Review of Dead Man Down (2013) by Cistern — 27 Oct 2021

Some Oscar Performances Help this Thriller.

Victor (Colin Farrell) is a trusted member for Crime Boss, Alphonse (Terrance Howard), and has plans to kill him because Alphonse ordered the Albanians to kill him and his family. He survived the hit and is working under an assumed name. Victor meets Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) who has video evidence of him killing someone in his apartment. She won't go to the police if Victor kills the man who caused the accident she was in and disfigured her face and she feels she cannot function in ordinary living. What to do? What to do?

There are other subplots within but the above is all you really need to know. Seems the Colin Farrell movies get more complicated as we grow older. This one takes a while to introduce all the subplots but this is a good thing because the needed tension builds slowly and Alphonse needs the time to figure out the puzzle of who is killing off his men. This is extremely well paced.

We have more than a run-of-the –mill thriller because the acting performances of both Colin Farrell and Noomi Napace are Oscar worthy. They are perfect in their respective roles. Their ever-slow love inroads are quite captivating, innocent and actually quite real, and they don't quite trust each other. Yet. Kudos.

A mistake (here we go) was the casting of Terrance Howard as the bad guy, Alphonse. Terrance Howard – with that golden voice -- cannot play a bad guy to anyone's satisfaction (yours, I suppose). He is a good guy and nothing will turn him into something bad. Just won't happen. Hell, I liked him in here. He wasn't mean, tough or cruel as a crime boss would likely be. Leave Mr. Howard alone.

I was thoroughly impressed with Beatrice's mother, Valentine, played by Isabelle Huppert. With an engaging smile, she was given great lines as the perfect supportive /nurturing mother. She was a breath of fresh air, and it doesn't hurt that she is also very pretty. She is also Oscar worthy. (ah, I think I know you now).

One of the best exchanges in here is with Darcy (Dominic Cooper) - a fellow gang member - when he asks Victor: the reason you didn't kill me is because I have a wife and kids? Victor replies: no, because they have you.