Director Jon Avnet’s Righteous Kill powers it way into cinemas headlined by acting legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Trying to recapture the magic of Michael Mann’s classic Heat, De Niro and Pacino reunite as veteran New York City cops Turk and Rooster. As the duo attempts to clean up the streets and deal with the sometimes flawed legal system, a new serial killer hits the streets leaving poems at the scene of each slaying. Dubbed the “Poetry Killer,” the psychopath’s wake has a peculiar pattern that leads the investigation to the doorsteps of the police department. When two new detectives join the case (John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg), the puzzle gets more complicated and it becomes apparent that nobody can be trusted.
Deja Vu: Pacino and De Niro reunite for the
first time since the 1995 classic Heat.
Coming off the critical thrashing of his previous work with Pacino, 88 Minutes, Avnet looks to rebound by fashioning an intriguing tale of misdirection. The storyline of this mainstream thriller is adequate, offering some interesting thoughts on the relationship between society and law enforcement. There is a provocative edge to the film that comments on the cynicism that cops harbor toward pedestrian reward. But despite the decent conceptualization, Righteous Kill falters as the script refuses to pay adequate attention to the details.
Writer Russell Gewirtz’s screenplay just comes up too short on too many occasions to propel the film into more that just a typical, although entertaining, who-done-it. The talent seems to be there for Gerwitz (see Spike Lee’s Inside Man), but this time he seems lackadaisical, relying on faux dialogue and lame scene development. We see a prime example in the ridiculous opening “tough guy” montage showing the alarming decrepit De Niro and Pacino pumping iron in the gym. This sequence can be overlooked; however, the poor dialogue throughout the first half of the film cannot.
Avnet allows the script a generous margin of error because Righteous Kill’s main intent is to harness the chemistry between the leads and hope it can sustain. Former masters of method De Niro and Pacino have certainly become set in their ways, but their effortless command of the camera is still something to behold. Regardless of the clichés and the shameless similarities to Heat, Righteous Kill still has value for casual film fans and for cinephiles wanting the legends to live on.
Adam is the founder of www.featurefilmreview.com. Email comments to adam (at) featurefilmreview (dot) com.
