MOVIE REVIEW: Dead Man Down

March 8th, 2013

Justin Proper

Movie: Dead Man Down
Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Writer: J.H. Wyman
Studio: Original Film, Frequency Films, IM Global, WWE Studios

What would you do if a criminal killed your family? What if a drunk driver hit you and caused enough damage that you needed facial reconstructive surgery and was left disfigured for the rest of your life? Would you seek revenge? The main characters in Dead Man Down did and it made for a pretty mediocre movie.

Dead Man Down is loaded with a great cast of skilled actors. Colin Farrell stars opposite of Noomi Rapace, both quiet, deliberate and out for revenge. Farrell shows little emotion throughout but he never seemed boring…just really subdued. You would think a man who’s family was murdered would get upset at some point, but he is stone-faced and intense for two hours. Rapace plays the disfigured woman from across the balcony and she does a good job, but not quite as good as you would expect from her performance in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy. Terrance Howard rounds out the cast as a slum lord who is that target of Farrell’s vengeance and it was nice to see him as the antagonist. Visually the film was very pleasing, directed skillfully with enough grit and frenzy during the action sequences but still delicate when necessary.

The main problem with Dead Man Down is that you never really feel like the main characters are in any sort of danger until the finale. A good thriller should have you feeling thrilled…duh…and this film did not do that. It was just watching a couple revenge plots slowly unfold with some cool action sequences mixed in. Dead Man Down was essentially a watered down european crime thriller with the mystery replaced by american style shootouts which made it fall flat. Overall I would say wait for rental prices or VOD, Dead Man Down is probably not worth the ticket price in theaters.