Slick
crime boss Alphonse (Terrence Howard) isn’t having the best of days. Someone is playing mind games with him,
sending him cryptic threats, and now his most trusted men are turning up
dead. During a violent shoot-out
with the Jamaican gang he believes is responsible, his life is saved by
enforcer Victor (Colin Farrell).
But
Victor is not who he seems; he’s actually a Hungarian immigrant named Lazlo and
saving Alphonse’s life is all part of his plan to gain his trust. Two years earlier, Alphonse and his men
were responsible for the murder of Victor’s wife and daughter and he’s spent
the time since slowly infiltrating Alphonse’s gang and plotting his elaborate
revenge.
As
Victor’s best bud Darcy (Dominic Cooper) investigates the source of the threats,
Victor is increasingly drawn to his quiet, damaged, scar-faced neighbour,
Beatrice (Noomi Rapace). Beatrice is
haunted by her own demons however and wants Victor’s help, blackmailing him
into murdering the drunk driver who almost killed her and ended her career as a
beautician. With Darcy getting
closer to uncovering his true identity and his complex relationship with
Beatrice deepening, Victor is forced to put the final part of his plan in
motion…
Disjointed
and more fun than it should be, Dead Man Down feels like the not wholly satisfying
illegitimate offspring of Rear Window and The Revenger’s Tragedy as Farrell’s Victor strangles
and snipes his fellow hitmen while kidnapping a gangster’s brother and feeding
him alive to some starving rats in order to set two rival gangs against each
other. As a robust
gangster/revenge flick, Dead Man Down just about works thanks to Farrell’s
committed, soulful turn (even if his Hungarian accent is more Ballykissangel
than Budapest) and the action scenes, particular the confused opening drug den
shoot-out and the climactic gun battle, are exciting and thrillingly visceral
even if the action man heroics are somewhat at odds with the downbeat, noirish
moodiness the film’s worked hard to cultivate.
Less
successful however is the Rear Window plot strand featuring Noomi Rapace’s
scarred beauty therapist and voyeur.
Sure, Colin might be drawn to tragedy but you can’t help but think he
could definitely do better than Noomi so their romance never really rings true
and there’s little chemistry between them. Truth be told, there’s far more sexual chemistry between
Colin and Dominic Cooper’s BFF Darcy (What kinda gangster calls himself Darcy?) than between Farrell and
Rapace and it’s mildly disappointing when Victor and Darcy don’t fall into each
other’s arms after the final fadeout.
With
workmanlike, unflashy direction by Danish director Niels Arden Oplev (who
previously gave us Noomi Rapace as Lesbian Goth Avenger Lisbeth Salander in The
Girl With The iPad) and good performances from all concerned, Dead Man Down is a
decent, if uneven, slice of hardboiled romantic fun.
David Watson
Directed by:
Written by:
Produced by:
Starring:
Colin Farrell,
Noomi Rapace,
Terrence Howard, Dominic Cooper,
Isabelle Huppert and Luis Da Silva Jr.
Genres:
Action, Crime,
Drama, Thriller
Language:
English
Runtime:
1 hour 58 minutes
Ceryificate:
15
Rating:
3/5
Originally published at http://www.filmjuice.com/dead-man-down/
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