Colin Farrell and Noomi Rapace in new thriller
The concept of a movie revolving around revenge and redemption has been dragged, dusted, re- used and over-killed in Hollywood.
There is also no dearth of action thrillers these days, with filmmakers churning them out faster than audiences can consume them. In essence they are the same, offering the usual: revenge, fate, a tortured past, a murder mystery, gang crime.
The only thing separating the good ones from the bad is the creativity in the treatment of these concepts.
But a neo-noir action thriller from acclaimed Danish filmmaker Niels Arden Oplev—director of the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo—coming to cinemas soon looks set to break that mould and to provide Oplev with a perfect American film debut.
‘Tantalizing revenge saga of redemption’ would be the ideal description for it.
Dead Man Down stars Colin Farrell (Total Recall, Seven Psychopaths) and Noomi Rapace (Prometheus, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). It co-stars Dominic Cooper (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Captain America: The First Avenger), Academy Award-nominee Terrence Howard (Hustle and Flow, Iron Man) and Isabelle Huppert (Amour, 8 Women).
This film promises to be dark, mysterious and rather sinister, adding to the expectant hype that Oplev has created another The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo-like masterpiece.
The plot is set in the “violent and unforgiving criminal underworld of New York City”, and the synopsis describes the film as “a startling and vivid tale of two strangers bound together by a consuming mutual obsession: revenge”.
Victor (Farrell) plays a rising gangster who has infiltrated the crime empire run by ruthless kingpin Alphonse (Howard), with the single purpose of making Alphonse pay for destroying his once happy life.
Victor carries out his deeds of vengeance from his high-rise home but his actions are observed by Beatrice (Rapace), “a mysterious young woman who seethes with a rage of her own”.
What follows sets the tone for this revenge-redemption tale.
What promises to set this thriller apart from the rest is a strong script by JH Wyman that Oplev says has “an enormous number of twists and turns and just when you think you know something, something else happens that changes everything”.
“The story of Victor and Beatrice is very much about getting another shot at life … they meet in the heart of darkness. All the crazy things that happen from there bring them to a point where they are granted a second chance,” Oplev says.
For Farrell the film’s location adds to the complexity of the theme: “Dead Man Down is set in the criminal underworld of New York, a dicey place to be. But the relationship between Victor and Beatrice is the lynchpin that sets this apart from other films. When they become involved in each other’s lives, it becomes an unexpected chance for redemption.”
Beatrice has her own dark past and she needs help to take revenge on the people that scarred her. Speaking about her character, Rapace says: “She’s trying to find a way back, but her loneliness grows every day [and then] Victor becomes the ticket out of her darkness. She has this whole plan. The first step is to charm him, then to get him to work with her on her road to revenge.”
Based on Oplev’s style, this film is expected to be a highly charged, edgy and suspenseful super-violent action thriller.
Dead Man Down is due for release in Australian cinemas on May 23.
