DEADFALL

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Your standard issue cold-weather crime thriller, “Deadfall” comes complete with gratuitous sex, a hot-pursuit chase sequence involving snowmobiles, and a merciless bad guy you can’t help but root for.

Eric Bana does the anti-hero honors as Addison, a casino thief on the run with a bag of cash and his adoring sibling accomplice Liza (Olivia Wilde). Headed for Canada, the desperate pair loses their getaway driver in an icy car crash that requires brother and sister to split up in Michigan (to have a better chance at making it across the border).

Local police have a dragnet out. Liza slips into a romance of convenience with Jay (Charlie Hunnam), a recently released ex-con and former Olympic boxer. Addison has a rougher time traversing miles of snowy terrain. Kate Mara provides a nifty emotional hook as Hanna, the police officer daughter of the local sheriff (played by the ever-watchable Treat Williams).

“Deadfall” isn’t the most original suspense movie in the world, but it accomplishes its genre-minded goals with precision.

Rated R. 94 mins. 

 

BULLHEAD

   Groupthink doesn't live here, critical thought does.

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Jacky Vanmarsenille (Matthias Schoenaerts) is not your run-of-the-mill Flemish mafia thug. He has serious emotional and physical issues stemming from an attack by the son of one of his father’s criminal partners. Jacky belongs to a family of Belgium cattle farmers who use growth hormones to increase profits.

Debut writer/director Michael R. Roskam based his gut-wrenching crime drama on the true story of a Belgian veterinarian who was murdered in the mid-‘90s.

The murder of a local investigator causes Jacky to advise his boss not to rush into inking a deal with De Kuyper (Sam Louwyck), an illicit meat market kingpin from a neighboring region. Not that any of his gangster cohorts take the steroid-pumped Jacky seriously enough to follow his instructions. Jacky is of course correct in guessing that a police investigation is in full swing, and the he and his compatriots could be swept up in its net.

Roskam’s gift for cinematic storytelling comes through in every affecting frame. The filmmaker’s scrupulous use of flashbacks brings the audience into a visceral empathy with Jacky, whose daily injections of testosterone explain much of his erratic behavior and his private turmoil. With his blunted facial features, Flemish actor Matthias Schoenaerts (“Loft”) is ideally cast for the role. Schoenaerts’s gutsy performance is remarkable.

At heart, Jacky is a sensitive and intelligent guy trapped in a body that doesn’t belong to him anymore. A subplot involving his best friend from childhood seals the film’s character-study aspect with an added dimension of deeply seeded context. “Bullhead” is an unconventional mafia story told through the eyes of a damaged-goods protagonist you can’t help but feel for.

Rated R. 124 mins.

THE MECHANIC

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Director Simon West has been off the big screen radar long enough to properly contemplate the slick little cinematic take-over that is "The Mechanic."

The film's generic poster of a handgun made up of roughly sketched weapons cleverly conceals an ingenious update on the time-honored assassin-with-a-heart genre.

The film is an update of Michael Winner's 1972 original, which starred Charles Bronson and Jan Michael Vincent.

Jason Statham plays ace hit man Arthur Bishop. When he isn't executing high-paid hits for an oily corporate bigwig named Dean (Tony Goldwyn), Arthur unwinds in his nicely-appointed house on a remote New Orleans waterway. Arthur isn't just good at what he does, he's a "machine."

We know this from the way Arthur invisibly dispatches the film's first victim in a heavily guarded indoor swimming pool, where he drowns the home's owner.

"The Mechanic" is a modern grindhouse picture that elevates the genre by allowing its characters to exert the logic of their flaws.

Even an elite assassin like Arthur Bishop can make mistakes. No matter what you do, don't underestimate "The Mechanic."

This is one badass movie.

Rated R. 92 mins.