Dead Man Down (DVD Screening)

(Spoilers)

Revenge thriller combined with my new found appreciation for Colin Farrell could only mean that I was going to enjoy Dead Man Down.  Despite this when it was released in 2013 I was uninspired by the trailers so I never made to effort to see it however after hearing good things about it I decided to give it a go.  Farrell had impressed me in S.W.A.T and Seven Psychopaths since seeing those trailers so I was hopeful.

Yeah, Dead Man Down was great. I can be quite easily impressed with action/thrillers – it only needs to feature a few essential elements for me and I am happy.  Although the strange thing is that Dead Man Down didn’t really follow this pattern.  It wasn’t loaded with action, something that I would usually be pining for.  When the action came it was great, my favourite scene being a sequence in the middle of the movie.  Dead Man Down also featured a love story – usually a pet hate of mine although here this storyline was good as it had a deeper meaning for being included in the movie and it was actually interesting to see this unfold.  As I said although this wouldn’t be my usual recipe for a good action movie it really did work.  What pieced it all together so well was the music, Dead Man Down had a really fantastic score.  It helped to create the right atmosphere for scenes and kept my attention in scenes that there was potential for it to flag.

Terrance Howard featured as the main villain in this film, now as much as I love Terrance Howard I don’t think his performance here was his best.  He wasn’t really that convincing as the head of well developed crime organisation, he just wasn’t mean enough however this could have been an issue with the script.  I’m sure the fact that the last film I saw him in was Prisoners also plays a role in my thoughts here.  Prisoners sees Howard play a bumbling Father figure who doesn’t know what to do, he plays this character so well and I think that he excels in this kind of role rather than the villainous one seen in Dead Man Down. The combination of characters and storylines work very well in this movie and that is what keeps things moving and why constant action isn’t needed – although at one stage Farrell’s character does go all Terminator and drives a truck through a house, this was fantastic.

BIGGEST FLAW – Not sure Howard was right for this movie

BIGGEST ACHIEVEMENT – The score

Rating – 9/10