Review of Dead Man Down (2013) by Nilufer R — 10 Jul 2013

It's long, the plot isn't very original, and it has a large plot twist is a bit hard to believe, but still Dead Man Down is a very decent, well shot, firmly acted, and throughly engrossing revenge thriller thanks to its like-able characters, increasingly enveloping and intense story, and solid performances. This is one of the more pleasant surprises of the year, even if the story isn't new and has some holes. Rent it if you are looking for a old-fashioned revenge flick and I'm sure you will have a fine time.

The story: From director Niels Arden Oplev (the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), we are given the story of two strangers; one is Victor (Colin Farrell), a hired gun who works for a mob boss named Alphonse (Terrence Howard). The other is a fractured woman named Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) who lives with her mom in an apartment across from Victor. Without saying much, which is hard to do, they both have secrets rooted in revenge, and when they finally meet up, they find a connection and unlock doors of each others pasts. As the twisty story unfolds, things become more complicated as they depend on one another, paths are crossed, and their lives are put at risk.

The good: Dead Man Down finds a way to make its winding story more watchable thanks to its characters and their performances. Both of the films main characters have dark attributes and pasts, but you still can sympathize with them, and they nicely grow and reveal some layers as the film progresses. I became very invested in them, liked a few others, and this, plus the actors fine performances, helped the film progress, especially through its relatively slow pace. As I said the performances aren't incredible, but the leads seem committed, and have a cool, brooding chemistry together. The story is fairly typical for a revenge film, just with a few more Hitchcock-ian twists, and has a great build up and payoff from the climax to it's ending. The cinematography is also fairly strong and helps add a fittingly moody look to the film. I'm also glad the filmmakers spent the amount of time developing the characters that they did, and included some nice quiet interactions between them as well.

The bad: You've seen the general concept before, there are some holes in the story, and it also contains one large twist that you might find hard to buy. It also is very slowly paced, but if you care about the characters, you can mostly get over it. There also is one action sequence in the beginning that is sloppily edited and confusing, but its not a huge flaw. Like I said, its not going to change your life, and is fairly middle of the road territory, but still has some merits.

My take: Dead Man Down isn't anything amazing, but it still is a perfectly decent thriller that you can get invested in, and is a solid rental if theres nothing else to watch.