Review of Dead Man Down (2013) by Orlando O — 09 Jul 2013

Dead Man Down did have a gritty atmosphere for a revenge story; though, it does fail to capture any attention with a broad pacing which took forever for the story to take off, and a dull love story added to the mix.

Victor (Colin Farrell) is a crime boss right-hand man and one of their best. Their crew are being stalked by an unknown person; while, Victor gets blackmailed by a woman Beatrice(Noomi Rapace) who lives across the street. Victor soon falls for her, and Beatrice learns his purpose and plans that he has against his enemies that took away his family.

The story was of course predictable for a revenge crime movie with a little twist of a side love story that comes into the mix in the end. Is it worth viewing? Maybe, or maybe not if you already know how it is going to be played out. Sure, you may see that Victor and Beatrice would fall for each other; while Victor is trying to bring down the criminals that took away the people he loved. Beatrice is also put at risk, and than Victor decides to go on full combat mode to get them all, and save her.

The story would be more entertaining if it was properly paced, as the development between Victor and Beatrice goes on. It is needed, but it also slows it down for being a revenge story. Maybe the mixture between the violent moments and the romance side of the story could have been better handled. Another downfall, Noomi Rapace plays Beatrice who has some face scars that does affect her emotionally. While she walks out of her place, some kids throw rocks at her, and call her a monster. I am not sure if it was just me, but I think the kids could be idiotic since her scars were barely noticeable or even bad. Beatrice was still wonderful for a few scratches like scars.

Colin Farrell was decent with his role being a loner, and a guy with nothing to lose. Noomi Rapace, Dominic Cooper, and Terrance Howard were okay with their roles. Howard plays Alphonse the leader of their criminal organization, and Cooper a new recruit of that organization.

Overall, Dead Man Down was a not so good crime thriller film that had a good cast, but it had nothing new to deliver with a predictable story in a boring movie.