DEAD MAN DOWN is another generic crime thriller starring Colin Farrell, who has lost a lot of the early respect I had for him back when he was making an effort in the likes of MINORITY REPORT and TIGERLAND. Nowadays he stars in stuff like this and the TOTAL RECALL remake, both fluff pieces with nothing new to say.
DEAD MAN DOWN starts on a high note with a profane shoot-out full of violent spectacle. After this it soon slows down to a crawl by introducing a quasi-romantic relationship between a taciturn Farrell and a struggling Noomi Rapace, sporting one of those Hollywood facial scars which is supposed to make her disfigured but rather looks like someone drew a line on her face with red Biro.
The two characters are set on a path of revenge against stock bad guy Terrence Howard but boy, do they take a long time to get there. Although book-ended by quite effective moments, the long slow mid-section of DEAD MAN DOWN is what lets this film down quite considerably. The script just isn't up to much and the characters feel clunky and dull as a result; the viewer can never get involved in their story. It's a pity, as this is another case of Hollywood's wasted potential.
DEAD MAN DOWN starts on a high note with a profane shoot-out full of violent spectacle. After this it soon slows down to a crawl by introducing a quasi-romantic relationship between a taciturn Farrell and a struggling Noomi Rapace, sporting one of those Hollywood facial scars which is supposed to make her disfigured but rather looks like someone drew a line on her face with red Biro.
The two characters are set on a path of revenge against stock bad guy Terrence Howard but boy, do they take a long time to get there. Although book-ended by quite effective moments, the long slow mid-section of DEAD MAN DOWN is what lets this film down quite considerably. The script just isn't up to much and the characters feel clunky and dull as a result; the viewer can never get involved in their story. It's a pity, as this is another case of Hollywood's wasted potential.