Save For De Niro and Pacino, "Righteous Kill" Is a Righteous Bore

I suppose there was a point during the filming of this movie where the filmmakers decided to just screw it, because they have two of Hollywood's greatest actors starring in it. At least, that's what it felt like while watching this. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, two of the best actor's in this generation, set up shop in a mess of a film.

The film opens with De Niro's character, Turk, a NYC cop, being videotaped in what looks like a confession. The whole film is told in a flashback, as we see Turk, a brash and often hot-headed detective, on the job. He's partners with Rooster (Pacino) and has been for over 30 years. They're on the case of a mysterious serial killer, who leaves poems with his victims, which describes his justification for these murders. His victims also are all people who have been acquitted of their crimes, although they're guilty of said crimes and have just fallen through the crack in the judicial system. This case also seems to have a mysterious link to another case they thought they closed up years ago. Their investigation leads them to a drug dealer named Spider (Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson). They wire-tap a drug-using lawyer (Trilby Glover) to infiltrate his lair and see if they can dig anything up. Meanwhile, Turk is having trouble with his girlfriend, a forensics scientist (Carla Gugino), as well as two other detectives are also on the case (John Leguizamo, Donnie Wahlberg). The big question, of course, is: who's committing these crimes? Is it Turk? Could it be someone else? Whoever it is, Turk and Rooster would love to pin a medal on this guy, even though they have to make an arrest.

This movie will only be heralded as the first time Robert De Niro and Al Pacino share some serious screen time together. Hard to believe, but they've actually been in two other films together. They both starred in The Godfather Part II, although they never shared any screen time at all. They didn't actually have any scenes together until Michael Mann's 1995 crime opus, Heat. They only have two scenes in this one, a pivotal one at a cafe and the climactic scene at LAX. Now they get paired together in this clunker. De Niro and Pacino are so fantastic in this movie, you almost forget how horrible it really is. Almost. It's as if the filmmakers forgot about everything else, and put their entire focus on De Niro's and Pacino's characters. In fact, De Niro's role seemed to have been written specifically for him. If you look closely at the movies, you'll notice subtle references that Turk says or does, to earlier De Niro films. The supporting cast doesn't offer much. Actually, it's quite sad. They support here is a drag. Usually you get some welcome support from actors like Gugino and Leguizamo, but we end up empty-handed. They seem to just drag through their roles as if their real-life career was just another menial, nine to five job. Jackson, for the most part, looks like he got some lemon juice up his nose. His face is always scrunched up. I don't know, maybe he has a headache. The story is chocked will just about every single cop cliche known to Hollywood, right up to a scene where the tough chief (played here by Brian Dennehy) threatens to take away the badge. The story starts out okay, but then gets lost within itself, becoming as gritty as the enviroment this story takes place in. For a majority of the film, we're led to believe it's one person doing the killings, then in the last ten minutes or so, are thrown a curve, and expect us to just take it. Now, I'm obviously not going to tell you whom or what is going on, but I was disappointed by it. I will recommend this movie, but merely for the performances of our two leads. Otherwise, I'm sure you can find something more righteous to do with your time than watch this.

2 stars