Trackydog I'm a little surprised to see such generally positive reviews for this movie as I don't know where to start or stop with panning it.I'll assume many of these reviews are from the production company employees, I mean this is their livelihood isn't it. I'll just bring up a few points as I would rather contemplate my navel than waste even more time out of my life reviewing a movie I wasted so much time watching.First, since Mark Cuban is one of the executive producers, I think the movie is just a full employment scheme for his out-of-work liberal actor friends. Exactly what would Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek be doing otherwise?The director Stefan Ruzowitzky, never heard of him, but now I will be on the look out for that name to save me further movie watching pain in the future.Kate Mara at 5 foot 2 inches is unbelievable as a cop, but then she must be a pal of Mark Cuban also as she comes from big NFL money.The script is right out of the Pulp Fiction school of writing, but then Pulp Fiction excuses itself in the title doesn't it. This script has no excuse as the story is completely implausible except if the name had been Deadfall Fiction. Olivia Wilde is added as eye candy, but the gal isn't sure what character she is playing as she seems to play several different characters.Treat Williams, let's not even go there with how bad he is coupled with how badly written his part is. Eric Bana, who I have liked in other parts, has finally proved here that he can't act as whatever regional American accent he is trying to use changes from scene to scene and day to day of filming.This is a movie that had absolutely no reason to have been made other than some young scriptwriters, probably also related to money, got around and smoked some 420 and then decided their ramblings were brilliant and put them to paper.Let's not be all negative here, if you are going to watch the film anyways, you will enjoy the performance of Charlie Hunnam as he holds his head above the childish script, horrible direction, and hopelessly lost cast.If you want some independent verification of how bad this thing is, money talks, it brought in $65,000 dollars.

NateWatchesCoolMovies I so badly wanted to give Deadfall a glowing, untarnished review of unconditional positivity. But I can't, because it doesn't have an ending. It gets to a point where the conflict is partially resolved, and we see things begin to fall into place, and then it just... ends. Now a certain level of ambiguity works in some cases, to add mystery. But here it overthrows the entire dose of suspense and leaves us wondering sickly what will happen to the protagonist's arc that the film left unresolved. It's like they had a missing reel and no one noticed in time for the premiere lol. Nevertheless, it's 90 percent of a great film, a snowbound thriller (my favourite kind) that's character and actor based, with a lean, mean mentality that bites as hard as the winter cold that the characters wrestle with. Eric Bana, an actor who lulled us into a false sense of security with unassuming roles, then blasted off with Star Trek, in the best work of that film, explores his dark side further here as Addison, a ruthless bank robbing criminal with a poetic morality that serves as a mask to the malicious beast beneath. Along with his dimwitted but leggy sister Liza (sultry Olivia Wilde) he narrowly escapes a bank robbery, fleeing into the snowy northern wilderness bordering Canada, only to be derailed by a horrific car crash and forced into the blizzards on foot. They are pursued by Sheriff Marshall T. Becker (Treat Williams) and his deputies, including his daughter Hanna (Kate Mara) who he bitterly resents for being a female police officer. Mara is an excellent actress who gives the role the intuition it deserves, when she ends up being the only cop on the small town force with a brain in her head. The chase envelops an ex con boxer (Charlie Hunnam) on his way home to spend thanksgiving with his parents (Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek). Hunnam does his usual irritating swagger, and carries his end well enough I guess (Not a fan of his, personally). But Bana owns the film with his ferocious, palpably evil portrayal of man with utterly no conscience and a survival instinct that drive him to corrupt and obliterate anyone in his path. His gruff, menacing turn brings to mind tough guys of yesteryear, like Lee Marvin and Robert Mitchum. There's also a startling incest angle with the relationship to Liza that I would like to see explored more. It's a carefully constructed thriller with weight, tangible menace and unique, almost Elmore Leonard or Jack London style atmosphere, until it shits it's pants in the final minutes of the third act. If you can forgive it this (which I'm learning to do, only because I'm such a huge fan of the rest of the movie before) you'll get an icy kick out of it.

jimbo-53-186511 Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde) are brother and sister who have just robbed a casino. Together with their getaway driver Theo they're heading for the Canadian border when they hit a deer on the road and crash. Theo gets killed and after Addison kills a state trooper who is investigating the crash, both Addison and Liza decide to split up. Following the death of the state trooper, the police decide to set up road blocks in the hope of catching the person responsible for their colleagues death. Will Addison and Liza manage to make it to the border with the increased police presence?This film gets off to a really bad start with the clichéd unexpected crash and it never really recovers from there; to its credit this film does at least get your attention from the start, but perhaps not in the way that it should. Right from the start it felt awkward watching Addison and Liza on screen together because it didn't feel like I was watching a brother and sister - the early scene where Liza is stripping in front of Addison and he's staring at her and she then asks him if he's 'enjoying the view' or words to that effect. As I mentioned, it was awkward and kind of made me take a disliking to their characters which straight away put a downer on the film for me.Shortly after we're introduced to Jay (Charlie Hunnam), a former boxer who won a silver medal at the Beijing Olympics who's been released from prison after being sent there for losing a fight he was meant to win - I think. It's quite clear that his character is introduced as a mere plot device to enable the siblings to reunite at the end of the film. It's not always a bad thing if the journey from A to B is predictable, but it is if it's in a film such as Deadfall which has very little entertainment value and at the same time gives the audience nothing to care about. In fairness the writers do at least try and justify Jay as a plot device by at least fleshing his character out somewhat so I can see good and bad here. The romance between Jay and Liza was rather strained and unconvincing - this is made worse at the end when he maintains that he loves her, even though she tells Addison to leave with her when poor Jay still has a knife stuck through his hand. Leave it out!!Addison's solo journey is slightly more interesting than Liza and Jay's trite romance, but even his journey isn't particularly tense or exciting with good ole Addison being able to take on all manner of adversaries without even breaking into a sweat. That is just one of the problems with this film; there's no tension - I never once feared for either sibling and never once felt scared for them. They seem to have time to sit around drinking wine and building snowmen etc. You're supposed to be being chased for goodness sake.The film wasn't even particularly well-structured; the police are seemingly setting up road blocks and doing a sweep of the area, but they don't notice any footprints in the snow. They also don't bother examining the car that they crashed at the start of the film. The roads are all closed at one point, but then opened again even though they haven't caught anyone. Also, wouldn't it have been easier just to scramble a helicopter to do a sweep of the area? It would have also been better if it felt like the police were gradually piecing things together as it would have made the film more intelligent and involving, but the writing just wasn't there I'm afraid.Although Deadfall wasn't an out and out terrible film, it was a disappointing film and certainly could have been a lot better.

Spikeopath 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