Director: Niels Arden Oplev
Screenplay: J.H. Wyman
Starring: Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Terrence Howard, Dominic Cooper
Synopsis is here
"You were expecting art" I was told by my podcast cast
co-host after this shambolic viewing
of Dead Man Down. A statement not even worth a response in my view. If I'm
going into a film with a title such as this, with the knowledge that the film
is produced by World Wrestling Entertainment Films, I know I'm not getting
"art". When comments such as the aforementioned a thrown
around, it's often used as an excuse not to engage with any of a films flaws.
No, I was not expecting something that would inspire revolution. I was
expecting B movie thrills. Unfortunately I was awestruck by the dullness that
inhabited Dead Man Down, I found it hard to find any spark of enjoyment.
Dead Man Down is
one of those movies in which is rooted down with such silliness, you realise
that the film itself comes to a standstill if you were to try and rip out its
problems. Characters must continue with their stupidity in order for the film
to function. Characters act dumb while the audience are near yelling at
the obvious. To think that a crime boss, who rose up the ranks and is now
being elaborately threatened, can act so blind around those around him, cries
foul. But to suggest this; means the film no longer ceases to be.
I may be looking
at this the wrong way, but I don't think so. Right from the start we have the
drop on the characters ahead of time. We have no suspense or tension. There's
no anticipation because we're clear steps ahead of the game. We are
waiting for a cast who is fair to good for the material to finish the puzzle
you completed yesterday. And we are doing this at a snail’s pace.
Director Niels
Arden Oplev may be riding on his credentials gained from The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, but that film thrives on the energy of its outlandish plot and
the forcefulness of its female protagonist; Lisbeth Salander, played
by Rapace. Here Oplev's muse is diluted from complex construct to damaged
damsel with little to do other than look pretty and helpless. The scars placed
on Rapace's face by the makeup artists do little to deter her sex appeal, or
convince of any serious disfigurement, no matter what the neighbourhood
kids say.
Oplev had a fun
mystery to pull apart with Dragon Tattoo. Here he only has a pensive Colin
Farrell furrowing his brow so hard, you could plant potatoes in the lines. The
tale of revenge that takes place here is formulaic and boring, and save for the
film’s final set piece at its climax, there is little to take note of.
Films like this
need a certain amount of urgency. If not, bored viewers may tug at it its
frayed edges and tear it apart. I had more fun trying to guess which wrestlers
had bit parts as hired goons. I didn't expect "art" but the best B
movies are entrenched in their genre enough to be subversive,
outrageous or smart. Dead Man Down does none of these things. But the least it
could have been is exciting.
