Simply A Masterpiece

Fantastic!

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Dead Man Down is an outstanding movie, with great performances of Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace. Although the movie is set against the background of gang violence and revenge, this is not what the movie is about. Dead Man Down is a combination of an interesting character study and an original story line, in which the lives of 2 emotionally wounded persons somehow get connected by different motives of revenge. Yes, there is also some intense violence in the movie, but at the same time it is a movie with a lot of depth. It is well paced and kept my attention all of the time. I give it a well deserved rating of 8!

Directed by Danish Director Niels Oplev, "Dead Man Down" was a pretty good crime tale although it stretches believability too much. There were some very good performances from leads Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace. I enjoyed their precarious romance and the suspense with whatwould happen with it. Though the romance is good as is their plot interweaving, the mob stories are less so. (spoilers) The mobsters in this outing are a little too bumbling, and the finale scenes are replete with Farrell's character taking on a dozen or so armed thugs successfully. That detracted a bit. However on the plus side the dialog though had some great moments including excellent beginning and ending lines, something that is fairly rare to find in movies. Music, was mostly excellent, and Terrence Howard lends his acting weight even though his character also seemed as stupid as needed. Although not to the level of "Heat" in the 90s, this movie is in that direction, and I recommend it. 7.5/10

This movie takes a long time to develop. And when it does, you'll realize you're watching the type of movie Jean-Claude Van Damme did just as well in "Nowhere to Run," and Viggo Mortensen did it even better in "History of Violence." Despite the shrouded story behind Farrell's character, at the end it breaks down to into an old school action movie where the bad guys will go after the only thing the hero cares about; the girl he's fallen for. It actually de-evolves at the end, which makes the movie a bit of a let down, and cinematically front loaded with Rapase and Farrell creating a good lead up before you realize what is going on. Another thing I felt was heavy handed was the over dramatization of the abuse Rapase's character had to suffer because she had some scars on her face. They should've kept her pain more psychological. There was no need to spell it out for us. She's a good actress. It's an entertaining film with good performances. It just feels like they dummied down the whole thing for the sake of convention.

At the beginning of the movie some bad guy appears dead in a freezer with a mysterious note and a fraction of a photo. The boss, Alphonse, has received several of these pieces. He concludes one of his Haitian partners is behind it. They visit him, he denies it, and a shootout ensues were Vic saves Alphonse's life. But the death of the Haitian wasn't sanctioned by the big bosses and they call Alphonse for a meeting. We learn more about their shady deals involving real estate. While they meet, Vic is on a roof across the street with a rifle aiming at Alphonse.We've learned in the meantime that in the past, Alphonse contracted some Albanians to have Vic and his family killed because of some real estate issue. They thought they did the job but were fooled into thinking the the guy they killed was Vic. So Vic infiltrated the gang and together with his father in law are going for revenge. He's also sending the Albanians the same photo puzzle and he's holding the brother of the main Albanian in a ship.Also, Vic has been approached by a girl across the building where he lives named Beatrice. She's got scars all over one side of her face, head, and neck. They go out on a date, but immediately Beatrice reveals her intentions. She saw and taped Vic kill the guy from the intro and will reveal this unless he kills the guy who crashed into her car and caused her scars. He sort of agrees.While all this is going on, Vic is taping all the bad guys' conversations, is planning his ultimate revenge that will involve blowing up a warehouse. But he didn't count on another of Alphonse's guys and a friend of his, to investigate the death of the guy in the freezer, nd investigation that leads him to the Hungarian section of the cemetery and to a specific family- Vic and his family but with their real name. Also Beatrice throws a wrench in his plans, gets herself in trouble and Vic will have think of a way out just as he and Beatrice are sort of developing feelings for each other.Dead Man Down doesn't lack a story, it doesn't lack big name talent and a good director, and yet it simply doesn't work. I was about to blame the director and editors for the mess, but according to IMDb the director lays the blame on budget issues and production. That makes sense. It's unlikely that Niels Arden Oplev would all on his own ruin this project like that. It's still a watchable movie and you do want to know how it all turns out, but it becomes quickly obvious that something went wrong and that there are conflicting visions about this project. Acting all around is pretty good. Farrell is alright as a traumatized Eastern European. The problem is that his character is the silent type who has nothing to say, and just stares at people expressionlessly. That doesn't make for a good lead character. So it's up to Noomi Rapace to pick up the slack, and can this girl act. However, her character's plans should have been revealed later instead of coming clean early on.As a whole this movie has an European sensibility to it that is somewhat out of place. Of course, had this movie turned out as the director envisioned it, perhaps it would have worked. The story is too convoluted, or told in a way that makes it seem more convoluted than it is. Perhaps we could have done without some of the characters. Dead Man Down is interesting and has some neat twists but it really is a lesson to producers not to mess around with a finished or near finished movie and to get the right financing in time. I don't know if there is a case of a movie that was improved after producers tinkered with it last minute. There is really no excuse for botching a movie like this with a strong story and strong talent.