Deadfall: Critic Reviews

There isn't much to the characters in this morose thriller.

"Deadfall" brings to mind those dark, old-fashioned entertainments in rotation on Turner Classic Movies that suck you in with their genre machinery, sullen beauties and despair.

A genre characterized by often grisly violence, high style and a distinctly nihilistic outlook.

An A-list cast fights a B-movie script and goes down hard in "Deadfall," a wintry suspense melodrama that's not quite awful enough to be any fun.

Deadfall just isn't manic enough to be memorable.

Watching this violent potboiler is like observing a thief knock off a convenience store, then seeing him lock his keys in the car.

'Deadfall' deftly transforms the climactic moments ... therapeutic for some, devastating for others. It's a beautiful thing.

Deadfall is fast and fatalistic ...

The camera work is as beautiful as it is terrifying, with Quebec standing in for northern Michigan in the dead of winter. And the performances are resourceful, superbly etched and expertly nuanced.

A highly satisfying Western-cum-noir in the old tradition.

There's nothing you haven't seen before - and better - in "Deadfall," which would seem to appeal mostly to fans of snowmobile chases.

Looks great but sacrifices much in its charge towards a final showdown that's been telegraphed from the early going.

A complete nightmare of a movie.

Recently noir has seemed marginalized, almost antiquated, in its application of dark tones that point to a suspenseful end. Deadfall, an understated, slow-burn thriller, doesn't reinvigorate those rules but illustrates their lasting value.

Dean and Ruzowitzky want both inexorably tightening plot and keen psychology here, and they can't always have it both ways.

[An] atmospheric, suspenseful, snowbound crime thriller with a creepy, sexy undertow ...

The most disappointing aspect of Deadfall is its conventionality. For a thriller, it's light on surprises.

Deadfall is slicker and more compelling than its overdetermined script has any right to expect.

[It has] enough plot contrivances and twisted, twinned destinies for any old movie, though not necessarily a good one.

At times it is riveting stuff and at times ridiculous.

Despite a super-dark noir plot and respectable cast, "Deadfall" is a thriller that never quite delivers on its promise.

What the screenplay lacks, director Ruzowitzky paints in, with bold, elemental strokes on the dirty-snow canvas.

Perhaps the best thing about "Deadfall" is the lifelike messiness of its ending. A couple of the characters have a lot of explaining to do, and this is one case where a sequel might be in order.

Oedipal crises abound in this sleek but empty slice of snow-driven neo-noir

The film does manage some unintentional humor through its assortment of oddball accents, quirky characters, romantic silliness and overwrought action sequences.