Review of Righteous Kill (2008) by Andy O — 23 Sep 2009

I remember choosing to watch this film on the back of its trailer, then I read on IMDB that it was nominated for a Razzie so I was very nervous watching this movie.

It actually isn't that bad and is to be honest an average cop movie there are however many flaws to this movie.

Firstly I'm sorry to be disrespectful to two fine actors but Robert De Niro and Al Pacino are too old to play cops.

I felt that I was being distracted from the story because throughout I was wondering if De Niro was going to need oxygen after running or whether Al Pacino was going to do his knee in.

It is clear to me that this movies success or lack of it was always going to depend on the interaction between the main two characters (De Niro and Pacino) and well this interaction was wooden and out of place as well as in many cases painfully stereotypical like you father telling you how to dance in a club and performing Saturday Night Fever.

Moreover I felt that the movie glossed over many important points leading the sequence of events to be so implausible that one was left placing the film in a historical setting for the filmmakers as it couldn't be truly representative of modern day policing.

I was impressed by the twist though and to be honest I didn't see it coming (this might have been something to do with the fact I watched this at midnight but I will give the filmmakers credit).

The script did feel very basic though and well I believe with better casting it might have reached the 3 star mark but really purely for the presence of geriatric leads I give it 2.0 stars.