Movies

Ever encounter peanut butter that when spread sounds like a wet rag being squeezed?No? Could it be because peanut butter has a smooth texture and not that of a sponge?This is one of very many little infuriating details that plague Deadfall. The female police officer can't just be a female police officer, she has to have daddy issues and be the victim of chauvinism. The barmaid can't just be a barmaid, she has to have had an ass-hole ex etc etcDeep down Deadfall is a competently made film with lovely camera work, but it is a frustrating experience watching it simply because of all the things that distract from what ought to be a simple streamlined drama.

Atrocious sub-Fargo story with the two leads looking like they'd just come from a modelling agency. No sign of the fierce Minnesota climate on their faces. One of them even pulls a bank raid wearing a backless dress. In winter. The script is appalling with no cliché left unturned, particularly painful is the introductory dialogue between the femme fatal and a fellow fugitive on the lam. The direction is even worse with a total lack of rhythm and pacing. The long takes in some scenes rather than being (hopefully) pregnant with meaning, induce only yawns. It's amazing that such a shoddy work could attract actors like Eric Bana and Kate Mara who were clearly working to scale. Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek also appear, but only remind you of better days at the cinema.

Deadfall, much like its setting, empty and cold.A quality cast for what's only part of a story, beginning and ending at odd points. Many of the characters unlikable, with dialogue that's again "odd." Bana's decent and it isn't entirely dull, but there's little tension because you simply don't care.