Film Review: Righteous Kill

Righteous Kill
Directed by Jon Avnet
Released September 12, 2008

“Righteous Kill” is a violent crime thriller directed by Jon Avnet and starring Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. The setup is simple – De Niro and Pacino are New York City cops hot on the trail of a serial killer, who may just be a cop. Both of the film’s stars are established, veteran actors who have more than proven themselves in crime and mobster films over the past three decades. This history sets up the actors, who previously starred together in “The Godfather: Part II” and “Heat,” for an exciting reunion. Unfortunately, it’s all too clear that the filmmakers are relying solely on the actors to carry the movie, rather than trying to craft a decent film around them.

To be fair, serial killer movies are tough. “Silence of the Lambs” and “Seven” are some of the few films that have managed to pull it off well. Other films like “Copycat,” “Taking Lives” and “Suspect Zero” have faded into the graveyards of movie history because they couldn’t hope to offer anything original. “Righteous Kill,” despite its pedigree stars, falls all too securely in the latter category. Its serial killer is described as incredibly clever and inventive, while the film shows that there’s really nothing daring or difficult about the way he offs his victims or sets up his pattern. The movie isn’t content to leave viewers dissatisfied with an unoriginal plot, and therefore a shocking twist comes at the end which is only surprising because it makes so little sense. Nothing in the film leads up to that moment – it’s as if the rug has been yanked out from under everything but there’s nothing to find under it.

On top of the unoriginal storyline, the dialogue is abysmal and the characters are one-note and entirely dense. De Niro and Pacino are way past their prime, giving the same tired performances in film after film, De Niro as the irritable old grump and Pacino as the crazy-eyed mentor. Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo, so fascinating on opposite sides of the law in the recent TV miniseries “The Kill Point,” are here reduced to playing dumb cops whose startling realizations come at least half an hour after audience members should be able to solve the case. Add in a poorly used Carla Gugino, a lazy Brian Dennehy, and an unnecessarily cast 50 Cent and there’s not even one member of the cast to save the film. The film lasts only 101 minutes but feels like an unending eternity. Attempts to be gritty by using bizarre cinematography and unnecessary split-screen framing result in nothing good. It’s unusual that a film has absolutely no redeeming qualities, but this is a surefire example of how not to make a movie.

F-