Dead Man Down (2013)

By CinemaSerf

This is actually quite a good thriller. Colin Farrell works well as "Victor", a roguish character who has ingratiated himself into the heart of a criminal empire with a view to avenging himself on the boss, Terrence Howard, for ordering an attack that caused fatal consequences for his long term, though ignorant of this, sidekick Dominic Cooper. Unbeknown to him, he is being observed by a woman who lives opposite - Naomi Rapace - who cottons on to his grand design and demands that he help her carry out her own particular retribution or face exposure. The script isn't at all bad, and the direction keeps the plot twists coming thick and fast, but not so thick as DC's rather daft accent - and indeed, his whole really wooden performance. The action scenes are way too long and as usual in these latter day shoot 'em ups; one person is always more than a match for 25 well armed, dug in, henchmen - and as such the ending is really rather predictably weak.