In a violent, futuristic city where the police have the authority to act as judge, jury and executioner, a cop teams with a trainee to take down a gang that deals the reality-altering drug, SLO-MO.
The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One - a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge - a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of "Slo-Mo" experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed. During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson, a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture - a 200 storey vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan's inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound's control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival.—Production
In a dystopian future Earth, the area between New York and Boston has become a crime-ridden urban mass of 800 million people known as Mega City. Keeping the peace are combination policemen-judges who make the arrests, determine guilt and then execute the sentence. Judge Dredd is among the best at what he does and he is assigned a rookie, Cassandra Anderson, who did not meet the minimum requirements for the job but who has one talent most do not: she is a mutant with psychic abilities. They soon find themselves inside Peach Trees, a 200 story building that houses among many others Ma-Ma a gangster who produces the drug of choice in Mega City, slo-mo. Ma-Ma shuts the building down determined that Dredd and Anderson will never again see the light of day.—garykmcd
In the future, the overpopulated and chaotic Mega City One with 800 million inhabitants occupies the former territory between Boston and Washington and is surrounded by desert. Justice is brought by the judges, who have the power to judge and execute the sentence against those who break the law. The incorruptible Judge Dredd is summoned by the Chief Judge to evaluate the rookie Anderson, who has failed the test for judge but is a mutant with psychic abilities. They witness a murder and chase the killer in a 200-floor building. However the laboratory of slo-mo of the drug lord Ma-Ma is located in the 200th floor and she seals the building, trapping the two judges inside. Then she orders her clan to kill Dredd and Anderson in the beginning of a gore manhunt.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Holed up in the penthouse of the massive two-hundred-storey Peach Trees complex nestled in the dark bosom of the post-nuclear megalopolis, Mega-City One, the supreme female drug kingpin, Ma-Ma, is the slum's absolute ruler. When the metropolis' most feared enforcer of justice, Judge Dredd, and the inexperienced new recruit, Anderson, respond to a call to investigate a brutal triple homicide within the towering building, Ma-Ma locks down the entire tower block, offering a lucrative bounty for the heads of the intruders. Now, trapped like mice in a dangerous concrete maze, without any assistance, and nowhere to hide, Dredd and his rookie partner must fight their way out, one level at a time. Will they live to fight another day?—Nick Riganas
The future United States in 2080 is an irradiated wasteland known as the Cursed Earth. On the east coast lies Mega-City One, a violent metropolis with 800 million residents and 17,000 crimes reported daily. Outside the walls of the city is vast desert. Mega-City One is a cursed city stretching from Boston to Washington DC. An unbroken concrete landscape. The city thrives on its mega-structures like the mega-blocks and the mega-highways.There, an addictive new drug called "Slo-Mo" has been introduced, which slows the user's perception of time to 1% of normal. The city is breaking down under its own weight. Citizens fear the gangs, who rule with guns and violence.
The only force for order is the Judges (from the Hall of Justice), who act as judge, jury and executioner. The entire city is observed by multiple sources of video and audio feeds. The control room uses AI to identify perpetrators and areas of violence and effectively guides the Judges to the sections where they are needed.Judge Dredd is shown to be ruthless, but methodical. He refuses to negotiate with criminals, has a cool and composed mind during hostage situations, and has an unflinching aim that allows him to minimize collateral damage while taking out perpetrators.
Judge Dredd (Karl Urban) is tasked by the Chief Judge (Rakie Ayola) with evaluating new recruit Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a powerful psychic who failed the aptitude tests to be a Judge at the age of nine. Anderson is an orphan who lost her parents at age 7. Anderson was entered into the academy on special instruction. Even at academy, she was borderline, and her final score was 3 percentile points below a pass.Chief Judge believes that Anderson's powerful psychic abilities (she is the most powerful psychic that the Academy has come across by a huge margin) can help in the Judges' failing war against crime. Anderson can access the minds and memories of anyone nearby by using her abilities. Dredd's job is to test her in the field and make a report.Dredd warns Anderson that disobedience, incorrect sentencing, or being disarmed will result in an automatic failure. 1 in 5 Judges don't survive the first day. 12 serious crimes are reported every minute. The Judges Hall has the capacity to respond to about 6% of those.
In Peach Trees, a 200-storey slum tower block, drug lord Madeline Madrigal (Lena Headey), also known as "Ma-Ma", executes three rogue drug dealers by having them skinned, infused with Slo-Mo and thrown down the atrium from the top floor.Dredd and Anderson are sent in to investigate and learn of a drug den, which they raid. The block has 75,000 residents, unemployment rate of 96% and the highest crime rate in sector 13. Half the residential levels in the building are classified as slums.They know that Ma-Ma rules the block. She is an ex-prostitute from the S9 pleasure district. She was sliced in the face by her pimp. She quit after she feminized the guy with her teeth. She over her pimp's business and never looked back. Ma-Ma arrived in the block a few years ago and eliminated the 3 gangs who operated from there. Now, she controls all 200 floors of the block. The 3 victims are registered to level 39 and the Judges go there. Anderson is not wearing a helmet as it can interfere with her psychic abilities.They arrest a thug named Kay (Wood Harris), whom Anderson's mind probe reveals to be the one who carried out the drug dealers' execution. Dredd decides to take him in for questioning. In response, Ma-Ma's forces seize the tower's security control room and seal the building, using its blast shields under the pretense of a security test, preventing the Judges from leaving or summoning help.
Ma-Ma orders Dredd and Anderson killed, and the Judges fight their way through dozens of armed thugs. Arriving at the 76th floor, the Judges are assaulted by Ma-Ma and her men with Vulcan cannons that rip through the walls, killing numerous residents. The Judges breach an outer wall and are able to call for backup. Meanwhile, Ma-Ma sends her henchman Caleb (Warrick Grier) to confirm the Judges' deaths, but when they meet, Dredd throws Caleb off the tower in full view of Ma-Ma.
Angered by the innocent deaths caused during Ma-Ma's assault, Dredd beats Kay for information, deducing she is desperate to prevent him from being interrogated. Anderson intervenes and uses her psychic abilities to read Kay's mind, learning that Peach Trees is the center of Slo-Mo production and distribution. Anderson suggests they hide while awaiting assistance, but Dredd insists, they move up the tower and pursue Ma-Ma.Judges Volt (Daniel Hadebe) and Guthrie ( Francis Chouler) respond to Dredd's call, but Ma-Ma's computer expert (Domhnall Gleeson) denies them entry by persuading them the call is part of the security drill. A pair of armed teens confront Dredd and Anderson, allowing Kay to disarm and overtake Anderson. Kay then escapes with her as hostage and brings her to Ma-Ma's base on the top floor.
While Dredd works his way towards Ma-Ma, she calls in the corrupt Judges Lex (Langley Kirkwood), Kaplan (Michele Levin), Chan (Karl Thaning) and Alvarez (Edwin Perry). The four relieve Volt and Guthrie from duty and are allowed into the building. Dredd encounters Chan and is suspicious that he does not ask about Anderson's status. Seeing his cover blown, Chan attacks Dredd, who kills him.
Meanwhile, Kay tries to execute Anderson with her own weapon, but the pistol's DNA scanner does not recognize him and blows his arm off. Anderson escapes and later encounters Kaplan, whom she promptly kills after reading her mind. Elsewhere, Dredd kills Alvarez but runs out of ammunition, and is shot by Lex in the abdomen. Lex moves in to execute Dredd, but Dredd stalls him long enough for Anderson to arrive and kill Lex.
Anderson and Dredd obtain the code to Ma-Ma's apartment from her computer expert and confront her. Ma-Ma tells Dredd that in the case of her death, a device on her wrist will detonate explosives on the top floors, destroying the building. Dredd reasons that the detonator's signal will not reach the explosives from the ground floor, so he forces Ma-Ma to inhale Slo-Mo and throws her down the atrium to her death.
In the aftermath, Anderson accepts that she has failed her evaluation by getting disarmed, and leaves. The Chief Judge asks Dredd about Anderson's performance; he responds that she has passed.
