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Ma-Ma has this thing attached to herself which will detonate the bombs if her heartbeat stops. Well she does die in the end and yet the bombs don't go off. Did I miss something here?

2 Answers 2

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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. (Source: Wikipedia)

So its clear that building doesn't blow up because of signal range.

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    Yeah, this is my conclusion too - seems a dangerous assumption for Dredd to make though, could easily have been the lack of a signal form her also causes the bombs to blow.
    – iandotkelly
    Nov 5, 2013 at 23:27
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    It was the best idea he could come up with in the limited time. He knew it was a gamble - that's why he waited for a moment to see if anything happened after she hit the ground.
    – Shiz Z.
    Nov 6, 2013 at 2:56
  • I don't recall if the movie specifcially said Ma-Ma never leaves the building, but if she does go out now and then, she presumably doesn't want her home blowing up while she's gone. Also, the fact that the signal didn't reach the detonator from the ground floor shows she might have to deal with losing signal periodically without even leaving the building. Perhaps this is why it was set to detonate specifically upon her heart stopping, rather than a more traditional dead man's switch that would go off if the signal was interrupted for any reason.
    – Steve-O
    Apr 5, 2021 at 15:46
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I think this is a major plot hole. Any decent Dead Man's Switch system would trigger the detonation when the receiver fails to receive a signal (unless of course the receiver is disarmed).

Failure to receive a signal can be caused by all sorts of things: Ma-Ma's heart stopping, the transmitter being removed from her arm, being destroyed, losing power, being jammed, or going out of range.

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