Dead Man Down is a let-down

Colin Farrell stars as Victor, a Hungarian gangster disguised as an American gangster, in director of the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, Niels Arden Oplev’s revenge flick, Dead Man Down.

The body of a gang member is discovered in crime boss Alphonse’s freezer.

Attached to it is a cryptic message that may very well be a threat – but from who?

The gang take it upon themselves to find out who is out to get Alphonse (played by Terrence Howard, Iron Man).

To complicate matters, Beatrice, a young, attractive, French woman, (Noomi Rapace, Sherlock Holmes), knows that her neighbour Victor is a killer -and tries to use his ‘services’ to seek revenge on an obnoxious man who left her physically and psychologically scarred from a car accident. However, Victor has a little business of his own to take care of…oh, and he might be falling in love too.

As you can probably tell from that timeworn synopsis, Dead Man Down is an unimaginative thriller, jam-packed with clichés, tough guys talking tough and lots of explosive action.

The audience really doesn’t have a lot of thinking to do – when you predict something will happen it happens. So for a suspense movie, Dead Man Down really does lack an awful lot of suspense. Sure, you might jump a few times, but that’s probably from the sheer noise.

If you’re into flashy cars, bloody gun fights or even in the mood for a little romance-meets-crime, then by all means sit down, switch off and watch the pretty explosions.

But don’t expect many thrills from this thriller.

Dead Man Down is in cinemas May 3.