Dead Man Down (2013)

Neils Arden Oplev is the guy who directed the first Swedish film version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, a movie that I have always felt was a little bland for how good its story was. Now, he returns with an English-language thriller called Dead Man Down that is more confidently executed, but features a story that is as bland and uninteresting as they come. This movie stars Noomi Rapace, the best thing about the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, as a beautician whose face has been mutilated in a drunk driving accident. She catches an assassin played by Colin Farrell in the act of murdering someone and hires him to kill the man that caused her accident. She falls for him, but he is far too bent on his own revenge plans, against a mob boss that had his family killed many years prior.

One good thing about Dead Man Down is its photography. The movie is very unapologetically dark and gritty, taking place mostly in grimy apartment buildings and warehouses and zoning in on characters that might be considered depraved in a different picture, but here are all status quo for the back alleys they inhabit. Yes, I was often swept up in the visual quality of the film and it’s a magnificent setup for a great modern gangster story, which this isn’t. The movie is filmed and directed with such a bravado, it will probably sell itself to a certain audience and could easily be enjoyed by anyone who doesn’t think about it too intensely. The movie begins and ends with a shoot-out and virtually nothing happens in-between. The two lead characters are among the flattest ever filmed. Both Rapace and Farrell look bored or even embarrassed as they walk through the ridiculous scenarios that have been written for them with only the minimal required motivation. For the record, Rapace is called a hideous monster several times during the movie and is anything but, as proven by numerous close-ups of scars that barely exist. This is a clear example of a film having to shout to get its point across, when it really has nothing to say.

Dead Man Down is a frustrating piece of work. For once, I wasn’t bored by it because of mindlessness, like other movies of its ilk. I was bored by it because it’s just plain boring. I wanted to like it because I could sense the devotion by Oplev, and he clearly could make a great movie with better material. Unfortunately, any and all talent wrapped up in this film is wasted, though I wouldn’t say it’s a complete waste of time. This is a throwaway popcorn movie in a different way than usual, so if that’s the kind of entertainment you enjoy, go for it. Otherwise, you’d probably get a more satisfactory experience elsewhere.

5/10