Dead Man Down

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.