It's coming on nearly four years since the original Swedish language version of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" rode the wave of the popularity of the books, becoming a hit in its own right and making a star out of Noomi Rapace in the process. But since then, director Niels Arden Oplev has been keeping a low profile. Dabbling in television work for the most part while developing a couple of feature gigs, the helmer will make his Hollywood debut in 2013 with "Dead Man Down." And he's hoping that Rapace is the good luck charm that will work some magic a second time around.
The setup for this thriller is pretty straightfoward: Victor (Colin Farrell), is hired by a young woman (Rapace) to kill underground crime lord Alphonse Hoyt (Terrence Howard) in New York City to settle a personal score. But it's the treatment that has our attention, tossing out the standard procedural approach for something a lot more moody, and definitely more intriguing. Rapace and Farrell look reliably solid, but it's Howard who surprises, looking like he's having a blast playing the baddie. The cast is rounded out strongly by Dominic Cooper and Isabelle Huppert. Yes, Isabelle Huppert.
The trailer is a below. The quality is a bit uneven, but we'll swap it out with the HD version once that drops. "Dead Man Down" opens on March 8, 2013. And if you're wondering, the song is Kendra Morris' cover of Pink Floyd's "Shine On Your Crazy Diamond."