Righteous Kill

Starring: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, 50 Cent, Carla Gugino, John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy, Melissa Leo
Directed by: Jon Avnet
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Crime
2008

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Two veteran cops (Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino) hunt a serial killer who seems to only kill criminals who got away with their crimes. As they investigate further, they soon believe it may be a cop behind the grisly murders.

Review:

Tim: I cannot understand how I (or anyone) could feel ambivalent about a crime drama starring Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. These are two of cinema's greatest actors, and this marks only their second collaboration, and first with major screen time together. And yet, from the start, I felt completely underwhelmed by this movie. It didn't look particularly good, and it seemed like a poor vehicle for DeNiro and Pacino to take. Sadly, my initial reservations proved to be true. This movie is wholly unworthy of having such amazing actors in the lead role.

Now, I will admit that for a while, it is very fun to watch DeNiro and Pacino on screen together. Heat was a great movie, but it left you sorely wishing these two titans had more screen time. This film gives us that time. Unfortunately, the script is almost complete trash. It is such a dumb movie, with bad dialogue, and feels no different from countless other cop dramas. The only saving grace is DeNiro and Pacino.

Now, neither one of these men give particularly great performances. They seem to truly relish the opportunity to be on screen together, but otherwise, are fairly disinterested in being in this movie. At certain points, you almost felt like they were mailing it in. That feeling pervades everything about this movie- it feels like, instead of trying to make a good movie, they instead opted for the Pacino-DeNiro gimmick, hoping no one would realize that the movie itself isn't very good.

Now, this is too bad, because the movie does have a great cast. John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg, Brian Dennehy, and Carla Gugino all add in decent performances. Even 50 Cent isn't bad. I wish the script had been better, because this entire supporting cast isn't as effective as they could have been, because they didn't have much to work with. That is a shame.

Righteous Kill seemed to completely telegraph the movie's ending. The entire film, I felt like the story was giving too much away. I was worried that I predicted the ending from the first five minutes. However, I will admit that the film had a few tricks up its sleeves. Unfortunately, I wasn't wowed by the twists and turns, I was struggling to believe what I was seeing. It was difficult to buy into anything that happened in this movie. As much as I wish I loved this movie, it can only be described as a total disappointment and an incredible waste of talent.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Heat, Serpico, Casino, Taxi Driver, 88 Minutes