Dead Man Down

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

Victor (Colin Farrell) is a Hungarian immigrant, who arrived in the US hoping to raise a family and hold down an honest job. But these simple dreams were shattered when crime lord Alphonse (Terrence Howard) and his goons took over the apartment block he was living in, and his family were killed. He has now infiltrated Alphonse's gang, and is systematically annihilating every one of them until he reaches the main man himself. But Victor crosses paths with Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) a beautiful woman whose life has been ruined after she was left with a hideous facial scar by a drunk driver, who tries to blackmail him in to helping her get her own revenge.

It may have reached the stage now where audiences are basically forced in to being a little less demanding and must accept if a plot isn't entirely original or has been done before, as long as it's maybe told in a different sort of way or explored from different angles. Which seems to be the case in hand with this offering from the director of the original The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. As multi-layered as a BLT sandwich, Dead Man Down compounds the action with a cacophony of sub- plots and plot angles that means it never plays out like a traditional revenge thriller, even if the basic plot line is exactly the same.

Shot in a drained background colour, it keeps the feel of a bleak, dreary style that feels like the norm these days. Playing a foreign character whose English isn't so good, Farrell also has to carry the film without much dialogue, but has developed a natural presence by now that gives him enough gravitas to do so. The story and the performances keep you hooked, even if at times they all feel a bit over-whelming and you struggle to take it all in.

While not quite the sum of it's parts that it could have been, Dead Man Down is still a very impressive film, in both a technical and practical sense, that is one of the finer points of Farrell's recent resume. ***

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.

Greetings again from the darkness. On the surface, this looks like just another early season crime thriller. From that perspective, it works well enough. However, there are some elements that add complexity and interest, and set this one above the usual. It's directed by Niels Arden Oplev who was responsible for the original (and very cool) Swedish version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. This looks to be his first English language feature and he re-teams with the exciting and talented Noomi Rapace.

The film begins with a body in the freezer, and crime boss Alphonse (Terrence Howard) and his crew solving the mystery of who killed his friend and associate. Someone has been tormenting Alphonse with little clues and he falls right into the trap of jumping to conclusions. One member of his crew is Victor (Colin Farrell). We slowly learn more about Victor thanks to an awkward and slow connection between he and his neighbor Beatrice (Ms. Rapace). Their initial acknowledgment of each other is an exchange of waves between balconies. It's an effective visual.

The movie bounces between crime thriller and romantic/love story. The added fun of secret missions from both Victor and Beatrice provide the twist this one needs. Actually there are 4-5 exceptional scenes in the movie which make up for the often plodding pace ... not typically a good thing for a thriller. The pieces are greater than the whole, but that doesn't mean it's not an interesting watch.

In addition to Farrell, Rapace and Howard, we get some really enjoyable support work from Dominic Cooper, Isabelle Huppert and F Murray Abraham. Ms. Huppert in particular adds a touch of class and humor, and her character could have easily been expanded ... same for Mr. Abraham. Cooper plays an idealistic, but not so observant buddy to Victor and loyal crew member of Howard.

This one reminds at times of a couple of Mel Gibson revenge flicks: Payback and Edge of Darkness. What really helps here is the strength of the cast and unusual scars of Victor and Beatrice. A slightly tighter script and improved pacing would have jumped this one a level or two.

Victor (Colin Farrell) is gangster thug working for Alphonse (Terrence Howard). Somebody is trying play with Alphonse's head by sending him cryptic messages. Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) is Victor's neighbor. She has been scarred in the face by a drunk driver. When she filmed him killing somebody, she uses it to blackmail him to kill the man who caused her pain. Only she's not the only one with a secret pain.

The acting power in this film is quite impressive. This is directed by Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). He certainly has the skills to make a movie. At the start, it looked like just another crime action thriller. Then it added a darker brooding character study. It feels uneven. There are a couple things I find questionable, and the ending feels stuck on from another big action Michael Bay movie. Overall it's still a good effort. If only Niels could stick to one genre or the other, this odd mix would flow more easily.

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.