'Dead Man Down' is yet another story about a brooding hero who infiltrates a criminal gang in order to avenge a tragic wrong. This tired thriller observes the aggrieved Victor journeying through the standard road-map of a revenge odyssey - and since he's a former special forces marksman, engineer and electronics geek, he's ideally prepared for his holy war against the hoodlums. The mission becomes more complicated when his scarred neighbor Beatrice blackmails him to kill the drunken driver who destroyed her looks in an accident - but nobody will be much surprised when Victor and Beatrice begin exchanging come-hither glances as they tramp towards the climactic shoot-out mandated for gangster burlesque.
Despite the regulation action sequences at the beginning, middle and end, none of the film's juvenile stunts, screeching tires or sadistic violence lend it any vitality. Colin Farrell pastes a blank stare upon Victor's face to disguise his mortification at being associated with such nonsense, while Noomi Rapace adopts the camouflage of melodrama. Isabelle Huppert as Beatrice's mother treats the shabby material with the contempt it deserves, while 'Dragon Tattoo' director Oplev must have wished he'd been working from a screenplay that was even halfway original.
Despite the regulation action sequences at the beginning, middle and end, none of the film's juvenile stunts, screeching tires or sadistic violence lend it any vitality. Colin Farrell pastes a blank stare upon Victor's face to disguise his mortification at being associated with such nonsense, while Noomi Rapace adopts the camouflage of melodrama. Isabelle Huppert as Beatrice's mother treats the shabby material with the contempt it deserves, while 'Dragon Tattoo' director Oplev must have wished he'd been working from a screenplay that was even halfway original.