MovieChat Forums > Dead Man Down (2013) Discussion > My thoughts? (It was decent, spoilers) L...

My thoughts? (It was decent, spoilers) LONG POST

posted 12 years ago by hatsAreForLosers
3 replies | jump to latest

I think this film relied more heavily on Noomi's revenge plot than Colin's (and suffered for it?). IMO, Colin had a very legitimate reason for wanting revenge, specifically to kill someone who took his family away from him.

Knowing the story and watching the movie again, Noomi's character came off as manipulative and vain (please hear me out, I'm not trying to offend).

She was cool right up until she tried to blackmail him into committing murder.

Her face wasn't really bad at all and from the crash pictures, she is lucky only her face was damaged (e.g. not her spine, BRAIN, etc). She had video of Colin killing a man in his apartment, but the story behind that is revealed throughout the movie: the guy he killed had figured out (just like Dominic Cooper does by the end) who Colin really was.

He was a good man who tried to stand up to crime resulting his wife and daughter dying. She (after reconstruction) only had some scars, but wanted that man dead. It wasn't until almost the end of the movie that she realizes she pulled a man who looks like Colin (who, even as a straight man, I can say is attractive). Her job was waiting on her- her boss even tried to set her up with a therapist (which I guess is what both of them needed).

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Sorry for the long post, but I said it was a decent movie and this is only 1 of the things that brought it down.

[–] hatsAreForLosers 12 years ago

Above, I posted some problems I had with Noomi's character. Here I'll talk about the rest of the movie.

This is what I expected from the previews: an action, blockbuster. This movie wasn't that, but that doesn't automatically make it a bad movie. I would classify it as a revenge thriller with a happy ending.

The happy ending was what killed the movie for me. About halfway through, I thought this movie would be a Holy Grail- a true tragedy, where if everybody doesn't die, they are left worse off than when they started (Requiem for a Dream is a great!! example of this).

As a morality tale, these two people were consumed by the need for revenge. It was all they could see, all their minds could focus on- you can't end a movie like that with him getting the girl and them both walking away scot-free!

The things I liked:

*It was a new approach on an old story- I found it refreshing
*Dominic Cooper's character (I knew I had seen him from somewhere! Devil's Double)
*Noomi, just yes, please, more.
*The fact that Noomi and Colin were good people until the law failed them

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I was thinking ~6-7/10

Sorry it was so long, let's discuss!

[–] 12 years ago

[deleted]

[–] hatsAreForLosers 12 years ago

I'm totally onboard with Terrance Howard being both the crime lord and the drunk driver. Colin could have been part of the crew when it happened and decided to take her in.

I think if they had changed how she confronted him for the first time to kill, the movie would have been better- even if they didn't change WHY she wanted him killed. The first date blackmail ambush kind of yanked me out of the film, but happened early enough that I was able to get over it by the end.

Thanks for the input!