Review of Righteous Kill (2008) by Jack F — 25 Jun 2009
"Righteous Kill" certainly benefitted from an ad campaign that greatly hyped the pairing of Hollywood legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, who finally share some significant screen time. I mean, how could a movie with both Travis Bickle and Michael Corleone go wrong? Well.
..let's start with the plot. There is NOTHING original here as De Niro and Pacino trail a serial killer--who may or may not be a cop--who is taking out the scum of the earth. I say "may or may not be," but c'mon, we all know the answer to that.
Considering all the main characters are cops and the movie makes a point of hiding the killer's identity, we can reasonably conclude that the killer will end up being one of the main characters and thus, by default, a cop.
Big surprise! When we finally learn the killer's identity, that's no shocker either. I saw this one coming a mile away, as I'm sure most viewers will. De Niro and Pacino are both solid--I love De Niro's delivery of the line "Most people respect the badge, everybody respects the gun''--but their presence elevates this film only to mediocre status.
Whether or not they are reason enough to see the movie, I'll leave for you to decide. Here's hoping that the next time they team up, they choose a better, more original script in which to do it.
This review of Righteous Kill (2008) was written by Jack F on 25 Jun 2009.
Righteous Kill has generally received mixed reviews.
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