Siblings Addison and Liza are fleeing from a casino heist when their car crashes on a snowy road.  They separate, and Addison causes mayhem while Liza meets a boxer (who won the silver medal in the Olympics) in this Western-noir.   The siblings are supposed to escape to Canada while a manhunt is out for Addison because they don’t know Liza was part of the robbery of the casino on the Indian Reservation.   The boxer is running because he got in a fight with the trainer who may have ratted him out to the gaming commission and resulted in the boxer in going to prison.  He is looking over his shoulder while wanting to make it home for Thanksgiving with his parents (played by Kris Kristofferson and Sissy Spacek).  Meanwhile, the town sheriff (Treat Williams) is heading up the manhunt for Addison while going out of his way to make sure his daughter (Kate Mara) stays out of it even though she is also a cop (waiting to hear if she is accepted to the FBI).

 

DEADFALL is the English language director debut for German director Stefan Ruzowitzky (who directed the wonderful film- THE COUNTERFEITERS, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film).  He directs a modern day Western mixed with film noir elements.   The direction is great while everyone gives a great performance as their characters, but the only thing that falls short is enough character development (you never learn why the sheriff thinks his daughter isn’t good enough to handle cop stuff like rest of the boys) that you wish the director gave the movie a little more space to breathe.   The pacing is great as it throttles everything to the ultimate collision between all characters for the climax. 

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Behind The Scenes featurettes:

SNOW & WESTERN

FAMILY

The two featurettes are more like promo EPKs.

 

Production Interviews with Eric Bana, Olivia Wilde, and director Stefan Ruzowitzky

Extended Interview with Director Stefan Ruzowitzky

The extended interview is the best one to listen.  It is also revealed how cold Olivia Wilde was in some of those snow scenes where she was in a dress and pantyhose.

 

Behind the Scenes Footage

AXS TV: A LOOK AT DEADFALL- promo EPK on the film

Theatrical trailer and previews for other Magnolia Pictures releases round out the extras.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  DEADFALL creates excellent tension with a great cast where a little more character development could have made this a classic.   I wish the extras were more in-depth into the making of DEAFALL instead of consisting of EPK material and interviews.

 

This movie review is (c)2-18-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com