"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.

— Jake Coyle, AP Entertainment Writer


"Oz the Great and Powerful"—This prequel aims for nostalgia in older viewers who grew up on "The Wizard of Oz" and still hold the classic dear while simultaneously enchanting a newer, younger audience.



— Christy Lemire, AP Movie Critic