Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Some Respect the Badge, Everyone Respects the Gun

After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives "Turk", played by Academy Award winner Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) and "Rooster", played by Academy Award winner Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) should be ready for retirement. But, before they can hang up their badges, they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before.

This adrenaline fueled psychological thriller features hip-hop superstar Curtis Jackson (Get Rich or Die Tryin'), Carla Gugino (Sin City), John Leguizamo (Moulin Rouge!), Donnie Wahlberg (Saw II and III) and Brian Dennehy (Death of a Salesman) and was directed by Jon Avnet (Red Corner) and written by Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man).

Title: Righteous Kill
Release: September 12, 2008
Genre: Crime Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Writer: Russell Gewirtz
Director: Jon Avnet
Music By: Ed Shearmur
Produced By: Avi Lerner, Boaz Davidson, Daniel M. Rosenberg, Lati Grobman, & Randall Emmett
Distributed By: Overture Films
Run Time: 103 minutes
Official Site

What do two Academy Award winning actors, a rapper, and the voice of Sid from Ice Age have in common? The 2008 "cop" movie Righteous Kill that involves all of these people and more. Originally written with just Robert De Niro (Turk) in mind as one of the main characters, it was he that suggested his longtime friend Al Pacino to play his partner Rooster in the film.

Like a lot of people, Robert de Niro and Al Pacino are two of my favorite actors (Pacino slightly more) and even though they're getting a lot older now, both still make such good bad guys. That is what makes a movie like Righteous Kill work so very well. The two actors have worked together previously in the 1995 movie Heat but they didn’t have too many scenes together and yet somehow in my mind, they’ve almost always been related. I’ll be the first to admit that it was because of them and not the actual film plot that I decided to actual see it and I was moderately pleased with it… again, mainly thanks to these two iconic actors.

Surprisingly, these two didn’t entirely steal the movie as several actors in minor parts (such as 50 Cent’s cameo role as Marcus “Spider” Smith) did make an impact too. However, would this movie work without De Niro and Pacino? Yes and no. Yes, because the plot is genuinely interesting but it probably wouldn’t have garnered too much attention without the big star names attached to the project. There have been many mixed reviews by the critics since the film’s release but for the most part the response was lukewarm. In my opinion, this was an okay film, not a great one and it was also easily forgettable.

Links: Imdb.com, Wikipedia, Reelzchannel

Trailer:


Interviews:

4 comments:

  1. I heard this one wasnt too great, I still want to watch it though.
    I love De Niro and Pacino.
    great review ;)
    I watched Coraline tonight, i'll be reviewing it soon.

    http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

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  2. Thank you gobs and oodles for putting the trailer up! I LOVE DeNiro, but Al has had too much crap done to his face. He's looking too much like Micheal Jackson. DeNiro is still sexy...Al looks hideous!

    I'm watching this one. The combo of these two can't be passed up. Love their acting...together, they are magical.

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  3. Naida: It's still worth a watch if only to see these two act together but I wasn't crazy about it. Lucky! I'm getting the book today from the library and hope to go see it soon.

    J.Kaye: You're welcome! I can't help but love these guys :)

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  4. Dude, I wanted to love this movie so much. The last two movies these guys were in together were Heat and Godfather Part II. I mean, HELLO! However, up there on the big screen, these guys looked ANCIENT. I don't know if it was bad makeup or what. Also, the story was a little disjointed. I was so mad that I didn't like the movie. I love, love, love Deniro and Pacino.

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