I was hoping Righteous Kill would boost Robert De Niro and Al Pacino back to who they used to be. I’m not talking back to Taxi Driver or The Godfather, but in the past few years it has not been too pretty. Besides the Meet The Parents movie and its sequel, DeNiro has not done anything good. And Pacino’s last movie, 88 Minutes, is terrible!
Righteous Kill turned out to be pretty good. At first, I thought the surprise was ruined as soon as the movie began, but as it continues, there is a twist that could catch you by surprise. It is actually kind of smart. They want you to think the killer in the movie has been found, but not until the end will you realize what is really going on. The characters that they play really fit with their personalities. DeNiro is hot-tempered, always wanting to settle the score by violence. Pacino seems calm and collected. He almost seems like nothing bothers him. The narration plays a big part in this movie.
It is awesome to see DeNiro and Pacino on screen together. This movie’s marketing plan was to make you want to go see it just because of them. The main focus is on the actors instead of the story. The sad part is the story is pretty good. It is not great and we have seen it before, but it is about a cop serial killer who is actually killing bad guys. It is a little different than the rest. But, because Pacino and DeNiro have only been in one other movie together (Heat) and they only spent maybe a minute sharing a scene, the marketers wanted to build it around the actors. So to see these acting legends together is cool, but the material could have been better. However, the material that director Jon Avnet has to work with is a lot better than some each have done in a long time.
Brandon Vick is a member of The Music City Film Critics’ Association, the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and the star of The Vick’s Flicks Podcast. Follow him on Twitter @SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
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