If You Plot It, Will They Come? Dredd 2012 A Case Study

While I won't say it's necessarily universal, most people would agree the first Judge Dredd movie with Sly was too heavy and over-burdened to carry it's plot.

The new version, released just last year, took a 180 opposite approach to the subject, and even went so far as to nail each of Larry Brooks plot points nearly on the nose, in an attempt, I feel, to erase the problems of the gargantuan plot issues in the first movie.

UK native, Alex Garland went through various idea trying to eliminate the problems of the first movie. But he found himself straying too big as well, as he fell into the mythos of the Dredd world, something graphic novel adaptations constantly deal with, but I think is shared by fantasy authors as well.

Then in 2011, The Raid: Redemption garnered international recognition, about a S.W.A.T. team trapped in a hostile tenement. I think this is where Garland found his focus, a tightly controlled setting for a tightly controlled plot.

At $50 million gross, Dredd has been considered successful enough to warrant sequels, though whether those will come is to be seen. What I'd like to explore is the relationship between that success and the movie's ability to hit the 'money shots' that Larry Brooks very eloquently enumerated.

I'll leave the discussion to decide whether it was strict adherence that made Dredd a success, or if there was more to it than that.

Main Plot Points

Hook 

Dredd is alone, pursuing a trio of addicts in a Volkswagen. They kill a pedestrian, motivating Dredd to move from pursuit to attack. Cue special effects, flip, flip, crash. Blood. One gets away. "This is not a negotiation" says Dredd, and pop goes the weasel.

Analysis Two key ideas are shown with extreme precision. Dredd refuses back up, despite being out numbered, and he strictly adheres to the law even though a hostage's life is at stake. This is the character in five minutes, and it's got guns and face melting, everything a boy likes.

Inciting Incident 

Ma-Ma, evil drug kingpin, skins and tosses three dealers from 200 floors up to remind the Peach Trees residents who's in charge.

Analysis While the antagonist is often best hid, Garland wants you to see the amazing Lena Headly with her carved up face. She, in only about 15 minutes of screen time, makes the stakes very clear. She is control, this is her house, and when the Judges inevitably come, they are going to do so at her mercy. Since Dredd is so violent, and so absolute, having an antagonist that is worse is extremely important to keep the "moral" scales balanced.

Introduce Heroes 

Dredd, recalled from his bust, meets the Chief and sees the Rookie, Anderson, in an interrogation cell. She's a mutant, a psychic, and like most judges, an orphan. She didn't pass her qualifying exams, but the brass want to give her one more shot. Dredd is visibly and vocatively against this idea, but an order is an order.

Analysis Despite having a clear antagonist in Ma-Ma, Garland goes further, introducing a dual hero structure where the main dramatic tensions is between them and not with the outside force. This is brilliant. Again, we find out Dredd is an orphan and no children were made dirty and tearful in the filming of back story. We assume, rightly, that he passed his exams with top marks. And again, we see his adherence to absolute justice. "She failed," he says.

The conflict of the movie is not Judge vs. Ma-Ma, that's just background fodder. The conflict is Judge vs. Judge, absolute black and white vs. grey.

First Plot Point 

Dredd and Anderson, having located the likely culprits for the three dead bodies in Peach Trees, shoot up the drug den and capture one of Ma-Ma's lieutenants. Anderson reads his mind, realizes he's more than he seems, and the judges march him out for interrogation, only to discover that Ma-Ma has locked the entire mega-building down with ten foot thick blast doors.

Analysis While inciting incidents can overlap with first plot points, I like it when they don't. The inciting incident, pushed far enough forward can dramatically foreshadow the impending external conflict. Even while we're getting to know the Judges, we know what they don't, that they're walking into a lions' den. This turns what could be gratuitous slo-mo violence and death into dramatic tension as we wait to see how the inevitable collision will occur. And of course, the plot point happens nearly precisely at 25% of run time.

First Pinch Point 

Ma-Ma again uses her power to lock the judges into a small area on one floor and proceeds to use chain-guns to rip the place to shreds, killing many of her residents and nearly getting the Judges and their quarry in the process.

Analysis Perfect use of a pinch point to demonstrate overwhelming power both of the environment and over her people. Also, clearly, she doesn't care about anyone but herself. The simple plan of evade capture by the Judges is utterly destroyed, and the wanderers realize they can't wander like this much longer. Also, Dredd and Ma-Ma make eye contact, again by the book. Though we've seen her before, this is the first time hero and villain meet, and it's not an even match at all.

Midpoint Context Change 

Distracted by two teens, Anderson is taken hostage while Dredd stuns rather than kills the two boys pointing guns at him. Only moments before, the two Judges disagree on whether to take the fight directly to Ma-Ma or wait for backup.

Analysis Based on Dredd's rules, Anderson has now failed, again, because she looses her weapon to their hostage. This act of separation and failure of the two heroes is the catalyst that moves them from wanderers to warriors. Anderson has nothing to loose except her life, and Dredd is now compelled to take the fight to Ma-Ma without waiting for back up. Even though we've known this was coming, the changing context is beautifully achieved while showing that Dredd has the capacity for mercy.

Second Pinch Point 

Ma-Ma calls in dirty Judges who offer to kill Dredd for $1 million credits. The wolves are in the building.

Analysis Just as the context of the conflict changes, the context of the opposition moves from purely physical to mental, which will lead directly into the final confrontation. Ma-Ma not only control her mega-building, she can infect and control justice itself, for a price. Lena Headley does an amazing job with two lines of showing her power and her powerlessness in the system of corruption she is exploiting.

Second Plot Point 

There's a weak and a strong one. The weak one is when another Judge assumes the rookie is going to flinch when they face off, reversing an earlier occurrence where Anderson hesitates to carry out justice. For Dredd, it comes when he is shot and out of ammunition, and must delay the dirty Judge from killing him until Anderson can gun him down from behind.

Analysis First conflict separates the Anderson and Dredd, then physical separation occurs. So the resolution of their conflict is naturally the rejoining of them first physically, and second when Anderson takes charge. This is echoed moments later when she reads someone's mind and introduces 'evidence' Dredd cannot see to render judgment despite his objections. He makes a face that says, "I like this one," but she can't see him when he does. This is the final bit of new information, Anderson is strong now, Dredd declares "You look ready," calling back the same scene from an hour before where he said the reverse. But it is also a call back to Dredd refusing backup. He has been brought low, and must be rescued, something that is unnatural for him. They reach a new equilibrium between them so they can both make the decision to risk death in order to stop Ma-Ma.

Final Battle 

Ma-Ma has a dead mans's switch, threatening to level the entire building if Dredd guns her down. Dredd enacts ironic justice by giving her a puff of her slo-mo narcotic and betting that her transmitter won't reach through 200 floor of concrete, and throws her out her own penthouse window.

Analysis It's ironic reversal at its most obvious. The mighty falls, the same torture of time she used on her victims now becomes her own tomb. And the battle is fought with the mind and the will, not with the gun. Dredd passes Anderson, even though she thinks she failed. He enters the grey area, he makes that tiny little change in his character, while she goes from scared rookie to established veteran.

Every plot point on the money, at exactly the right point in time. It's a textbook case for Brooks methodology, and it appears to have worked.

What do you think? Is it a matter of hitting the right points at the right time?