Review of Dead Man Down (2013) by Austin H — 06 Jul 2013

Dead Man Down // FilmDistrict // Action/Thriller.

Danish director Niels Arden Oplev makes his English language debut with Dead Man Down a revenge thriller that waffles between brooding noir and over the top action. Colin Farrell plays Victor, a mysterious gangster scheming for revenge against Alphonse Hoyt (Terrance Howard) whose organization he has infiltrated. He is stalking Alphonse in an elaborate plot to seek vengeance against everyone involved with he death of his family, but his plans are soon thrown awry. Not only is his buddy and fellow Alphonse crew member Darcy is slowly unraveling the identity of Alphonse's stalker but the girl across the street Beatrice (Noomi Rapace) has blackmailed Victor into committing murder for revenge for the horrible accident that has scarred her face. Victor and Beatrice grow close against Victor's desires while they work together and soon Beatrice is the only one Victor can trust as the time for his revenge draws near.

Down tries to mix genres, bringing a dark brooding European slow burn thriller into the same world as a traditional hollywood revenge action film with some levels of success. The strength is in the cast -- while Farrell smolders in the corner without much to do, Rapace, Howard, and Dominic Cooper all turn in strong performances. The film is well shot, capturing the mood of the moment and leaving the audience with some memorable images. For awhile you think it's better than it is, but as the film goes on the dark morality tale whittles away to something more plain.

The problem is with the script -- loosely speaking everything makes sense but it's simply too over the top to take itself as seriously as it does. The various twists and turns are just a bit hard to buy for such a dark and serious film, as there is a massive tonal shift from edgy crime film near the beginning to generic action bloodbath in the finale. It's still entertaining enough to give a shot if you like this sort of thing, but probably more of a cable of Netflix effort than anything else.

*** out of five.