Dredd

In the not too distant future, the USA has become  a dystopian wasteland, and stretching from Boston   to Washington DC there is a city called Mega-City  One, walled off from the radiation of the desert.   There are eight hundred million residents living  in mega blocks, almost never going outside because   they fear the tremendous violence and brutality  that terrorize the streets. The only ones capable   of maintaining some kind of order are the Judges,  an elite group of urban police that has been given   the duties of judge, jury, and executioner.  They also have access to advanced weaponry,   like guns that can read your DNA and change the  type of bullets they're loaded with on the spot. Dredd is one of these judges, currently  driving his bike through the highway to   chase three suspects in a van. These men are under  the influence of Slo-mo, a new and very addictive   narcotic that reduces the user's perception of  time, which causes their driving to be rather   erratic. When they realize a Judge is following  them, one of them opens fire but misses every   shot, and the driver decides to leave the highway  and take a normal street, hitting and killing   a pedestrian in the process. Now that they've  gone from suspects to actual murderers, Dredd is   allowed to fire back, so he shoots the van's tires  and makes it fall over in front of a mega block. When he comes closer to check the damage, he finds  only two bodies in the van before hearing gunshots   coming from inside the block. Dredd follows a  trail of bodies left by the criminal until he   finds him pointing his gun at a hostage, who  he will kill if he's not allowed to walk out.   The deal that Dredd offers him doesn't sound  very good: it's just jail without parole,   but the truth is, if he doesn't comply, the  result would be worse, he'd be sentenced to death.   Since the criminal doesn't accept the deal,  Dredd shoots a flare bullet right into his mouth. When Dredd returns to headquarters, the Chief  Judge introduces him to Cassandra Anderson,   a twenty-one-year-old woman that was  born in a block near the radiation wall.   She's a mutant with the most powerful  psychic powers they've ever encountered,   which is why she's being given the chance  to be a new recruit even if she didn't   pass the tests by merely three points. It's  also why she doesn't wear a Judge helmet,   it gets in the way of her special abilities.  Dredd's assignment is to take her out with   him for one day in the field and assess  her performance to decide her future. Meanwhile, in a block called Peach Trees, there  is Madeline Madrigal, better known as Ma-ma,   a former call-girl turned drug pusher. Her  bath is interrupted by her men Caleb and Kay,   who have brought her three drug dealers that  have been selling another pusher's products   on Ma-ma's levels. As a punishment,  she orders her men to skin them alive,   pump so Slow-mo in them, and  then throw them over the balcony. After going through the basic rules, Dredd allows  Anderson to use her best judgment to choose their   first case since they can only help with six  percent of the seventeen thousand serious crimes   that are reported every day. Anderson chooses the  triple homicide at Peach Trees, and on their way   there, she tells Dredd she wants to be a Judge  because she wants to make a difference - she grew   up in a mega block and knows there are some good  people inside. Dredd thinks this is admirable. When they arrive at the crime scene, they meet  TJ, the block's medic, who gets them blood samples   from the bodies so they can possibly identify  them. This proves to be a success, the system   tells them all three bodies belong to small-perps,  junkies with no gang affiliation. Anderson reaches   the conclusion this kind of death can only mean  someone is trying to send a message and TJ agrees,   telling them about Ma-ma and her clan. Some time  ago, she took over a client's drug business and   gained control of the block by using extreme  violence against the other gangs. Nobody ever   stopped her because Judges never stop by a  block like Peach Trees, which is mostly slums. TJ allows them to use his computer and they  discover the perp's address is on floor   thirty-nine, so they go there to investigate.  When they find the right apartment, they blow   the door up with a small explosive and open fire  on the people inside until they all surrender.   This leaves Anderson quite shaken, since it's her  first time killing. She still continues to work   efficiently, though, and when she handcuffs Kay,  her powers let her see his mind and discover he is   the murderer they're looking for. But since she's  only ninety-nine percent sure, this isn't enough   to execute him yet, so Dredd decides to take him  back to headquarters with them for interrogation. All this is seen on the security cameras by  Ma-ma's hacker, and when he tells her about it,   she comes up with a plan to stop the  Judges from leaving. Caleb and some   other gang members seize the tower's  security control room after killing   the guards and connect a special router  to the computer, which allows the hacker   to make contact with Security Control  and, pretending to be a guard himself,   ask permission to turn on the def-con system  under the excuse they're just running some tests. By the time Dredd, Anderson, and Kay make  it back to the ground floor it's too late:   the hacker has obtained the code  to activate the "war protocol" and   now the block is shutting down every door and  window. Next, Ma-ma talks to the entire block,   telling them she'll keep the building  under lockdown until the Judges are dead.   Clan members should grab their weapons and  get on chasing, and the rest of the people   should stay inside and not interfere - if anyone  helps the Judges, Ma-ma will kill them as well. Dredd tries to contact headquarters  to report their situation,   but their communicators aren't working because  of the shielding that now covers the building.   They decide they should wait at the med-center,  and on their way there, the clan members already   start chasing them. They easily shoot them  after distracting them with a gas bomb and get   to ride the elevator to their destination,  which is also being protected by thugs.   Dredd offers them a chance to surrender without  violence, but since the criminals turn it down, he   throws a stun grenade before he and Anderson move  in and kill them as well. Sadly, TJ doesn't allow   them to enter the med-center with him, because as  a medical facility he's supposed to stay neutral. Accepting they'll have to go cover  from now on, Anderson and Dredd   switch their weapons to silencer mode, and  Anderson wonders if Kay isn't a liability,   but Dredd points out they can't just cut loose  the prime suspect of a murder investigation.   Both Judges drag Kay with them as they begin  to sneak around the hallways, and when they're   about to be found by some clan members, Anderson  uses her powers to find out the name of one of   the tenants and mentions it when she rings the  bell to convince the person to let them inside.   The three of them hide inside this innocent  woman's apartment until the thugs are gone,   and before they leave, the tenant promises  she won't raise the alarm because she doesn't   want them to kill more people. To prove she's  being honest, she tells them about the service   elevator near here, which has a sign that  says it's broken but it isn't entirely true:   it actually works if you choose a level above  seventy-five. As the trio leaves the apartment,   Anderson sees a picture and uses her power  to confirm her fears: the woman's husband and   father of her child is one of the guys she killed  early. This news leaves her feeling quite uneasy. Ma-ma's hacker is following the group using the  security cameras, and when they make it to floor   seventy-six, he follows Ma-ma's orders and seals  the corridors in order to trap them on that floor.   Dredd quickly catches on to what's going  on and shoots the camera near them before   ordering Anderson to take Kay to the elevator  lobby and wait there while he investigates.   While Dredd goes down the hallway, Kay takes  advantage of the fact he's alone with Anderson   now and tries to get on her nerves by telling  her about the things they've done to young girls   in the past, sending her mental images  of him touching her inappropriately,   and teasing her for being a pretty  mutant, since they usually are deformed.   But Anderson doesn't allow him to  distract her and hits him to shut him up. In the meantime, Dredd makes it to the  balcony and finds Ma-ma on the opposite   side together with her men and huge rotary  cannons capable of ripping through the walls.   She doesn't hesitate to open fire on him  without caring about all the residents she   kills while trying to get Dredd, who wastes  no time in running back to the lobby with   Anderson. When he notices Ma-ma's cannon  bullets are also hitting the outer wall,   he shoots a high-ex bullet at it and opens a hole  in it that allows the three of them to escape   without being noticed because the explosions  have also destroyed the security cameras. Now they're outside, their communicators are  working again, so Dredd calls for reinforcements   before taking Anderson and Kay back inside,  since if they stay out on that little roof,   they wouldn't have anywhere to run to when found.  Among the smoke and the debris, they come across   Ma-ma's men, who are looking for the Judges'  bodies. Dredd shoots them all except for Caleb,   who he takes to the balcony and throws over  the edge for Ma-ma to see it as a message. Afterward, he violently drags Kay into  a classroom and starts beating him up.   Dredd finds it suspicious that Ma-ma  is willing to kill so many residents   and destroy an entire floor just to get rid  of two Judges, which must mean her actual   objective is to save Kay from interrogation  because he knows important information.   If Dredd had killed Kay when they first  found him, Ma-ma would've let them go. Since Kay still won't talk, Anderson cuts in and  asks Dredd to let her do this with her powers.   She makes herself appear inside Kay's head,  so he tries to scare her away by imagining   shocking scenarios of them being intimate, but  she counters them with some violent imagery of   Ma-ma's teeth near his groin. Now his defenses  are down, she's able to read his mind properly   and find out the details behind Ma-ma's  operation: it turns out Peach Trees is   the center of Slo-Mo production and distribution,  and they're planning to take over the whole city. At that moment, more Judges arrive outside  the building. While being threatened with   a knife by Ma-ma, the hacker pretends to  be a security guard and tells them their   systems went down while they were running the  tests because of a fire on level seventy-six.   When the Judges notice the smoke coming  from that floor, they believe the story. Meanwhile, Dredd and Anderson are discussing their  options. Anderson thinks they should either run or   hide, but Dredd thinks they should head straight  for Ma-ma and attack. Anderson disagrees and says   they should wait for backup for the odds to be  back in their favor, so Dredd gives in for now,   trusting her psychic powers. After they leave the  room with Kay, they are ambushed by two teenagers   with guns they are too nervous to use. Since Dredd  is now distracted by them, Kay takes the chance   to jump on Anderson and grab her gun to capture  her, pulling her with him into the elevator while   Dredd stuns the kids that have finally dared to  shoot when they got scared by Kay's sudden moves. Anderson is taken to Ma-Ma's base on the top  floor, where all her henchmen are eager to torture   her. She's saved by Ma-ma herself, who orders  everyone not to touch her yet before scolding   and punching Kay for failing to kill the Judges  or himself - she would kill him now if she hadn't   lost so many men already today. Knowing that the  department of justice will come sooner or later   to get their Judges, Ma-ma wants to make it all  look like a simple bust that went wrong, so she   forbids everyone to do anything to Anderson that  isn't a bunch of bullets to the head and chest. While the thugs take Anderson away, the hacker  comes to tell Ma-ma that Dredd has reached a   terminal and intends to talk to the entire  building through the speakers like she did.   He could easily shut him down but they  decide against it because this way,   they can track down his location. Dredd's  message is very simple: he reminds everyone   that Ma-ma isn't the law, he is, and anyone that  helps her will be arrested as an accomplice.   The message may be short but it still gives the  hacker enough time to find Dredd only ten floors   under them, so Ma-ma sends more men after him.  However, when they arrive at the terminal, they   discover a body Dredd left inside as a decoy, and  he actually is on the other side of the balcony,   far enough to shoot a flare at  them that kills them all with fire. Running out of options, Ma-ma says to call 911,  which means they are calling in for four corrupt   Judges that accept to work for her in exchange for  one million credits. The hacker opens the door for   them and as soon as they get inside, the Judges  start making up a story about Dredd and Anderson   triggering a turf war and dying in the pursuit of  duty. TJ sees them and hears what they are saying,   so he approaches them to tell them what actually  happened, but they just shoot him in response. After meeting with Ma-ma and making a deal  with her, the Judges split to find Dredd.   The first one to do it is Chan, who plays pretend  and tells Dredd he's his backup to distract him.   Dredd, however, becomes suspicious that  he doesn't ask about Anderson's status,   and as soon as he points that out,  the men begin to fight hand-to-hand.   Chan overpowers Dredd for a short moment, but  Dredd comes through and flips their positions,   killing Chan and leaving the body on the  floor for the other Judges to find him. Meanwhile, Kay grabs Anderson's gun to kill her,  but when the gun's sensor doesn't find her DNA,   it explodes and takes his hand off. Anderson  wastes no time and knocks Kay out before he   can react, then escapes the room, killing all the  henchmen she finds along the way. A moment later,   when Ma-ma finds Kay's body, Judge Kaplan offers  herself to go after Anderson and kill her.   Her plan doesn't work, though, because when she  finds Anderson, she doesn't believe the backup   lie thanks to her reading her mind. Anderson  doesn't hesitate to kill Kaplan on the spot. Dredd walks inside the Slo-mo lab and shoots a  stray bullet to scare all the workers away. Judges   Lex and Alvarez arrive then and open fire after  talking a bit about a Judge's morals, Dredd shoots   them in return but only manages to kill Alvarez  before he runs out of ammunition. Lex comes closer   and wounds Dredd on the side of his stomach, but  when he's about to finish him off, Dredd distracts   him by telling him to wait, giving Anderson time  to sneak behind Lex and killing him with her gun. Dredd uses some emergency supplies from his  utility belt to patch up his wounds and steals   Lex's gun before he and Anderson go after Ma-ma.  They find the hacker first, who desperately shares   some information so Dredd won't kill him. Ma-ma  is in her private quarters, which is behind   ten inches of steel. To enter they'll need a  combination, and Anderson gets it out of his mind   by using her powers. In the process of reading his  mind, she also learns the hacker has always been   pray for Ma-ma, only working for her because she's  got him under torture. This makes Anderson decide   to let him go, which Dredd doesn't approve of  because he is a criminal that should be punished.   Anderson corrects him and tells him  the poor guy is a victim, not a perp. The duo hurries to the last floor,  uses the hacker's code to get in,   and kills every henchman they can find  before they finally make it to Ma-ma,   who has put a strange glowing contraption on  her wrist. There are thugs in her room as well,   and while they do manage to kill them,  one of them hurts Anderson in the process.   Ma-ma tells Dredd she knew the Judges could  find her place someday, so she has rigged   the entire level with enough explosives to take  out the top fifty stories, which would fall on   and destroy all the floors under them as well.  The detonator is the contraption on her wrist,   which is a transmitter connected to her  heartbeat: if she dies, the building blows up. Dredd doesn't seem too  bothered by the news, though.   He still shoots Ma-ma on her stomach then  points out they're one kilometer above ground,   so he's willing to test the transmitter's range.  After grabbing a bottle of Slo-mo and forcing   Ma-ma to inhale it, he grabs her by her neck  and throws her down the atrium, dying when her   body hits the ground floor, too far away from the  explosives for the transmitter to activate them. Hours later, the block's shielding finally  opens and the department of justice arrives   with plenty of backup. When Dredd tells Anderson  her assessment is over, she doesn't say a word,   she simply gives him back her badge  before leaving, thinking she's failed.   However, when the Chief Judge comes over and  asks Dredd about her, he says she's a pass.