Dead Man Down

An attempt at a modern film noir, Niels Arden Oplev's Dead Man Down is essentially a violent revenge fantasy presented in a slow and somber tone. Colin Farrell stars as Victor, a trusted member of a gang headed by a mobster named Alphonse (Terrence Howard). But in reality, Vic is a man whose family Alphonse had murdered a couple of years earlier, and now he is taunting his boss with death threats that he fully intends to carry out. Vic's plans are sidetracked, however, when his neighbor, Beatrice (Noomi Rapace), blackmails him into killing the drunk driver who disfigured her. Naturally the pair fall in love, and ultimately Alphonse will hold her prisoner in an attempt to force Vic to confront him one-on-one. Dead Man Down clearly wants to say something serious about corruption, greed, bigotry, grief, and the possibility of redemption through love. But in the end, this is really little more than an ugly crime melodrama with pretensions. Despite impressive production values that capture the emotional bleakness at the center of the story and cinematography that convincingly conveys an atmosphere of gloom, the film is let down by the script's plot holes, as well as Oplev's overly deliberate pacing. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “Staging the Action: The Firefights” production featurette (6 min.), and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are the behind-the-scenes featurettes “Revenge and Redemption” (12 min.) and “Revenge Technique” on the cinematography (7 min.), and bonus DVD and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a decent extras package for a disappointing film.] (F. Swietek)