Deadfall (2012)

"What would home look like? I don't know. A farmhouse in the valley, I guess, like the one we grew up in, Liza and I."

Academy Award winning director for his foreign film The Counterfeiters, Stefan Ruzowitzky, now brings us an American crime thriller dealing with dysfunctional families. It seems to be an odd choice for a director who had so much success back in Austria considering this is an average B-film that doesn't introduce anything new or unique to the genre. Deadfall never manages to deliver the thrills that it promises either and has a rather unsatisfying ending. At times it felt like a film that was trying to be something else, but it never quite figured out what it wanted to be and ended up only scratching the surface of the dysfunctional family drama it was so desperately tying to explore. Perhaps it suffered from trying to add several subplots and intertwine them together towards the climactic end, but ultimately Deadfall felt like your average crime thriller with a strong ensemble cast, but a poor and unimaginative script. Deadfall never quite delivers the thrills and the characters are underdeveloped turning this film into a messy ordeal. As much as I wanted to enjoy this, I couldn't find anything redeeming about it, and not even the beautiful Olivia Wilde shines here. It's a dull film that tries to be more important than it really is with way too many subplots and overlapping themes that are barely explored.

The screenplay was written by Zach Dean centering on two siblings, Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde), who are heading towards the Canadian border after having pulled of a casino heist. We never see the actual heist take place since the film opens with them already in route to the border when all of a sudden in the midst of a blizzard their vehicle crashes into a deer. Addison is forced to kill the patrolman and decides to split up with Liza and meet up later as the police will be after him. On another note, we are introduced to a former boxer named Jay (Charlie Hunnam) who is being released from prison. The first thing Jay does is call his mother June (Sissy Spacek) who lives in a farmhouse near the spot where Addison and Liza crashed. She invites Jay over for Thanksgiving dinner despite the fact that he's been estranged with his father Chet (Kris Kristofferson). Along the way, Jay finds Liza nearly freezing to death near the highway and he decides to give her a lift. Addison on the other hand is being hunted by Sheriff Becker (Treat Williams) and his men who are closing in on the trail of blood he's left behind. Becker's daughter, Hannah (Kate Mara), whose also an officer is ordered to stay in the station and out of trouble. As the characters are all introduced it becomes inevitable to realize that they are all going to intersect somewhere along the way.

Despite the talented ensemble cast, the script is so poorly written that there is not much they can do to prevent their characters from becoming cardboard cutouts. Even the always reliable and legendary actors such as Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek can't do anything to save this film. Hunnam and Wilde have a very poorly developed romantic subplot that felt extremely rushed. Bana didn't really look too menacing as the villain and at times his character felt cartoonish. The dysfunctional family elements that this film tries to explore never really gets anywhere and they all seem too cliché. The male characters are seen as tough while the females are forgiving and patient. The wes

Fmovies: To give this movie a proper negative review, I'd have to explain all the problems with it, but that would mean spoilers... All in all, this is supposed to be a crime thriller with some psycho-drama mixed in. What it really is, is a pretentious piece of trash aimed at the lowest common denominator - people who are willing to forgive poor story and shallow, poorly created characters, for few sex scenes and some violence. I am not one of them, so I hated it. But to try and explain: - The film starts with a robber reminiscing about what a perfect home would be... as they are on the run from robbery they just committed. Am I the only one who finds this terribly unbelievable if not contrived? Just because you want to add some "depth" to your character, you are making him talk about his dreams and childhood while running from the law? - Then, the same character who starts of as cold blooded criminal becomes an outright psycho. Why? Because the film would fall flat on its face if he did not. It also helps to forget that the entire ending makes no sense all things considered. (they were on the run, remember?) - There are people falling in love, just like that. Actually, there is a reason: without it, there would be no excuse for a sex scene and those "hot" lines that the female protagonist utters... must be every teenage boy's wet dream or something... (albeit, Olivia Wilde was quite good all things considered) - So many convenient "accidents": they run into another shady character, and his house, and another important character, and few others, and they all get together... and it all happens just like that. One "lucky" incident after another. But it all leads to more violence, so all is good, as long as we get our dosage of violence, we should forget how we got there. - Hardly anyone has any motivation for anything. Horrible writing. Father hates his daughter. Girl is hated by her colleagues. Sister is abused by her brother. A guy is angry at someone just like that. On and on and on. I guess those immature kids who carry loads of anger due to abandonment issues will love this, but more sensible people will be left wondering.

Those are just some of the more basic problems. Beyond that, there are plenty more both plot-wise, story wise, character-wise, setup-wise...

All in all, a perfect example of how not to make a film. If it were not for few decent performances and few decent scenes (which were few seconds long) it would have been 1 star (or zero, whatever is lowest allowed).

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.

Deadfall fmovies. 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.

"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.

Haven't seen a crime thriller this good in ages, with such fast moving pace but excellent character development at the same time.

The screenplay is exciting and observant of human psychology. The acting is superb, and I guess the directing had a lot going for it too. Like the perfect storm,this just all came together and did a job of stirring me up good.

The tension built up from the start with Addison and what we learn about him and his coach. The relationship between the sheriff and his daughter, and the how the men treated her, and her stoic dealing with it...wow, I could not have handled it.

The relationship between the siblings was ambiguous but inspiring at the same time. The relationship in the family between the spouses and the son was written with such deft strokes which said so much.

The actors were fabulous. Especially at the dinner table at the climax of the story. The mother, Sissy Spacek, had such easy going wisdom about her but exploded with outraged indignation when pushed beyond the limit.

Loved the way the brother got the "L" word out of the protagonist in the climactic denouement. And it left you in the end wondering how the story would go on with our antiheroes.

One of those screenplays where you just fall in love with the bad guy and it just kills you to know he is fated, and that he has written his own tragedy as well as having been written by it.

Look forward to more of Zach Dean's screenplays.