Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The plot feint that occurs about half an hour into this New York-set revenge thriller is the single interesting thing about it. Colin Farrell plays the hardnut enforcer of a mob boss (Terrence Howard) who's being targeted by an anonymous foe; the story kicks off with one of his minions found in the deep freeze with a message threatening more to follow.
Farrell, meanwhile, is attracted to the young woman (Noomi Rapace) who waves to him from the window of the apartment opposite, not seeing from this distance that one side of her face is cross-hatched with scars.
It paves the way for a double-secret twist that promises to illuminate the dull genre material – a false promise, alas. The plotting corkscrews madly without achieving lift-off, hampered by fussy bits of business with mobile phones, cut-up photographs and Fedex packages. (Someone should have Fedexed them a decent script.)
Danish director Niels Arden Oplev reunites with his Dragon Tattoo star Rapace, and bolsters his cast with Dominic Cooper as a mob foot-soldier and (mon Dieu) Isabelle Huppert as Rapace's controlling mother. Farrell, stubbled and saturnine, gamely holds the centre, but it's ponderous stuff, spiked with nasty flashes of torture of a kind that seem almost obligatory nowadays in middling crime dramas.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments