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It also doesn't help that the story gets sidetracked by a lot of unnecessary details, such as the rough sex with Corelli, red herrings that disappear as quickly as they appear, and a subplot involving a young coke-sniffing lawyer (Trilby Glover) that goes absolutely nowhere. But there are enough small clues sprinkled throughout that attract so much attention to themselves, they confirm the identity of the killer—by mid-film, I knew who was responsible, what their motive was, and how it would be revealed. There's just nothing very subtle about the movie's mystery.

Brian Dennehy as the gruff lieutenant

Which leaves us with our two central actors, and admittedly, they do play well off of each other, but then we knew that going in. There are a couple of sweetly affecting scenes between Pacino and De Niro, particularly an exchange in a restaurant where the cops express their admiration to each other. But more often than not, Pacino is doing his usual overacting, De Niro his underacting, neither doing more than what we've seen from them in better movies.

Righteous Kill is diverting because of the leads and a somewhat tricky storyline that does offer some payoff, but getting there is awfully frustrating at times. Especially when we've seen similar stories done better, and know that these actors have done better. As far as De Niro-Pacino interaction, I'll take five minutes of Heat to a hundred minutes of Righteous Kill any day.

>Talk About It

1. What does Righteous Kill say about our justice system? Is it typical for people to be wrongfully accused and convicted by cops? Or is it saying criminals are too often acquitted on technicalities? What does the Bible say about submitting to authority and the law? (See Romans 13)
2. What about the notion of justice? Is it right for people to take justice into our own hands outside of the law? Is that disobeying God's will or is it carrying out his will?
3. One of the cops says he loses his faith as a result of a criminal being acquitted. Why do you suppose his faith is affected in that way? Do you believe it takes more faith to act in justice or to wait patiently for God's justice?
4. What's your opinion of Turk by the film's end? Is he a good cop, or "a righteous man" as one character puts it? Is our opinion shaped at all by other characters who admire him most?

The Family Corner

Righteous Kill is rated R for violence, pervasive language, some sexuality, and brief drug use. The violence involves some shootings and beatings, and there's a brief shot of a child corpse, but there's nothing graphic overall. However, since this is a movie about New York cops starring De Niro and Pacino, the pervasive language should come as no surprise—f-bombs seem to drop every minute. A few rough sex scenes involving De Niro and Gugino are graphic and excessive, even though there's no nudity involved. Also, a young woman is briefly shown snorting heroin or cocaine, and there's a pedophile priest in a brief subplot, though there's no depiction of any pedophilia.

Photos © Copyright Overture Films

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