Who in their right mind could pass up an opportunity to watch De Niro and Pacino. I mean, seriously who could? These guys are gods among men in terms of acting. Both have no less than 5 performances each that define what being an actor is. Watching their 2 scenes together in Heat just made you want, no need, more from them. Here is that chance. At first, the movie was promoted as some sort of urban police thriller, using the name 50 Cent in the first trailers. Well the early reviews changed all of that. People were focusing only on De Niro and Pacino, so that is what the ad campaign changed to. So the time came to finally watch these two back in action.
Turk(De Niro) and Rooster(Pacino)-the real names are not used until the end for glaringly obvious reasons- are long time partners in the police force and long time best friends. They feed off of each other and they get each other's back, no matter what happens. A serial killer comes along and starts killing all the bad guys who got away from the law due to technicalities. Most of the guys being killed were arrested or questioned by Turk and Rooster. Two other detective, Perez(Jon Leguizamo) and Riley(Donnie Wahlberg) are also on the case as they picked up one of victims. The victims are marked by a poem that the killer leaves. As the cases move forward, it looks as if Turk may in fact be the killer and Perez and Riley firmly believe this. After all, Turk did once plant a gun on a man who was set free on a child murder charge, in order to get that man arrested for a different crime. He could conceivably murder someone right? Rooster, of course, doesn't believe a word of it, but works with Perez and Riley to get to the truth. On the side there are two plots- Turk is banging a forensic detective, Karen Collelli(Carla Cugino) who loves really rough and violent sex and Rooster and Turk are seeing the precinct shrink to decide if they are fit to be back on the job after a shooting. I cannot say anything more as the movie is a twist movie.
Righteous Killlives up to its billing as De Niro and Pacino in action together. They are on screen together most of the movie and their chemistry is ridiculous. The early scenes of them looking at crime scenes, or joking around together are fantastic to watch and as the movie gets deeper and they get more intense, there are fire works between them. However, the movie is a damn mess. First off, from the opening two minutes, there are only two ways the movie can possibly go. The rest of the film is spent pushing so hard the other way, that any intelligent person will know exactly what is coming in the end. I knew it right away, which kind of diminishes the movie, big time. The director, Jon Avnet, ruined a movie with Pacino in it earlier this year with the same nonsense. Avnet is working so hard to confuse or mislead the audience that he isn't creating a movie, he is creating a "Choose your own adventure" type thing. The Sixth Sense worked as a twist movie because the whole movie wasn't explicitly trying to mislead us. It was telling a story that ended in a twist. This movie exists purely for the twist and it fails miserably. Carla Cugino does offer some serious sex appeal, but watching her take it from behind with De Niro pumping away at her, is kind of gross to watch, even if it is brief and from a distance.
I wanted to like this movie so much and there are flashes of it. Anytime the director gets out of the way and lets the two actors work, the movie feels real. The climax is a true testament to the two guys, but they deserved a much better movie. They deserve a movie that is not ruined by 50 Cent's "acting" or Jon Avnet's stupid and silly stunts. How many times are we going to see what happens from the killer's eyes so we don't know who it is!? I am glad I saw it because of the two legends, but it would have probably been better to wait for DVD.
Final Grade: C-
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