ALRIGHT!! DeNiro and Pacino are back together on the big screen for the first time since Michael Mann’s “Heat” which came out 13 years ago. Once again… OH MY GOD!!! It’s been that long since it came out??? Now, let's get back to the movie at hand, “Righteous Kill.” Whereas DeNiro and Pacino only had a few choice scenes in “Heat,” and they played characters inhabiting different timelines in “The Godfather Part II,” this is actually the first movie they have done together where they share a considerable amount of screen time together. That is the major selling point of this Jon Avnet directed mystery-thriller that was written by Russell Gewirtz (“Inside Man”). Who doesn’t want two of the greatest actors for years to appear together in a film again? That sold me immediately.
Well, there ain’t nothin’ righteous about this here movie. “Righteous Kill” would be nothing more than one of many made for TV movies that we see about every other week if it were not for the teaming of these two titans of actors in film. The movie is routine and clichéd to say the least, and it involves things we have seen before in many other movies of this kind. It’s a whodunit, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who the killer is long before the movie is finished.
DeNiro and Pacino play veteran detectives of the NYPD who are investigating the murders of various criminals ranging from a pimp to a rapist, and it soon becomes clear (you think?) that this is the work of a serial killer who leaves behind notes of rhyming phrases as to why he kills who he kills. DeNiro plays Turk who, as Pacino points out later in the film, is “a cop who cares.” Turk gets emotionally high strung when the bad guy gets off scott free. This leads him to at one point to plant evidence on a criminal who got away with murdering a 10-year old girl. While you almost can’t blame him for doing that, the ethical issue of this event eats away at both of the cops.
Pacino plays Turk’s partner, Rooster, who says he looks up to Turk as a role model of what a cop should be. These two seem made for each other as partners on the force who would never rat each other. But as the movie goes on, they start to doubt each other as it becomes clearer that it may very well be a cop behind these killings. So as a result, each detective becomes more and more paranoid of each other as the walls close in on the both of them. If they fail to catch the murderer, they may find the past coming back to haunt them.
The main problem I had with “Righteous Kill” is that it feels no different from hundreds of other mystery-thrillers involving cops solving mysterious crimes. As a result, you cannot help but feel that Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino are slumming in this movie. They have both played dozens of cops over their collective decades long careers, so believing them as cops is no real problem. But because of that, it feels like they are just going through the motions here. There is nothing particularly special or memorable about this movie, because it involves situations that we have all collectively been through before.
What’s especially depressing about this movie is watching Robert DeNiro. On one hand, it is great to see him in a dramatic role again after being in the comedy realm for so long. Don’t get me wrong, I like the fact he switched to comedy for awhile because it shows that he does have a sense of humor about the image that he has created over the years for himself. But it feels like DeNiro is not really trying here. He’s not necessarily bad, but I have to say this, it feels like our good friend Rob was just phoning it in. Let’s face it; he can play this role in his sleep.
As for Pacino, he has the same problem as DeNiro does. I remember reading an article on him once about how he almost retired from acting because he kept getting asked to play cops or detectives. Why he didn’t bother to keep himself from playing a detective after all these years is beyond me. His role here as Rooster (seriously, that’s how it’s listed on IMDB) is really nothing more than a variation of other cops he has played in the past. We know he can play this role in his sleep, just like DeNiro can. But there’s no magic to what Pacino does here. You’d figure that a brilliant actor like him would find some different take on the role so that it didn’t just remind you of all the other cops he has played in the past and far more successfully.
The movie does have a strong cast of actors to keep the movie rolling along. Brian Dennehy, who I feel like I don’t see enough these days, plays Lieutenant Hingis who is the commanding officer of Turk and Rooster. It’s another clichéd role of the superior officer prodding away at their detectives to get the job and close the case. To Dennehy’s credit, he doesn’t make his character too much of a blowhard like we usually see in these kinds of movies, but it doesn’t change the fact that the character is a flat out cliché. You also have the always entertaining John Leguizamo who plays a detective who (of course) butts heads with DeNiro’s character along with his partner played by Donnie Whalberg. It’s also nice to see Donnie in this movie because it is a good reminder that there is more to him than his boy band that is kryptonite to my ears, New Kids On The Block.
One of the strongest and most interesting performances in “Righteous Kill” comes from Carla Gugino who was quite the picture in “Sin City,” and had also done great work in movies like “Spy Kids” and “American Gangster” among others. She plays Karen Corelli, a detective/medical examiner who is always meeting up with DeNiro and Pacino at crime scenes, and to say she sizzles onscreen here is to say the least. She brings a great edge and energy to the role which the other actors could have used more of. Throughout this movie, she holds us at attention and keeps things interesting while the movie heads into routine territory. Even while her character beds DeNiro, she boasts of spending time with other men as well. Whether or not you agree with what she does throughout the movie, she is one of the strongest female characters I have seen in a movie this year who really doesn’t need any support from anybody. Too bad her performance is not enough to save this movie.
Other than that, you have Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson as Spider, a club owner/drug dealer who ends up in painful altercations with DeNiro and Pacino’s detectives. Typecasting to say the least, Curtis is kind of fun to watch here even if this movie does not show him to be much of an actor. Melissa Leo, who was so great this summer in “Frozen River,” has a powerfully played moment as a mother of a 10-year old daughter that was brutally murdered. The only problem is that once she plays her scene to a powerful and emotional peak, she is tossed off just as quickly. What a shame it is for her to be wasted like that after such a powerful moment.
Jon Avnet directed “Righteous Kill,” and he also directed Pacino in a movie that came out a few months earlier this year, “88 Minutes.” Now, I haven’t seen that one, but I have yet to hear anything good about it. Just from watching the trailer of that movie, it looked like it would be filled with major gaps in logic. There was one point in the trailer for the movie, which deals with a character who has been marked for death in 88 minutes, where he comes across a car that has 54 or so minutes left painted on it. And I wondered, how did this guy know when Pacino was gonna come around to that car at that time? What if Pacino was a few minutes early or a few minutes late, what if the timing was off? Would that killer be near the car with his paint and brushes in case he got the timing down wrong? I can just see the guy standing there, realizing Pacino ain’t showin’ up right there and then, and he’s all:
“Oh shit! Dammit! What time is it now? I got to redo this!”
Anyway, back to this supposedly righteous movie at hand. “Righteous Kill” is probably filled with as many inconsistencies as “88 Minutes” had, and to tell you what they are will easily give away key points in this movie. But long before the movie is over, you will be able to figure out who the killer is. This robs the movie of any mystery it hopes to have, and it all leads to a climax which is not all that different from the end of “Heat” with DeNiro and Pacino together. It’s almost like a reversal of it. By the end, I no longer cared who did what, and I came out of this movie a little sad. To see these two great actors sink so low as to do a movie like this.
None of the cleverness and fun of Russell Gewirtz’s script for “Inside Man” is on display, and this makes it a really bad year for director Jon Avnet. It’s almost enough to make you forget that he made the wonderful “Fried Green Tomatoes” years back. After all these years, are DeNiro and Pacino too old to play these kinds of roles? I prefer to think not. I mean, it’s not like they’re running for President of the United States or anything. Both actors I believe still have great work ahead of them as they had before, but this is not one of those films you will remember them best for. Trust me, you’ll forget about it very soon.
*1/2 out of ****
