Deadfall

"It's a good sign when you feel a little bad." Brother and sister Addison (Bana) and Liza (Wilde) have just robbed a casino and are making their getaway when they get into an accident. Jay (Hunnam) is fresh out of jail and is looking for answers as to why he took the fall. When all their paths cross things turn for the worse. This is a movie I was looking forward too. The cast had me interested right away. The movie started off fast and never really slowed down. It is a movie where you seem to be one step ahead of what is going on though and that kind of hurts the overall enjoyment. When you can predict 90% of what is going to happen before it does you start to lose interest, at least I do. I did like the movie and I would recommend it but don't expect a lot of twists. The movie was good and entertaining though and the cast was great but a few twists could have made it better. Overall, an enjoyable movie that could have been better if it wasn't so predictable. I give it a B.

Deadfall (2012)

** (out of 4)

On the eve of Thanksgiving, brother and sister Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde) head off into different directions in blizzard conditions after a failed robbery. While he's running around causing more mayhem, Liza meets a boxer (Charlie Hunnam) recently released from prison. The two strike up a friendship and head off to his parent's (Sissy Spacek, Kris Kristofferson) house where the brother has also found his way to. DEADFALL is a thriller from director Stefan Ruzowitzky but one really has to wonder what went so wrong with this thing. There aren't any thrills, the story itself is downright boring and the so-called character development is rather laughable. I'm really not certain what they were trying to do with this thing but in the end it's just a complete waste of talent and the viewer's time. The biggest problem is without question the screenplay that just never comes to life as we're introduced to characters that we've seen way too many times before and this film doesn't do anything new with them. Every twist and turn in this picture is something you'll see coming from a mile a way and it all leads to a rather embarrassing and laughable ending. Several subplots are introduced to the film but these here just seem to happen for no reason and they're never explained or revisited later in the film. The interesting cast is the only thing that keeps this from being a complete disaster. Bana is actually very good as the cold-blooded killer but it's too bad they didn't write a better role for him. Wilde is also very good in her supporting role as the sister. Kate Mara is also good as a deputy being abused by her sheriff father, although this here is another subplot that makes no sense. Both Spacek and Kristofferson are pretty much wasted but it's nice seeing them. DEADFALL lacks any tension, lacks any development and in the end it's just a complete mess that's really not worth sitting through.

After a heist of a casino, the criminal Addison (Eric Bana) is on the run to Canada with his accomplice Theo (Dennis Lafond) and his sister Liza (Olivia Wilde). Out of the blue, Theo hits a deer and loses control of the car that leaves the road and overturns. Theo dies and Addison kills a patrolman that comes to help them. Then he splits the money with Liza and tells her to get a ride to the border while he will cross the woods. Addison leaves a trail of blood in his runaway.

Meanwhile, the former boxer Jay (Charlie Hunnam), who was arrested for losing a fight, is released from prison on probation and calls his mother June Mills (Sissy Spacek) that lives in an isolated house with his estranged father Chet Mills (Kris Kristofferson) that was the former Sheriff. June invites her son for the Thanksgiving dinner, but he goes first to the gym to collect money that his couch owes him. They quarrel and Jay hits him and believes that has killed him. He flees and while driving on the road, he sees Liza and gives a ride to her. Soon they fall in love with each other. Meanwhile Sheriff Marshall T. Becker (Treat Williams) is hunting Addison with his men but he does not allow that his daughter, Deputy Hanna (Kate Mara) to participate in the hunting party. The Thanksgiving will end with all the characters gathering at Chet and June's home.

"Deadfall" is a good thriller with impressive landscape in the snow. The engaging story begins with a poor development of Addison and Liza and does not show the heist of the casino. But the plot is tense and the cast has great names. Sheriff Marshall T. Becker is one of the most imbecile and arrogant sheriffs that I have seen in an American movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Fuga" ("The Runaway")

Deadfall – CATCH IT (B)

Siblings Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde) are on the run from a casino heist gone wrong. When a car accident leaves their wheel man and a state trooper dead, they split up and make a run for the Canadian border in the worst of circumstances, a near whiteout blizzard. While Addison heads cross-country, creating mayhem in his wake, Liza is picked up by ex-boxer Jay (Charlie Hunnam), en-route for a Thanksgiving homecoming with his parents, June (Sissy Spacek) and retired sheriff Chet (Kris Kristofferson). It's there the siblings are reunited in a terse and thrilling showdown that pushes the bonds of family to the limit.

Eric Bana did his job nicely, watching him doing incest jealous/obsesses/protective brother/lover was indeed bizarre. Olivia Wilde is stunningly gorgeous and at times creepy too. Charlie Hunnam is fun to watch, he is smart and never looks bad in what he does. Kate Mara is fine as always. Sissy Spacek and Kris Krsitoppher are good.

In the end, there is nothing much to expect from a movie besides that it's a B class thriller with gorgeous faces. I found movie quite entertaining, it may not have the most lovable characters but they sure are pretty. Good Time pass.

This movie I saw at the New Hampshire Film Festival in Portsmouth, NH and it was my favorite of the weekend. The writing was excellent and Bana gave yet another great performance as a violent man who was crazy and funny and charming and human. Writer Zach Dean combined the Western, crime, thriller, sports and family genres to tell a story about three dysfunctional families that are brought together by the trauma of childhood abuse. I knew where the story was going and yet in the end Dean was able to surprise me with how he got there. He did a masterful job pulling together his threads in a way that reminded me of Paul Haggis's work in Crash. Dean's story set in the modern West even included an Indian chief in what was one of my favorite scenes. Afterwards I reflected on Bana's work and wondered if he will ever reach the pinnacle of achievement we saw in the fantastic Australian film Chopper. That role allowed Bana to use all of his gifts in a way that I will never forget and which makes him for me one of the greatest actors working today.