Brother and sister duo Addison (Eric Bana) and Liza (Olivia Wilde) flee by car to Michigan after a casino heist. Ever the southern gentleman, Addison offs a cop who comes to their aid when their car skids off an icy road. The duo end up splitting, and the result is multiple narrative threads with icy chases with snow mobiles, shenanigans with an ex-con boxer named Jay (Charlie Hunnam), and murders galore.
For a film of its petite run time, Deadfall sure tries to bite off more than it can chew. There`s a dark parody of a traditional Thanksgiving dinner at the end that counts as a satisfying enough payoff, but director Stefan Ruzowitzy takes too many detours for the film`s ultimate benefit. The set pieces are occasionally beautiful, and the action is consistently, crisply shot, although the biggest flaw of Deadfall lies in its characterization rather than its cinematography.
Bana gets some pretty cool scenes and riffs thanks to screenwriter Zach Dean, but the rest of the characters falls flat, despite being played by a solid cast. The strange, almost incestuous relationship between the childlike Liza and her near-schizo older brother is tantalizing, but there`s little to equal it in the rest of the film.
Despite its occasional quirks, Deadfall is an ultimately generic noir piece that would have benefited from a more streamlined progression.
Summary: Satisfying but forgettable.
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Raphael Lim