Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Above Average Thriller, January 6, 2009
Two veteran cops, Turk and Rooster (Robert De Niro, Al Pacino) work to solve a string of murders in which the victims are criminals that they have previously arrested and have been acquitted of their crimes. Something's seems a bit fishy, at least that's what two younger cops, Detectives Riley and Perez (Donnie Wahlberg, John Leguizamo) start to think. Furthermore, they suspect it's a cop. Anyway you splice it, the decorated members of the NYPD are looking for a killer. One who leaves a bit of poetry at every scene and happens to murder the filth of society that has slipped through the cracks of the judicial system.
"Righteous Kill" is only a slightly above average thriller given the big name talent. De Niro and Pacino both put forth great performances; De Niro as the hot headed, do whatever it takes to get a conviction cop and Pacino as a much calmer, honest detective. It seems a bit cliché, the whole good cop bad cop, but nonetheless it worked well and the duo's performances were very well balanced to convey not just an occupational partnership, but also a friendship. While the film will leave the audience thinking they know all the answers within the first twenty minutes, the plot does take some interesting turns.
It's great to see the two legendary actors are still performing. "Righteous Kill" is not completely predictable nor is it unwatchable. Give it a try.
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22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Second DeNiro/Pacino Team-Up Is Good, But Could Have Better, November 30, 2008
Righteous Kill is only the second pairing of two of cinema's greatest actors - Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Their first on-screen collaboration, only featured them together in a couple of scenes, and left the public wanting more.
Righteous Kill has them playing NYC detective partners who've been on the job for 30 years. A serial killer start killing criminals who gotten off on technicalities. Soon, all the evidence points to the killer being a cop. And the cop would seem to be De Niro's character, Turk, a rough-edged type who isn't above falsifying evidence to convict suspects. He's balanced out by Pacino's Rooster, a calm, soothing influence on Turk in a relationship that seems as much like a marriage as it does a professional partnership. Added to the mix are John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg as younger cops investigating the killings and Carlo Gugino as a forensic specialist in a relationship with DeNiro.
The movie works well as a police drama, less so as a mystery, although the solution of the killings does take some interesting turns. If two lesser actors were playing Turk and Rooster, the film might have been touted as asking interesting questions about the nature of friendships, partnerships, and romantic relationship amid all the stresses and strains of police work. But with De Niro and Pacino in tow, the viewer expects more, and doesn't necessarily get it with this film.
However, the two greats still know how to pull off great performance, and know how to elicit sympathy, affection, and every other possible emotion from an audience. Righteous Kill isn't a complete misfire, but might require a third teaming of these great actors.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Names are Just Names When You Are Past Your Prime, April 24, 2009
There is something amusing to me when people simply spit out famous actor's names and presume that means you are getting a good movie. For years, people bemoaned Pacino and De Niro didn't really have a scene to together in 'Heat,' so I suppose this is their remedy.
Ah, this film is a masterpiece. Two famous actors who have nothing left other than the relative fame of their names do what they do: act like De Niro and Pacino. For years, people have extolled the virtues of their respective movies but what nobody wants to admit is that Pacino and De Niro have played themselves for years. They don't really have any particular skill other than playing the same character over and over again.
Both men make the same faces they always make; Pacino requires a barking soliloquy at the end of each movie. De Niro's mouth turns down at the corners all the time. The acting is just silly; these are two overblown actors, at least a decade past their primes (likely more), together in a movie in the hope the combination of their respective names would somehow make these utterly unremarkable movie marketable.
You have to buy De Niro as virile enough to have Carla Gugino as a girlfriend and, in order to demonstrate his manliness, they have to show an elderly De Niro in various sexual poses which serve to disgust as opposed to convincing you he's a man of 'action.' If you survive the gag flex of those utterly unnecessary scenes, you get the reward of two actors acting for a paycheck. If you must watch this movie, get it from a library.
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