Righteous Kill
Review by Russ Breimeier | posted 9/12/2008
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Righteous Kill
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MPAA rating: R
(for violence, pervasive language, some sexuality, and brief drug use)
Genre: Crime, Drama
Theater release:
September 12, 2008
by Overture Films
Directed by: Jon Avnet
Runtime: 1 hour 41 minutes
Cast: Robert De Niro (Det. David "Turk" Fisk), Al Pacino (Det. Thomas "Rooster" Cowan), Carla Gugino (Karen Corelli), Donnie Wahlberg (Det. Ted Riley), John Leguizamo (Det. Simon Perez), Curtis Jackson (Spider), Brian Dennehy (Lt. Hingis), Trilby Glover (Jessica)
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Robert De Niro and Al Pacino—both originally from New York City, both about the same age, both made their film debut around the same time, and both considered legends among American actors. Yet it's taken them this long in their 40-year careers to finally star in a film together.
Oh sure, they've been in the same movie before. There was The Godfather, Part II back in 1974, but they never actually shared any screen time. Then there was Heat in 1995, but they only had two scenes together, one with dialogue.
So at last there's Righteous Kill, though the crime drama wasn't originally intended for both aging veterans. De Niro's co-star was meant to be a younger cop to play off his older partner, but De Niro suggested Pacino, and the part was rewritten slightly. Naturally, director Jon Avnet (Fried Green Tomatoes, Red Corner) and screenwriter Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man) were game, and why not? Movie fans want to this movie to succeed for its iconic pairing.
De Niro and Pacino in a buddy cop movie, sort of
Alas, here's proof again that a strong cast alone is not enough to make a strong movie. Keep in mind that both actors have been sliding for years now. Anyone see De Niro in Hide and Seek? Painful. Or Pacino in 88 Minutes (also directed by Avnet)? Equally bad. Righteous Kill aspires to the gritty cop dramas from Sidney Lumet in the '70s, as well as the nebulous noir of Bryan Singer's The Usual Suspects, but it struggles to rise above direct-to-video fare.
Here's betting most viewers won't know what to make of Righteous Kill, because it never really settles into a groove for the first reel. The choppy editing of the opening credits attempt to set this up as a buddy cop film, like Tango & Cash meets Grumpy Old Men. NYPD detectives David "Turk" Fisk (De Niro) and Thomas "Rooster" Cowan (Pacino) shoot target practice together, they work out together, they catch the bad guys, they joke—the best of friends, they're all cop and all New York.
Then the film takes an odd twist. With shades of Clive Owen's opening from Inside Man, we see Internal Affairs viewing grainy video footage of Turk confessing that he's the one responsible for a recent series of vigilante killings, targeting criminals acquitted of murder, drug dealing, and other crimes. Yet as we hear the confession (presumably present day), we also see Turk and Rooster on the job leading a drug bust (days or weeks before?). Bits and pieces of Turk's confession are sprinkled throughout the first half, usually accompanying the murders as they happen, along with the four-line poem that the killer leaves as a calling card with each victim.
Carla Gugino has a thing for De Niro's character
Clearly everything is not as it seems. Either the film is admitting that Turk is the bad guy from the start, or else someone is framing him. Or maybe it's someone in a really good De Niro mask. Or maybe we're meant to think Turk is being framed when he really is the bad guy. Loaded with misdirection, it's a play off the conventional catch-the-killer cop movie, where we determine the identity of the bad guy by also questioning the identity of the good guy.
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