Dead Man Down (2013) [Blu-ray]
Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline: Blood demands blood.

Victor (Colin Farrell), a professional killer and the right hand man to an underground crime lord in New York City (Terrence Howard), is seduced and blackmailed by Beatrice (Noomi Rapace), a crime victim seeking retribution. Their chemistry and intense relationship leads them to execute a violent and cathartic plan for revenge.

Storyline: Victor, a rising gangland player, has infiltrated the crime empire run by ruthless kingpin Alphonse, with the single purpose of making Alphonse pay for destroying his once happy life. As he meticulously orchestrates his vengeance from his high-rise home, Victor watches and is watched by Beatrice, a mysterious young woman who lives in the apartment across from his. On the surface a fragile woman-child, Beatrice seethes with a rage of her own. When she uncovers Victor's dark secrets, she threatens to expose him unless he helps her carry out her own campaign of retribution. Each fixated on avenging the past, they devise a violent and cathartic plan that could change their worlds forever. Written by FilmDistrict

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman on July 6, 2013 -- Life is what happens to you along the way.

Cinema has been so saturated with cookie-cutter pictures with cookie-cutter story lines -- many of them of shoddy-to-poor quality -- that it's sometimes difficult to distinguish one film from another. Many follow similar plot lines, like "man seeks revenge on the killer of his wife and child." Many attempt to cover a lack of novelty with darkly stylish overlays and wannabe cool but ultimately routine shootouts. Many others still rely on emotional cliché to try to persuade audiences to care about the characters. Many more overcomplicate or, worse, overdevelop a story to the point that it loses not its meaning but rather its feeling, the intimate connection with the audience, the sense of urgency, the want for justice, the need to see the character through the ordeal. Dead Man Down is victim of all of these. It's a terribly uninspired midline picture that's very dark and plays with little originality, sluggish pacing, marginal character development, and bookends with a couple of shootouts that may as well have been pulled from other movies. It's not awful, but it's not something that really speaks to its viewers, either. It's the very definition of "routine," a movie that won't scar the psyche but won't be stored in the memory banks, either.

Victor (Colin Farrell) lives everyday with the pain of losing his entire family. His wife and daughter were murdered for the betterment of a ruthless gangland lord named Alphonse (Terrence Howard). Victor has managed to wiggle his way into Alphonse's inner circle. He's even saved his life, once, and has gained the wrongdoer's trust. Alphonse has been receiving death threats, and one of his men, Darcy (Dominic Cooper), has taken it upon himself to investigate the source of the threats. As Victor works towards avenging his family, he meets his disfigured neighbor, Beatrice (Noomi Rapace), whose attraction to him isn't so innocent. She has video evidence of Victor killing a man, and for her silence she wants him to kill the man who disfigured her in a drunk-driving automobile accident. As their attraction rises above business and as Victor inches ever closer to the business of killing Alphonse, Darcy slowly pieces together the truth and, if he digs deeply enough, may prove a hindrance to Victor's coup de grâce.

It all sounds rather humdrum, and Dead Man Down sadly doesn't translate any better to the screen. There's certainly an unmistakably slick and moody overlay, but that's not nearly enough to balance the lethargy and routine plot elements that significantly hinder the movie, that never really allow it to find a vibe, let alone ride one for the duration. There's nothing, really, that most haven't seen before, and there's certainly nothing to elevate the movie beyond the dramatic baseline. Each scenario in Director Niels Arden Oplev's (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) film yields another, equally unimaginative one. There's at least a glimmer of something different in the Victor-Beatrice relationship, but the film fails to explore the deeper psychological underpinnings of the relationship very far beyond the superficial. There's not any real dramatic dynamic between her visible scars and his invisible ones, other than that the other may be the key to healing. Yet the film predictably builds towards a violent climax rather than boldly use the relationship to find another avenue towards a more dramatically satisfying conclusion.

That's doubly disappointing considering that the film's major saving grace is the fantastic chemistry between Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace. There's an understated attraction, both physical and more deeply emotional, that's obvious in every scene they share. There seems to be so much more to explore, so many more layers to uncover, but Dead Man Down leaves much of it buried under the surface. That's not necessarily a bad thing. That invisible current ignites every scene they share and shows potential for something more emotionally satisfying to finish the movie, but eventually it does have to pay dividends. Instead, Dead Man Down takes the predictable, easy, convenient, little-effort, "fan friendly" way out of the story. Dominic Cooper's performance also elevates the movie above the linearity of its plot and emptiness of its general themes. He shows hints of the "comic relief" sidekick but ultimately rounds into a rather well developed character who builds toward a touching, well-done scene with Farrell that nearly makes the movie worthwhile and does a better job of bringing closure to the main story than any level of gunfire possibly could. Yet for as good as Farrell, Rapace, and Cooper may be, Terrence Howard nearly negates their efforts. He's a fine actor but terribly miscast in Dead Man Down. Never does he really show that bad guy snarl, the deep, menacing, don't-screw-with-me darkness. He delivers lines with some flavor but never digs deep enough to find that frightening attitude that should go with the part.

So, yes, there's a pulse, but it's faint. Dead Man Down is at least a well-crafted and occasionally compelling picture, but never is it remotely riveting or anywhere in the ballpark of "new." It flounders through character cliché, generic emotions, visually snazzy but nevertheless routine shootouts, and drags through a tedious middle stretch. The performances, save for the miscast Terrence Howard, carry the movie better than any other element. This is another in a disturbingly growing library of absolutely forgettable films, films that are neither awful nor for any reason memorable. Sony's Blu-ray release of Dead Man Down features good video and great audio. A few extras are included. Rent it.

[CSW] -2.4- It doesn't flow as well as it needs to but Farrell and Rapace have really good chemistry together. They make up for a lot but somehow the film still falls flat. It's going for a film noir look and feel but it doesn't quite get there and some scenes just end abruptly like you've been told only half a joke. As if the joke teller didn't get to the punch line before moving on to another tale. Terence Howard is not near enigmatic enough for me as the main bad guy. Still in the hands of another director this might have been really great.
[V4.0-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box motion codes were available at the time of this rental although they are available now.


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