Righteous Kill

Righteous Kill



Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the same movie. Getting these two method Lions in the same film happens once every decade if you're lucky. They shared celluloid in 'Godfather 2'. They even shared coffee in 'Heat'. Now, both in their career's twilight, they share a disaster.

De Niro and Pacino play bitter street wise cops Turk and Rooster (Sounds like the title for an 80's cop drama). They're both bitter because they've seen one too many guilty criminal get off on a technicality. Surprisingly enough, a new serial Killer is on the streets tidying up loose ends. He seeks out these freed offenders and quickly deals out some final justice. It's up to Turk and Rooster(I'm getting a cheesy theme tune in my head now) to find out who the murderer is.

Everything is played out to lead you to believe that Turk is the killer. The action is intercut with his confession, so you're definitely being steered that way. But, whoa, hang on, there's a twist. I'm not going to tell you what it is, but you can easily guess.

Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo provide sound distractions to the events, giving you more potential culprits to ponder over. They aggressively pursue Turk as all the evidence keeps stacking against him. Maybe a little too keen in the case of Leguizamo.

In a stapled on subplot Turk's girlfriend(Carla Gugino) likes the rough sex. That's it. It's just another plot device to keep you thinking Turk is the killer, when she gets raped at the end.

De Niro and Pacino can only be blamed as far as they chose to be in the film. The main blame must go to Russell Gewirtz, the script writer, for putting lines like "You tried to set me up and this is how you do it? You thought I'd get my dick cut off but instead you blew it." into the mouth of Al Pacino.

Verdict 3/10
Let this not be how they're remembered. Please.