2008 Movie #108 - Righteous Kill
It's almost impossible to start this review (or any review for this movie by the looks of things) without mentioning of course the long overdue team up between DeNiro and Pacino. We were given a glimmer by the one scene in Heat and ever since just about damn near every man, woman, child, animal, alien, lifeform in the galaxy wanted more. Well we finally have the movie starring the two of them and after all this time...this is really all we get?
This thing should have been just epic. These two should have starred in the mother of all motherfucking awesome movies. This should have gone back to both of their glory days. The days of Goodfellas, Casino, Scarface, Godfather...those kinds of movies. Instead this one is more in line with both actors recent work, including classics such as Hide and Seek, Simone, 88 Minutes, Showtime, and the list sadly goes on and on.
The storyline isn't bad, but it's not too investing either. You've seen it before, something I've said in just about every damn review I've written in the last two weeks. It also takes some turns that you will most likely have seen coming maybe 4 seconds into the movie. It also seemed eerily long for a movie that actually only runs like 90 minutes. I remember being blown away how early it was when we walked out of the theatre. I was sure we had been in there for at least a half hour longer, not a feeling you want your movie to give people.
I'll admit this movie wasn't quite the intense train wreck I had built it up to be in my mind, but that's only because of the strength of the actors. Not just the main two, but the supporting characters all do well with what they have too. If it wasn't for this cast it would be an average run of the mill thriller with nothing memorable about it.
Because of this, I really don't understand what it was about this movie that attracted this level of talent to it. It certainly couldn't have been the script, with it's subpar story and cliched dialogue, which also features a lot of very unfunny one-liners, that may have been improvised but god I hope not. I have to assume the actors involved (especially our leads) were offered just assloads of money for this because it's really the only rational explanation I can think of. Then again...Hide and Seek and 88 Minutes.
As it is, the movie is watchable and decent for the most part, but you can't help but always think how much better it should have been. The first (and sadly probably the last) huge team up between two of the best actors ever should have been great. This is all we get though, and the sooner we deal with that, the sooner we can move onto the awesomeness that will be motherfucking Lakeview Terrace.
** 1/2 / 5 (maybe a little generous but it gets points for beating expecations and hey, it still had Deniro and Pacino)
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