Dead Man Down Review
I’m down with this film.
I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. It has been a long, grueling trip through the first part of this year with most of the movies I have seen being only slightly preferable to spending a week in an oubliette. As my personal and professional life gets busier I don’t get to see all the movies I used to, which makes seeing three bad ones in a row that much more grinding. (Dead Man Walking image courtesy of the Star Trek T Shirt category)
So when I saw that the first English movie for Swedish director Niels Arden Oplev (Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish version), Worlds Apart, We Shall Overcome) was coming out I was intrigued in the same way a shipwreck victim in intrigued by a life vest. Yesterday was an ETC Warhammer practice day and afterwards I got two of my friends to check it out.
Well done, with a different kind of story. I love revenge stories. The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books, and I have a love of revenge movies that goes way back. V for Vendetta is awesome, and if you ever have the chance check out an old movie called Johnny Handsome. Mickey Roarke when he was still young. This movie reminded me a lot of Johnny Handsome, in that a guy works for years on his revenge plot. It is not flawless, and the main issue stems from the movie shifting gears in the last 20 minutes from an intricate crime drama into a Die Hard remake, but for the most part is pretty damned good.
I am going to go easy on the story recap as it has a lot of cool twists I don’t want to see you miss out on. Colin Farrell (Phone Booth, Total Recall, In Bruges) plays Victor, a mid level thug who works for Alphonse (Terrence Howard-Iron Man, Hustle and Flow, the Crash). Alphonse is the subject of a long term revenge plot by an unknown assailant for an unknown reason. Meanwhile Victor’s neighbor Beatrice (Noomi Rapace-the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Prometheus, Sherlock Holmes: a Game of Shadows) witnesses him killing a guy in his apartment and uses that information to blackmail him into killing the man who wrecked up her face (drunk driver).
Meanwhile another thug and friend to Victor (Dominic Cooper-Captain America, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, The Devil’s Double) is actually making progress on unraveling who the unknown assailant is. The plot unspools nicely with beautiful pacing and a clear character arc for both Victor and Beatrice. Unfortunately in my mind the very cool tragic ending the movie was gearing up for doesn’t quite manifest itself and the toward the end it takes a sharp left into Action Movie Junction.
The stars. I’m not really a Colin Farrell fan but really liked him here. Who knew he could do grim so well? He might have just won me over. One star. I also enjoyed Noomi Rapace a great deal. She plays the wounded dove very nicely. One star. I cool, complicated story that managed to reveal itself in a manner that didn’t drive me nuts or leave any loose threads. Two stars. The director didn’t feel the need to over explain everything and even left a few plot points hanging for your imagination to fill. It’s so nice when a director doesn’t operate on the assumption that we are all mouth breathing moronic losers. I see it as a sign of respect. One star. Pacing ran like a well oiled machine for the most part. Just the right amount of exposition interspersed with some decent action. One star. The action, while in some cases out of place, was well done and exciting without being ridiculous. One star. Generally a fun movie. Two stars. Total: nine stars.
The black holes. That shift of gears to action felt really out of place. One black hole. I’m not going to lay this on Terrence Howard as I think he did a good job with the role, but the character of Alphonse felt kind of fake to me. He was at times comically stupid while at other times acting like he had read the script. I think a better job could have been done writing him. One black hole. Again, not going to throw in any spoilers but the ending that the movie was building up to and really deserved never manifested itself, leaving us with something that didn’t really match. One black hole. Three black holes total.
So a grand total of six stars. Definitely worth seeing, especially since we have been faced with nothing but garbage like A Good Day to Die Hard. Nothing on the screen really needs a theater, but if you want to join me in supporting decent films try to go see it. Otherwise NetFlix would work fine. Date movie? I’m going to say yes, in that this is a perfect comprise film. There is a love story that she will appreciate and enough crime and action to keep you entertained. Bathroom break? Not a lot you are going to want to miss. I’d say the scene right after Beatrice gets hit in the head with something doesn’t do more than support the romance part of the movie and could be missed without too much consequence, but hurry back as things ramp up pretty quick after that.
Thanks for reading. Plenty more to see out there so hopefully I can find some stuff to work on. Follow me on Twitter @Nerdkungfu. Post comments on this film or my review at the bottom of this post. Off topic questions or suggestions can be sent to [email protected]. Talk to you soon.
Dave
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