.co.uk

Before I begin, I’d like to get a couple of things straight: 1. Heat, the film which first paired Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in their leading roles, will never be beaten (despite everyone’s dreaming); and 2. The aforementioned are still two of the finest actors living, as I speak, and are always worth the cinema admission fee.

While not living up to all the hype, Righteous Kill is at still at least a very respectable movie, mainly thanks to the two men in the leading roles. We're introduced to Turk (De Niro) confessing, in the present tense, to killing fourteen people during his time as detective, and each time leaving a poem next to the corpses. He first crossed the line some years ago by planting evidence on a child killer who was aloud to walk free after a trial; the unjust judicial system, he explains, was the reason for his growing impatience with the law (“Most people respect the badge. Everyone respects the gun.”)

At the time of the murders, Rooster (Pacino) kept stum about the victims and stood by his partner because he believed justice had been served. However, their superior (Brian Dennehy, First Blood) didn’t trust them to solve the case of the “unknown” serial killer by themselves, and put two of his younger guns (John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg) on their tales. There has become a growing suspicion within the preccinct that the killer may be a cop, and as the investigation into the mystery of the killer develops, we’re treated to an interesting -- if predictable – plot twist towards the end.

There’s a mixture of good and bad in Righteous Kill. I’ll start with the bad: Seriously, 50 Cent, opposite two of the finest actors of all time, has to be a joke, right? O.K., so he wasn’t in the film as much as many feared he would be, but the guy still sucks… big time, and shouldn’t have ever been considered for the casting here. The film loses kudos for that fact alone.

Secondly, the script (written by Inside Man's Russell Gewirtz) doesn’t really feel like a “De Niro/Pacino script" should do; it prefers to use gimmicks over the usual fascinating mob logic that we are used to seeing in the older movies starring the two actors. It's a sharp contrast to Heat, that's for sure, and is a little difficult to stomach at first.

Now the good: Pacino and De Niro are simply irresistible and carry this movie; I said the script was gimmicky, but the legends manage to transform themselves and become the characters. In recent comeback actioner movies like the new Indiana Jones film and Die Hard 4.0, we have become familiar with how the script pokes fun at the age of the old, headlining men with this whole “It’s not as easy as it used to be” theme. Well, in Righteous Kill, De Niro's character fucks the local chick cop (Carla Gugino) then Pacino's character steps up, cheekily, and jokes that he and his partner like to share everything ("[Turk] wants you to have sex with me"). Being as talented as both these actors are, they manage to pull off such cheeseball lines and still maintain their dignity; they’re old men still having fun, and I don’t particularly mind that or blame them for it.

Righteous Kill may not be the comeback movie that many Pacino/De Niro fans had hoped for, but I’ll still definitely remember it for the performances of the two leading men. They may be getting on now, but as long as they keep making movies I’m gonna keep watching them -- if only to witness their acting talents once more.
 

(C) Andy Carrington, 2009.