OK, so, honesty time: I do not agree with PDC colleague Travis Hopson’s negative review of Deadfall. Does the film from
director Stefan Ruzowitzky have the most clearly developed characters? Not so
much. But there is something about this suspenseful neo-noir that gives it a
chilly, thrilling atmosphere, and for the most part, I got caught up in the story.
Everything that happens seems fuzzy, disconnected, until the plot lines are
pulled in tight and everything comes to a bloody, invigorating ending. Disappointed
parents, shattered children, the lure of violence and easy money—I liked those
parts of Deadfall. Taken together, they create a sense of hopelessness that fits really well into the tradition of the noir genre.
Now, the three leads: Olivia Wilde is the most
boring part of the cast, but Eric Bana is acceptable as a crazy person, even if
the examples of that crazy are too often like a poor mimicry of Javier Bardem’s
Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. Really, the initial thing that drew
me into Deadfall was that face staring out at you from the above picture.
Charlie Hunnam, guys. He’s a dreamboat.
Has Hunnam really hit it big yet? In film, not
really. He’s had small parts in films like Children of Men and Cold Mountain,
but his profile has been rising steadily since he secured the lead on FX’s Sons
of Anarchy, the channel’s most-watched show and a serious juggernaut in terms
of viewership numbers. If men are watching cable right now, they’re either
watching The Walking Dead or Sons of Anarchy. Its numbers are that good, and
that’s mainly because of Hunnam’s performance as Jax Teller, the expertly menacing, permanently
tortured leader of a motorcycle club, stuck in a life of crime, trying to get
out, not sure what else he can do with his life. The show gets over the top
sometimes, but Hunnam’s performance never does. He is the grounding force of this spin on Hamlet, and although I’m going to use this article to gush about his
physicality like a superficial fangirl, the dude is a legitimate actor. Sons of
Anarchy would fail without his presence. 
And so, with all the attention Sons of Anarchy is
getting, that means more of Hunnam on the big screen. He was in the very odd
but still amusing comedy 3,2,1... Frankie Go Boom earlier this year with
Ron Perlman (who plays his stepfather on Sons of Anarchy) and Lizzy Caplan; he’s
in Deadfall now; and next year, his profile will probably explode with Guillermo
del Toro’s Pacific Rim, which he’s starring in with Idris Elba, Charlie Day,
and Perlman again. The summer of 2013—that’s when I expect Hunnam’s face to be
staring out at me from posters plastered all over the place for del Toro’s
blockbuster. And I’m into it.
Until then, though, I’m going to have to comfort myself with the five
best things Hunnam does in Deadfall. Because even though I rolled my eyes every
time Wilde was onscreen and I got a little bored of Bana’s musings about
morality and death, I reiterate: Hunnam is a dreamboat.
1. He helps a damsel in distress! First and foremost, Hunnam as former boxer and ex-con Jay has manners.
Seeing Wilde’s Liza in trouble during a snowstorm, he immediately offers her a ride; eventually he works to protect Liza from her criminally insane brother Addison, played by Bana. So gentlemanly!
Protect me, Charlie Hunnam. With your body.
2. He takes revenge!
OK, that part of the movie—when Jay attacks his old boxing coach, whom he thinks gave Jay
up to the police for fixing a match—isn’t very gentlemanly. But like, I think we’re supposed to take the
revenge scene as an example of Jay’s moral code. If you do bad things, he will
punish you! I mean, he does bad things, too. But he’s pretty, so ...
3. Seriously guys, he
is so, so pretty. I can’t even handle it. Look at that face.
4. Most importantly,
that jawline! You may notice that in most of the still photos from Deadfall,
his jaw is set all angrily. To show us that he’s angry. He has some other
emotions in Deadfall, too—affectionate, resentful, defensive—but really, they’re
all some kind of variation on angry. Because that’s what Hunnam does best. Angry.
5. And lastly, he
takes off some clothes. WHICH CLEARLY MATTERS MOST HERE. I’m trying to make
male objectification happen, and Hunnam is really helping my case with that deliciously
muscular body. Thanks, bro. Thanks for standing up for feminism, without your
shirt on and with your butt out. We all appreciate it. 
