"Dead Man Down" _ Danish director Niels Arden Oplev makes his Hollywood debut, re-teaming with his "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" star Noomi Rapace in this lifeless thriller about two lost souls bent on vengeance. Colin Farrell plays a brooding gangster, Victor, who's infiltrated the brutal gang of Alphonse (a typically velvety Terrence Howard) to avenge the deaths of his wife and daughter. He's joined in revenge by Rapace's Beatrice, who spies him from across a neighboring high-rise and blackmails him into killing the drunk driver that crashed into her. Her left eye is surrounded by scars from the accident, and though her beauty is hardly marred, children throw rocks and shout "Monster!" at her. The film either can't stomach having its star actress appear actually maimed, or it's simply too lazy to make Beatrice's motivations plausible. But such things are common in the preposterous dialogue and haphazard plotting in the screenplay by J.H. Wyman ("Fringe"). There's some solid noir atmosphere, courtesy of cinematographer Paul Cameron, but the tension finally bursts as inelegantly as it was manufactured. With, oddly, Isabelle Huppert as Beatrice's ditzy mom. R for violence, language throughout and a scene of sexuality. 118 minutes. One star out of four.
Suspending disbelief is a part of watching most any action film, where bullets fly like birds and mayhem explodes as easily as a shaken soda can. But even in such a contrived movie world, it's asking far too much for us to accept that Noomi Rapace would be hounded as a "monster" for a little scaring around her left eye.
A new adaptation of writer Denis Diderot's 18th-century novel "The Nun" is making its debut at the Berlin film festival, featuring French star Isabelle Huppert as a convent's mother superior.
A new adaptation of writer Denis Diderot's 18th-century novel "The Nun" is making its debut at the Berlin Film Festival, featuring French star Isabelle Huppert as a convent's mother superior.
New movies from directors Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant and a trio of films starring French divas will be competing this year at the Berlin International Film Festival.
French actress Isabelle Huppert says curiosity has drawn her to Asia and helped her discover the region's innovative talents.
Korean movie star So Ji-sub has mixed feelings as he awaits his country's international film festival that kicks off next month with a romance that features him as a troubled former boxer in love.
Stockholm Film Festival organizers say French actress Isabelle Huppert will be honored with its 2011 lifetime achievement award for a career in movie and television spanning almost four decades.
VIENNA, Austria
