Review of Dead Man Down (2013) by Dave J — 15 Dec 2014

Tuesday, October 21, 2014.

(2013) Dead Man Down.

THRILLER/ ACTION/ MYSTERY.

Oddity of a movie that is nothing new except that its approach is unique. It's basically another film about retribution except that viewers are completely oblivious about who's good and who's bad until the film is progressing much further. At the opening, has a dead body being discovered stuffed in a freezer. As we find out that it's one of Alphonse's (Terence Howard) men, and that two other of his men had been killed earlier making Alphonse to assume that it must have been one of the tenants connected to crime who's arguing about rent increases. After some gunfire ensures, the star, Victor(Colin Ferrell) ends up saving Alphonse's life, before attempting to try to assassinate him later. Very slowly we get to understand his reasoning why he's doing this. For the director by the name of Niels Arden Oplev of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" series, he's attempting to link the correlation between, Victor situation with Aphonse and his female neighbor, Beatrice(Naomi replace) who just lives on the other building next to his, as she's also seeking retribution as well for the drunk driver who left a scar on her face.

Although some of the action sequences are well staged, it would've been nice if the director gave viewers the understanding almost immediately instead of asking viewers to figure out the situation themselves since this is not the kind of movie that should have those type of fancy gun scenes- those gun scenes belong in a movie where the good guys and bad guys are evident immediately, otherwise the film isn't that bad.

2.5 out of 4 stars.