Righteous Kill

'Righteous Kill' remains a mystery to me. You're asking to yourself the question 'How come with such solid actors, Jon Avnet achieves to ruin the movie?'. You see, that's the problem. He focus so much on the Deniro/Pacino duet that he totally forgets the movie. What may have been a promising idea, is totally ruined by the director.

The movie has an interesting plot, but I don't know why I still feel that there are many flaws in it, many holes that burry the film, due to an ignorant error by the director.

However, it wasn't all that bad. Overall, the acting was good and that tag line 'Most people respect the badge. Everybody respects the gun' really is quite something...but wasted. It's a passable 101 minutes popcorn thriller, that isn't bad but it isn't good also. It's something I can't quite figure out what.

I'll give it a five out of ten: five for the acting and the premise minus five for the bad, if not terrible, execution.

This film has a lot of problem, but the great performances of its stars still make it worth seeing at the theater. The twist was way too predictable (I had it solved half an hour in, and I'm usually unable to figure out twists way ahead of time) and the script wasn't very impressive. The direction is OK, but nothing special. There were some pretty funny moments and one liners though. The only thing that makes this better than a sub-par thriller is De Niro and Pacino, both of whom put in great performances and really save this movie. The supporting actors do just fine, but are overshadowed. I was really anxious for a movie in which the pair finally share some significant screen time together, and this movie was about as good as could be expected, considering the makers of the film.

It isn't the best movie out right now (try Burn After Reading), but I do recommend going to see this one. I give it 7/10. I hope Robert De Niro and Al Pacino team up again, hopefully with a better screenplay and director.

Turk (Robert De Niro) and Rooster (Al Pacino) are longtime NYC police partners, in this Jon Avnet thriller that has them trying to stop an unknown serial killer, a person who leaves a poem at the scene of each crime. Victims are law-breakers who were freed on legal technicalities. Two other cops, played by John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg, become suspicious of the investigation, and this hampers the efforts of Turk and Rooster.

The script on which the film is based is rather poor. The setup is muddled; none of the characters are especially sympathetic, and secondary characters are not well defined. Further, "Righteous Kill" is not that much different from other serial killer or urban crime films.

The mood here is dark, and the tone is rather cynical. Characters go out of their way to telegraph their toughness by using lots of "hard" language. There's an edginess to the characters, and that's okay. But I could have wished for a character with some degree of softness. That would have provided much needed balance to the overall tonal savagery.

Without a doubt, the film's best element is the acting. There's not a weak performance in the bunch. Of course, the focus is on De Niro and Pacino. This is really their film. And it's their camaraderie, their back and forth playful banter, that makes the film worth watching. Production design and costumes are credible. Color cinematography is generally dark, consistent with the story's mood.

In spite of a weak script, "Righteous Kill" does provide some good plot misdirection that will leave viewers unsure as to the story's outcome. But the film's main virtue is the casting of De Niro and Pacino, two contemporary screen legends whose performances here are quite good.

It is what you would expect from Al Pacino and Robert De Niro. They've been doing these kind of roles for the past 30 years of their acting life. Applause, but no surprise there.

The film itself was not a blast. Totally predictable plot, stereotype good cop bad cop, drug dealers, bad neighborhood were huge minus to this movie. Lack of character development made the film implausible and some parts inconvicible no matter how great the acting was. Finally, the director's abuse of dramatic music without much happening throughout the film slowly eats away your patience.

Six out of ten is what I will give, 3 from Al Pacino and 3 from Robert De Niro.

If 2008 has given us, as the moving going public, any blunt conclusions it would be that Al Pacino should stay away from Jon Avnet. Chalked up to director Avnet's resume this cycle are two films ranging from mediocre to painful, and both starring Pacino, whose display of acting coincidently ranges from mediocre to painful. In April we were subjected to the long-shelved travesty which was 88 minutes, and now in the fall months, we see the pair unite again for the much buzzed Robert DeNiro/Pacino contemplation Righteous Kill. While significantly better then Avnet's earlier fare, the production is by no means seamless.

Scripted by Inside Man writer Russell Gewirtz, Righteous Kill is neither as smart nor as crisply formulated as that Spike Lee venture. A number of similar elements appear however, the most blatant being the opening act, video diary style confession which was utilized so well previously. In Inside Man, such an introduction had a purpose and a destination, which in turn progresses the narrative. Here, its only purpose is to throw the viewer off kilter, to smudge the holes in the script and the clichés surrounding the story and characters. The worst about such a choice is not that it does not work (which to reiterate, it does not) but that it is so obvious the mechanism's purpose is to lead the viewer astray, that there is no longer any surprise to where the story is headed.

Grizzled New York detectives Rooster (Pacino) and Turk (DeNiro) claim to have 120 years experience between them. Reaching the end of their respective careers, both have a deep passion for their work, and a strong comradely with their partner. While on the trail of a high level dope dealer known as Spider (Curtis (50 Cent) Jackson), they are thrust into a series of murders that have suspicious coincidences. All have been perpetrated against known scum, and all scenes are accompanied by a short poem. No it's not a Batman crossover featuring the Riddler, but a serial killer with a penchant for rhymes and a methodology that echoes like a cop. As the body's build, as does the evidence that the cop in question may be Turk, and soon fellow servicemen Det. Perez (John Leguizamo) Det. Riley (Donnie Wahlberg) and Turk's sexual deviant fling, Officer Corelli (Carla Gugino), join in the hunt for evidence.

There are strong segments displayed here, and earnest performances by the cast lead by Pacino and DeNiro who, collectively, are almost able to elevate the film from its cradle of mediocrity. Yet the aforementioned successful portions only create a harsh contrast against the doldrums that are the movies lulls. Righteous Kill is crisply shot and continually gritty but its glossy exterior is most unbefitting of a film of such calibre. When the final act comes, and all is revealed it seems egregiously forced, as so much time is spent pilling the blame on one, that when we are told the truth, the shift is jolting. So in an attempt to compensate we are dusted with a 30 second montage of flashbacks that do little to offer insight or believable motives for the actions of the guilty. Continually creating doubt in the viewer is the backbone of any successful thriller, and one that Righteous Kill is determined to ignore. Instead we are drilled with a monotonous and seemingly very self-determined direction for the bulk of the film, only to have our linen table cloth yanked from beneath our plates and replaced by a burlap sack.

Avnet does have skill, but he needs to have faith in his direction and depart from clichés and unnecessary diversions. As for Pacino and DeNiro, this film may serve as a career tipping point for these greats who have not graced the screen together since Michael Mann's epic, Heat. If Righteous Kill proves one thing, it is that casting legendary actors does not equate to an immediate success; they can push it an extra mile further then most, but there has to be gas in the tank to start.

View all my reviews at Simon Says Movie Reviews: www.simonsaysmovies.blogspot.com