Review of Righteous Kill (2008) by Chads. — 13 Sep 2008

All aging actors reach a critical point of diminishing vim and collapsing vigor; to pretend otherwise, that the whatever-genarian isn't within shouting distance with his own mortality, would put a strain on the audience's suspension of disbelief.

From John Wayne in "The Shootist" to Clint Eastwood in "Blood Work", the savvy actor knows its audience have a long memory; they'll remember the younger version of themselves with fondness, so he uses his weathered face like a Dorian Gray canvas to comment on his own body of work.

But not seventies icons Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro, who both act like they have appointments in Samarra. Since rappers are noted to adore Brian DePalma's "Scarface", the hip-hop setting in "Righteous Kill" is a clever acknowledgment of the black music community's love affair with Pacino's Tony Montana.

(SPOILER ALERT!) When Rooster shoots Spider(50 Cent), it's like a kiss on the cheek, a note of thanks to the rap industry. Too bad it's not Pacino who does it doggy-style with Carla Gugino, then he could yell, "Say hello to my little friend," over Gugino's cries of "Harder! Harder!" DeNiro, by the way, is sixty-five-years-old; Gugino, thirty-seven.

"Righteous Kill" is a routine police procedural with a denouement that insults the audience by cheating. Parceled throughout the film, Turk(Robert DeNiro) imparts a confession of sorts, in great length, on grainy black-and-white video, but when the moment of its recording is revealed, moviegoers will notice that the running time of his monologue doesn't match what they previously heard in its totality.

Turk uses a notebook for reference, but in the video, he's always looking straight into the camera. "Righteous Kill" doesn't cheat to the extent of Frank Oz's "The Stepford Wives", or Alexandre Aja's "Haute Tension", but the filmmaker owes his audience a plausible twist ending that checks out.