what he says... is 'wait'. You know what? I expected more of you. I mean, wait for what? Wait for me to change my mind? Wait for another two or three seconds of life because you're so fucking weak you just can't stand to see it end?
  Dredd: No. (Anderson riddles Lex with bullets from behind) Wait for her to shoot you.
• After Dredd kills Zwirner with a Hotshot round, an automated floor buffer begins cleaning up the food court, announcing that it will reopen in thirty minutes.
  • The Hotshot sequence itself, after Dredd refuses to lower his weapon:
    Dredd: Negotiation's over.
    Zwirner: Didn't you hear me? I'll kill the bitch!!
    Dredd: Yeah. I heard you, hotshot.
    Zwirner (confused): What?!
    Dredd: I said... Hotshot. (Fires Hotshot into Zwirner's mouth and burns him from the inside)
• Even without thirty-five years of ass-kicking, world-saving backstory, it seems Dredd still has quite the reputation.
  (The corrupt judges walk into Ma-Ma's office)
  Lex: One million credits.
  Ma-Ma: (scoff) A million?
  Lex: You got a problem with a Judge. You know who he is?
  Ma-Ma: No...
  Lex: I do. One million.
• It's darkly humorous how Dredd just casually shrugs off each escalating obstacle that the Ma-Ma Clan throws at him - obstacles that would easily flatten any normal person. One of your guys gets busted by a cop, so you send some goons after him. He kills them all. You bust out .50 Calibre gatling guns that wipe out an entire floor to no effect? Congratulations, you've made him suspicious - and angry. Send your chief enforcer after him? He throws him off the balcony. Manage to kidnap his partner? Congratulations, you've just made him furious enough to literally rain fire down on more of your Mooks using White Phosphorus rounds- and said kidnapped partner slaughters your lieutenant while escaping, anyway. Send a bunch of elite Dirty Cops after him? Well done, you've given him more ammo. Threatening to blow up the entire block should work, right? Nope, he just shoots you in the stomach and throws you out a 200-storey window instead.
  Kay: How the fuck are we gonna stop this guy?
• A meta example: Since the Stallone version is so reviled among the fandom, someone recreated the famous "Gaze into the fist of Dredd" with Karl Urban's Dredd standing in for Dredd and Stallone's Dredd in place of Fear. Gaze into the film of Dredd!◊