Already Dead Movie
Storyline
TAGLINES PLOT SUMMARY
Thomas Archer (Ron Eldard) had everything: a beautiful wife, a job as a senior associate at a powerful architecture firm, and a beautiful son. Until one fateful night, when his son was taken from him and his wife brutalized, sending Archer down a path of revenge.
| Til Schweiger | The Man |
| Ron Eldard | Thomas Archer |
| Patrick Kilpatrick | Detective |
| Geoffrey Pierson | Pierce |
| Marisa Coughlan | Sarah Archer |
| Christopher Plummer | Dr. Heller |
| Freddie Joe Farnsworth | Gunmen 1 |
| Bryan Friday | Unseen Attacker |
| Conery Hoffman | Van Driver |
| Henry Fleming Wood | Gunmen 2 |
| Victoria Vande Vegte | Amy |
| Joe Otting |
4.80 out of 10 (147 votes)
Visitor Reviews
Gets three stars for the acting
posted on 08 May 2009Thomas Archer (Ron Eldard) has his child killed and his wife viciously attacked in a home invasion. Dr. Heller (Christopher Plummer) tries to help him through the post traumatic stress. Then Archer finds himself confronted with a man (Til Schweiger) bound and gagged to a chair. He is told this is the man who killed his child and attacked his wife and he can do whatever he likes to him. And there's a large assortment of instruments there to help him...Film is interesting at first (and shows real restraint in terms of blood and gore) but gets stupider by the minute and has some highly unlikely plot twists and turns. It all ends in a final twist that was so old and stupid that I was shocked anyone would actually think of using it anymore. How such talented actors like Eldard, Schweiger and Plummer got involved in crap like this is beyond me. This gets three stars for the acting but the stupid plot and truly unbelievable twists make this a chore to sit through.
Pretty damn good
posted on 06 May 2009After reading the reviews on here I wasn't expecting much from this movie but I have to say that I definitely was surprised at how underrated this movie is.this movie has no big name actors but the acting is definitely solid. Til Sweiger isn't a huge actor but is a hell of a lot better than some bigger ones. The special effects, directing, and filming were all par with big movies. Overall its a very solid movie.Almost dead has a great plot line and does well mixing action and thriller moments. There's no good way to tell some of the twists without containing spoilers but its a definite must watch for people who like hostel and rambo.
Finish it. Get back your life.
posted on 23 Feb 2009An interesting twist to the typical revenge movie.Ron Eldard's life is turned upside down after his son is killed and his wife (Marisa Coughlan) is attacked during a burglary. This information is presented in brief flashbacks as he proceeds to a room where the supposed burglar is strapped to a chair and a table full of implements a la Hostel is available to him to exact his revenge.Christopher Plummer plays a psychiatrist that arranges for former law enforcement officers to find the perpetrator when the police fail. But, things don't go as planned and Eldard ends up running for his life.An exciting thriller with lots of action in the second half, and an unexpected ending.
Before I torture you... I'm gonna need to see some I.D.
posted on 13 Feb 2009A man's quest for vengeance results in his own fight for survival after a brutal home invasion ends with the death of his son. Justice is far from served after the police unexpectedly drop the case and issue him a shrink. Months later, after the sessions appear ineffective, his psychiatrist offers him contact with an underground source that will track down the killer and allow him a chance to get even. Things don't necessarily go according to plan when it turns out the man he is presented with and tortures in a secret industrial building is not the true perpetrator... This is a pretty entertaining movie - kind of combining a "Death Wish" and "Hostel" type of scenario at first, then shifting gears into a survival flick. Fairly suspenseful enjoyable movie with a few harsh death scenes.
Steady slide downhill......
posted on 17 Nov 2008Interesting premise of a secret organization that gives victims an opportunity for revenge when the judicial system fails. Unfortunately a similar idea was explored far better in "Star Chamber". Most of the movie takes place in an abandoned manufacturing building with hand held cameras. Everything is very dark, with much of the action almost impossible to see. Christopher Plummer is always above average, but here his character is used for nothing more than a well telegraphed twist at the end. So what you get is a good start, followed by a prolonged chase, and finally a no surprise "surprise ending". Not recommended - MERK
Watchable...though a little slow in the middle
posted on 26 Sep 2008I wasn't completely sure what to expect from this movie given the plot summary, title and no previous user comments.The movie starts slightly 'within' the story so we are given a few flashbacks at the beginning to let us know why this slightly dishevelled guy is walking with a big black bag (hmmm, I wonder what's in it!). However, although it seemed to start out pretty predictable, it was still intriguing enough for the first 15 minutes or so to keep me watching (that's my usual time limit before I decide to switch off or not).There are some twists and turns along the way, though the seasoned movie aficionado will probably guess them all anyway (I try not to work it out - I prefer to just sit back and go along with the ride). It does get a little slow in the middle, but then picks up again towards the end.The acting was fine, particularly Til Schweiger (The Man), who should be doing better in Hollywood than his Filmography suggests.If you like a bit of suspense and a bit of action without too much thinking, then I can recommend this movie. It wasn't terrible but it won't win any Oscars either. 6/10
surprisingly advanced and suspenseful thriller with some interesting twists
posted on 08 Sep 2008I have to be in the mood for thrillers as I often find them a little predictable. Not so with 'Already Dead'. (Btw, the title seems to be a very poor choice, coming from a glib one-liner in the movie and has no relevance to the plot whatsoever nor even to what you might think the plot might be.)When Archer's happy, affluent life as a ordinary man is destroyed in a moment of life's cruelty as a result of the murder of his young son, he and his wife are devastated by the tragedy. It is tearing him up inside and destroying his marriage. When without really thinking about the implications, he is given or led into a clandestine opportunity to get his own back, without recrimination upon himself, against the man who destroyed his life he embarks upon a course of actions that leads where he would never have expected. There are some surprises in store.In the hands of a different Director, this movie could have been so much better IMO, but for all its many Directorial faults, the acting skills of the people playing the main characters and a plausible storyline carry the film and make it eminently watchable, indeed, extremely suspenseful at times. Ron Eldard (Archer) and Til Schweiger (the 'man') are outstandingly good in their roles, although Plummer is just being a ham.There are times where the pace slows a little and I felt a little bored whilst waiting for something to happen where a better Director would have used suspenseful music or switched scene or added dialogue, also occasionally better lighting would have not been a bad idea - watching a black screen whilst two men are fighting but you can't see them is a bit frustrating. Nevertheless I was intensely interested to see what happened so I stuck with the movie despite the less skillful Direction.I am being rather generous with my rating at 8 stars, but the film deserves some merit for a very interesting storyline, convincingly portrayed by skillful actors despite only passably competent Direction.Worth watching to the end despite a few lulls in pace. Overall a good film, with a few twists and several incredibly tense scenes that should stop you switching it off. For all its faults, I enjoyed it.
Lame - SPOILERS
posted on 06 Jul 2008The premise of the film is that Thomas Archer's son was murdered and his wife was brutalized -- and he is given a chance at revenge when (after Post Traumatic Stress Disorder therapy), he is put in a room with a man strapped to a chair and told this was the culprit. He is given a large table of implements with which to offer retribution: drills, bats, nails, sledgehammers, torches, whatever you can think of that someone could possibly want to use to physically hurt another human being.We go way too many scenes of torture before we figure out that The Man Archer is torturing is not the man who committed the crime. The two then create an uncomfortable alliance; who put them in this situation and why.Well, when all is said and done, we don't really care...
I hope you are dumb enough not to realize this script is impossibly stupid.
posted on 02 Jul 2008This movie is deeply idiotic. A man wants revenge for a crime- but when he enacts his revenge- there is a video camera pointed right at him the entire time. What man with a brain cell in his head would sit there and do this for so long in front of a video camera?Just the fact that this script could never even happen except with someone unable to dress themselves destroyed it for me- but it got dumber!!!I am thinking the script writers have some serious habits that are cooking their brain cells and making them miss plot holes you can drive an battalion of armored tanks through.PLOT: a man seeks revenge for the death of loved ones, but in the middle of the plot something goes totally wrong, and then the unexpected unfolds.If only these people writing this story hadn't been so dumb as to write totally unrealistic plot turns that could never happen this way. To the writers I say- seek help for your serious mental problem.
Very watchable. Not many surprises, but good quality film
posted on 23 May 2008I enjoyed this film, for the most part. The acting was well done, lighting was good, and it had plenty of action to hold interest. One main point I liked, is that it will cause you to wonder if you might take the same risks and actions, as the father does, if you were in his shoes.It seemed every scene was valuable to the story, and character background. But, I thought the sequencing of certain scenes caused me to momentarily lose my focus on what was happening. I won't say what those are, or discuss any of what happens. I did wonder who plays the son. There was no mention of him in the credits, nor is that information on any movie review site that I've seen.
The Horror of an Avenging Mind
posted on 10 Jan 2008While the current trend in scary movies seems to be becoming the property of the Computer Generated Graphics industry, real terror comes from studying the possibilities of a human mind scarred by trauma. Such is the material that makes ALREADY DEAD a frightening film - a revenge story by Robert Lynn Archer transformed for the screen by Joe Chappelle and directed imaginatively by Joe Otting. If the theme of a citizen taking justice into his own hands is not new, it wears well enough when we consider the current state of criminal justice as portrayed in the media today.Thomas Archer (Ron Eldard) is living a successful, happy life until a burglary associated with the death of the babysitter and his son and the beating of his wife disrupts everything. Thomas is informed that the police don't have the manpower to investigate the killings, a fact that further enrages Thomas who is unable to work or function in his grief state. He is referred to a therapist Dr. Heller (Christopher Plummer) who oddly counsels him that perhaps the only way Thomas can get on with his life is to do everything in his power to track the killer down on his own. 'Arrangements' are made with a group of men (mostly frustrated cops) who inform Thomas that for a large fee they will take him to the killer and he can act on his vengeance. Transported by cellphone instructions to a deserted warehouse, Thomas encounters a bound and gagged man (Til Schweiger) who he is told is the killer of his son. Thomas begins his torture of the man only to gradually discover that the man does not bear the arm tattoo Thomas had clearly seen on the perpetrator. Dr. Heller is called to the scene and encourages Thomas to kill the suspect, but Thomas has enough doubt that he frees the suspect and together they begin a terrifying journey out of the maze-like warehouse. The ending may not come as a complete surprise, but it is the telling of the story as basically a character study between the two men that makes the film powerful.Both Ron Eldard and Til Schweiger are completely convincing in their not so disparate roles: they both have very strong screen presences and with minimal dialog manage to take us, the audience, along with this creepy 'game'. There is some violence to be sure, but the terror of the film emanates more from the interaction of Eldard and Schweiger, each showing the extremes the bruised psyche can display. Not a great film but a film far above the routine 'horror picture' category. Grady Harp
A Superb Action Thriller!
posted on 03 Jun 2009It seems strange to me that we live in an age where scripts for mediocre thrillers such as "Firewall" can draw a big name like Harrison Ford whilst this little gem goes seemingly unnoticed. However, don't let the absence of any A-list Hollywood names stop you from checking out "Already Dead" because Ron Eldard and Til Schweiger are perfectly cast here. Never heard of them? Don't worry - you'll probably recognise them when you see their faces and, if there really is a God, they'll both soon headline much bigger movies.What's fantastic about "Already Dead" is that it doesn't waste time getting into the story. The movie begins with events set in motion. Our first scene introduces us to Thomas Archer, a man evidently in some degree of emotional turmoil, as he walks through a train station with a large bag. What's in the bag? As he makes his journey towards his destination the audience is given brief flashbacks which bring you up to speed on what has already happened. As the present events unfold, the flashbacks continue until they intersect at a specific point and Thomas Archer is posed with a terrible decision.I won't mention any more of the storyline because, for me, one of the highlights was the way in which it progressed. Another review on IMDb mentioned the lack of surprises which makes me wonder if we saw the same movie. I was continually wondering about the motivations of certain characters (in particular, Schweiger's character who is simply known as 'The Man') and the ending I predicted never occurred (yet still fully satisfied me). I also have to take issue with another reviewer's comments that the movie was 'slow in the middle'. I didn't find that all.Despite "Already Dead" being a very polished production, it is deliberately filmed in a very raw way which mainly uses hand-held cameras to make you feel as though you're there with Archer during the movie. Good performances from the two leads as well as the supporting actors (Patrick Kilpatrick and Christopher Plummer) ensure that you're gripped throughout. It also manages to not outstay its welcome; there certainly weren't any moments when I found myself looking at my watch. If you like smart thrillers with lots of action, I'd definitely recommend checking out "Already Dead". I'd also recommend not reading about the plot beforehand. Watch it without any knowledge of what will be happening and you'll find yourself pleasantly surprised.