Dead Man Down
After finding success with the original, Swedish adaptation of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, Danish-born director, Niels Arden Oplev, takes a stab at his first ever English-language feature with Dead Man Down.
This noir-crime thriller has its charms, but lacks the personality to bring the story to a sufficient boil and make it stand out from the crowd.
Dead Man Down centres on Victor (Farrell); a Hungarian immigrant who has infiltrated a New York criminal empire, seeking revenge against head honcho, Alphonse (Howard), for taking away all he held dear. Victor is a quiet man who prefers to stay under the radar and his crew – which also includes Victor's best bud Darcy (Cooper) – is tasked with keeping a firm hold on the city's drug trafficking and distribution. Soon, Alphonse's empire starts to unravel; he receives cryptic notes from someone who clearly wants to bring him harm and several members of his troop start mysteriously turning up dead.
Meanwhile, Victor strikes up a relationship with Beatrice (Rapace) – a young woman who watches him from the comfort of her apartment and eventually takes an interest in him. He quickly learns that Beatrice – who lives with her partially deaf mother Valentine (Huppert) – is a damaged soul and soon reveals ulterior motives for her interest in Victor.
In a twisty turn of events, the pair soon find themselves being driven by a common obsession, and while Victor needs to continue to ride low – as Darcy and the rest of the crew try to get to the bottom of Alphonse's death threats – Beatrice complicates matters by sending Victor on a bewildering road of blackmail.
Dead Man Down is extremely pleasing to the eye, with Oplev delivering crisp, artistic shots and sequences. The central characters – along with the actors playing them – boast an incredible amount of on-screen chemistry and the plot builds nicely, unfolded layers of secrets along the way.
However, the script – written by J.H Wyman – has its gaping faults and more often than not, the dialogue feels theatrical and sadly, regardless of the electrifying atmosphere created, it just doesn't hold up. In a change of pace, the film climaxes to a bang, ditching the broody and well-threaded story that develops throughout.
Farrell is intense and sincere, and his portrayal of Victor is the glue that holds the entire film together, though Rapace plays her part, once again proving that she is a dominating force. Demanding attention in almost every scene, Rapace crafts a highly complex character. As for the villain of the piece, Howard delivers with gusto, but despite the actor's best efforts, the character feels under-cooked and doesn't possess the complexity of great, modern antagonists.
Few can deny that Dead Man Down is a stylish and a complex revenge thriller. However, the in-your-face finale and debatable dialogue pull you out of the film and it becomes increasingly difficult to immerse yourself in Oplev's world.
This noir-crime thriller has its charms, but lacks the personality to bring the story to a sufficient boil and make it stand out from the crowd.
Dead Man Down centres on Victor (Farrell); a Hungarian immigrant who has infiltrated a New York criminal empire, seeking revenge against head honcho, Alphonse (Howard), for taking away all he held dear. Victor is a quiet man who prefers to stay under the radar and his crew – which also includes Victor's best bud Darcy (Cooper) – is tasked with keeping a firm hold on the city's drug trafficking and distribution. Soon, Alphonse's empire starts to unravel; he receives cryptic notes from someone who clearly wants to bring him harm and several members of his troop start mysteriously turning up dead.
Meanwhile, Victor strikes up a relationship with Beatrice (Rapace) – a young woman who watches him from the comfort of her apartment and eventually takes an interest in him. He quickly learns that Beatrice – who lives with her partially deaf mother Valentine (Huppert) – is a damaged soul and soon reveals ulterior motives for her interest in Victor.
In a twisty turn of events, the pair soon find themselves being driven by a common obsession, and while Victor needs to continue to ride low – as Darcy and the rest of the crew try to get to the bottom of Alphonse's death threats – Beatrice complicates matters by sending Victor on a bewildering road of blackmail.
Dead Man Down is extremely pleasing to the eye, with Oplev delivering crisp, artistic shots and sequences. The central characters – along with the actors playing them – boast an incredible amount of on-screen chemistry and the plot builds nicely, unfolded layers of secrets along the way.
However, the script – written by J.H Wyman – has its gaping faults and more often than not, the dialogue feels theatrical and sadly, regardless of the electrifying atmosphere created, it just doesn't hold up. In a change of pace, the film climaxes to a bang, ditching the broody and well-threaded story that develops throughout.
Farrell is intense and sincere, and his portrayal of Victor is the glue that holds the entire film together, though Rapace plays her part, once again proving that she is a dominating force. Demanding attention in almost every scene, Rapace crafts a highly complex character. As for the villain of the piece, Howard delivers with gusto, but despite the actor's best efforts, the character feels under-cooked and doesn't possess the complexity of great, modern antagonists.
Few can deny that Dead Man Down is a stylish and a complex revenge thriller. However, the in-your-face finale and debatable dialogue pull you out of the film and it becomes increasingly difficult to immerse yourself in Oplev's world.
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