Deadfall

An Oedipus complex, Southern accents and Sissy Spacek walk into a bar. Deadfall is the punchline.

In this unintentionally hilarious blend of super-serious noir, Lifetime TV scripting and a talented cast tragically misused, director Stefan Ruzowitzky again proves that his impressive 2007 drama The Counterfeiters was an anomaly in an otherwise unimpressive filmography.
Eric Bana and Olivia Wilde overact as incestuous siblings Addison and Liza, who have just robbed a casino. Separated after their getaway car crashes, they try to trek their way to the Canadian border in the midst of a snowstorm. While Addison makes short work of various police officers and Native American stereotypes, Liza meets ex-con Jay (Charlie Hunnam) and sparks up a liaison that’s far friendlier to the law, genetics and social conscience than her previous fraternal inclinations. Meanwhile, angelic Deputy Kate Mara battles the misogyny of her Sheriff father. The three storylines collide with contrived predictability.
Shane Hulburt’s admittedly gorgeous, icy-paletted cinematography evokes a sinister, spectral glow. However, the slick celluloid work is the only thing elevating Deadfall beyond dodgy late-night television fare. Though the setting and noir-ish crime plotting may hint at Fargo, there’s an embarrassing gracelessness to proceedings. Bana is too subtle an actor for his cartoonish villain. Mara and Wilde do their best with their good girl/bad girl personas, but their daddy issues are as clichéd as Ruzowitzky’s Madonna/Whore complex.
The action unfolds with random, nonsensical violence that’s neither exciting nor affecting. With such melodramatic fare, Deadfall needed either palpable tension or some self-aware humour. With neither, it just has a wasted cast and some snow – and no-one asked for another Reindeer Games.