Dead man down

The basic plot, as described, doesn't do justice to the film itself, which is almost a classically constructed noir film of vengeance, and very tense one at that. First, the two leads. Colin Farrell has been derided as just a pretty mug, but he's done some fine acting (much of it in bad films, like the remake of "Fright Night"), and here is convincing and compelling as a man driven by revenge. He unexpectedly meets his counterpart in a woman, who also wants revenge for wrongs done to her.

Which brings me to Naomi Rapace. I've only seen her in the pretty average "Sherlock Holmes," which gave no one a chance to shine. In this film she played a very damaged woman, which is often one of the easiest things to portray, yet she did a very powerful job of showing the character's change from harpy bent on destruction back to a woman able to empathize with the suffering of others.

Overall, a surprising and worthy film, with an ending one doesn't see coming. Well worth your time.

Beautiful photography (amazing background blur, lighting & bokeh) and fantastic production design.

The only things letting down this film are the pace (slow at times), and the lack of character development.

Very good performances from Raapace and Farrell, good chemistry and I thought Raapace was very beautiful as Beatrice. The way the kids treated her was very disturbing and I felt an accurate indictment of modern society and its emphasis on the superficial. The main themes of 'Family' & 'Love' were very well portrayed. Overall I would give this film 7.5/10, a gritty, violent depiction of Urban Decay and the injustice of the supposedly equal legal system.

A criminal makes a major mistake, really major. This movie details the danger inherent in not double-checking your work.

Slow but not bad and culminates in a great action ending that's worth sticking around for and the film does not telegraph the ending. It was nice watching a movie when I haven't figured out the ending.

Performances were good, some almost great. Terence does a great job as the villain. Noomi Rapace is an unknown to me but she is a credible actress. Farrell and Rapace have good on screen chemistry.

All in all a more interesting film than I expected but it's better as a rental than theatrical release.

The title make sense if you stick around for the conclusion.

It is really hard for me to rate this film because it is a mix of great and horrid bits. Colin Farrell's quiet yet intense act is matched by Naomi Rapace's hysterical overacting, the rather complex plot is messed up by cliché scenes and in the end, the moral seems to be that all plans that you care about are a lot easier to accomplish if there are no friends and romantic interests.

The thing with the film is that it has a lot going for it: great cast, good acting most of the time, a compelling story with just the right amount of details to make the plot a lot better than most Hollywood productions. Somewhere along the way it turns sour, the feeling someone gets when expecting to have fun at a party, only to have it all soiled by the significant's other discomfort. In the end the revenge feels failed, the romance doomed, the second chance just that: chance.

Dead Man Down is actually not a good thriller, but it is a great thriller. Some things may not be entirely believable, but then again we are often told to suspend our disbelief in these kind of movies, which I did. This thriller is a slow-burn thriller that focuses less on the action, but more on the characters and the retribution.

Oplev's film has a distinctive European feel to it and that is how I like my thrillers. But this film is about a man named Victor who is the right-hand man of a crime lord named Alphonse and has a very mysterious past. But he is seduced by a car crash victim named Beatrice, who is a mysterious woman herself. But together, they plot to bring Alphonse to justice.

For a film such as this, it has a pretty talented cast. Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace share such intimate chemistry with each other. It's a shame Farrell is not a high box-office draw these days because he got so much talent. Terrence Howard does a very good job, and it's nice to see him shine in a villainous role for once. There is a nice cameo by F. Murray Abraham as well and I like it because we definitely don't see much of him anymore.

Overall, Dead Man Down is much better than what people are making it out to be. It's a slow-burn thriller, not an action shoot-em-up as apparently people were expecting. There are going to be logic issues, but I'm very good at suspending my disbelief, because I'm watching a fictional movie. But this is a well-acted thriller and one of the better films of 2013. I rate this film 9/10.