Deadfall (2012)

Good concept, poorly executed.

good back-story, and good acting

Best movie ever!

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

I love how so many directors have the gun "weilders" rack a round in the chamber just before a really intense part of a scene. It just makes the entire movie look just like that.......a movie. In real life a round is already in the chamber or the bad guy or the cop would be carrying a bag of licorice or Jolly Ranchers instead. When will directors realize that "attention to detail also counts for those who understand what's real and what isn't". It makes your movie "just stupid". I saw that at least three times in this movie and a heck of a lot more in others.

Enjoyed/entertained. Perhaps setting is Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Sissy Spacek is immediately familiar, but I couldn't place/recognize the gifted 1960s composer-musician Kris Kristofferson until reading over the cast. I watched film twice as I was multi-tasking the first time. Film did not bore. I like the action, including the violence, the local folks-extras are realistic, and the plot is not predictable. It is an exciting ending. The sheriff made his pretty daughter a deputy, yet a truer male chauvinist than should be allowed. The villain/bad guy is a killer. He does have a clever if not somewhat charismatic personality, but really portrays a slime-ball.

Deadfall is directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky and written by Zach Dean. It stars Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, Charlie Hunnam, Kate Mara, Treat Williams, Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek. Music is by Marco Beltrami and cinematography by Shane Hurlbut.Siblings Addison (Bana) and Liza (Wilde) are fleeing a casino heist that's gone badly wrong. Deciding to split up, they arrange to meet up at a later point and go their separate ways. Liza hooks up with ex- convict Jay (Hunnam) while Addison has a date with an abusive father. All while the police, led by a father and daughter pairing who have their own family issues, close in on them along with a blizzard.Ruzowitzky's snowy neo-noir may not have the most brainiest of plots, but it makes up for that elsewhere with genuine thrills, spills and wintry chills. Shane Hurlbut photographs it in steely cold metallic blues, piercing whites and bloody reds, then laying an ethereal sheen over the night time sequences. This is perfect tonal accompaniment to the characterisations fronting the story, Addison and Liza have definite incestuous leanings, with the former capable of brutal violence when required. Jay, out of prison, is a big disappointment to his father (Kristofferson), but more pressing concerns are a deadly confrontation he is forced into, and that he's falling for Liza, who appears to be damaged goods and whose motives are unclear.On the supposed good side of the snowy fence is Hannah (Mara) and Becker (Williams), daughter and father cops, she strives to make her daddy proud, he resents her for not being a son, even chastising her with cold venom in front of other officers. It's a whirlpool of troubled characters battling it out in the snowy wilds of North America. Ruzowitzky inserts some quality action sequences as the protagonists/antagonists snake towards their date with destiny, which arrives in a classy film noir trope way at Jay's parents house. The air is pungent with fatalism and the link of all characters having kin problems gives the narrative some bite. Very well performed by the cast, this is comfortably recommended to neo-noir lovers. 7.5/10

A star studded cast, some good snow filled cinematography and an interesting beginning.That were the good points. The rest of Deadfall is a cliché ridden intruder in the house whilst being on the run. Actually Eric Bana playing the man on the run goes to several houses even saving a a wife and children from a cruel father.Bana and Olivia Wilde are siblings who have been involved in a heist and split up when their getaway car gets involved in an accident in the snow. They hope by splitting up it gives them both a better chance to escape and also stops Bana keeping his mitts off his hot sister!Bana shoots a police officer dead who arrives to help and goes on to shoot several others whilst there is a manhunt out for him consisting of some of the stupidest and sexist police officers the USA has.Wilde ends up with an ex-Olympic boxer (Charlie Hunnam) who is heading home for Thanksgiving after being released from prison for throwing a fight in a betting scam. At the Thanksgiving dinner its open house for hostages as Bana just happened to had arrived earlier. There is a vicious showdown which also filled with unintentional laughter.The acting ranges from the banal to OK. Sissy Spacek is not given much to do, Hunnam is a blank. The story is all over the place, Bana is a cold killer but helps out a stranded mother and her children. Yet a bit later on, he stops by to have dinner and holds Spacek hostage when there is manhunt after him.The police are just nauseating with the female deputy having to put up with abuse from fellow officers, one of them being her dad (Treat Williams). There is harsh violence but the film lacks thrills, characterisation and entertainment. If a film does not even work as brain dead entertainment, its in trouble.