Turk [Robert De Niro] and Rooster [Al Pacino] are two veteran cops on the NYPD and we are following them as they go through their day to day workings together. There is a serial killer running loose in the city killing bad guys, and they think it could be a cop. Here we go…

So here is a movie that I was not looking forward to. If you weren’t paying attention that well you probably would’ve be fooled into thinking that this movie would be good when you see the poster at the theatre and see Al Pacino and Robert De Niro top billing the film. But I hoped you had the good sense to whip out that magnifying glass and look at the bottom of the poster where it would say “Directed by Jon Avnet”. Now if you don’t know who Jon Avnet is, can I take you back a few months to another Al Pacino starring film called “88 Minutes” which was called one of the worst films ever by critics – you can read my review here. So here we are again.

I can start this out by saying it isn’t as bad as 88 Minutes. But that’s like saying that if I piss in your drink it isn’t as bad as if I had taken it in the back to crap in it. This movie is horrible. The movie so predictable, which I thought at least 88 Minutes did better than this because I couldn’t predict who the bad guy pulling all the strings was in that one, which is a no-no for any thriller. The film starts out with Robert De Niro’s character confessing to the crimes in question via a video recording. Now honestly this is one of the most boring tactics to try and make a thriller ‘interesting’ or ‘cool’. Now let us think about this, the biggest tactic used in thriller films is misdirection. So if they start out from the get go of showing us De Niro confessing, you know that it’s a fake and he didn’t do it. Also what would be the point of showing us the investigation of the murders if we already have a confession?

The acting here is really phoned in by Pacino and De Niro, even though if I compared the two of them in this movie De Niro wins the fight of the Godfathers here. And the film also stars a ‘budding’ actor that refers to himself as 50 Cent. Wow he was appalling. After seeing him appear in the redband trailer I was hoping that he would be playing a minor character in the movie and we would only have to deal with him for a few minutes, unfortunately he isn’t. 50 Cent plays the role of Spider, a local drug dealer who owns a big club in the city. 50 Cent is one of the worst drug dealers I’ve ever seen, I order him to go pick up a copy of The Wire and take some notes from the likes of Barksdale, Stringer Bell and Marlow and get back to me. What makes me even more worried is that 50 Cent has two other movies in ‘pre-production’ on his IMDB page, and another after that ‘announced’. I hope I’m not the only one hanging his head hoping that this guy will stop acting very soon.

This movie is the indicator really that Pacino & De Niro may be getting a little to whimsical with the projects they are doing nowadays. And they also may be too old to be doing this kind of movie, since there were no real huge action oriented scenes or anything like Heat with that awesome big getaway scene after the bank robbery goes wrong. The scene in this film when they go into Spider’s apartment and have him cuffed to the ground and De Niro is kicking him in the gut was some of the worst stunt work I’ve seen since this in The Godfather and the weakest kicking ever. Which of course made me laugh even more when after the kicking they zoomed in on 50’s face and you saw him spitting up blood, that’s no real drug don, 50 needs some street cred I say.

Overall I cannot recommend this movie to my worst enemy. No one should have to endure the 90 minute shamble that is Righteous Kill. So here is the formula: Jon Avnet + Al Pacino = 88 Minutes < SHIT; 88 Minutes + Robert De Niro = Righteous Kill < SHIT; 88 Minutes < Righteous Kill < SHIT. Please stop making movies Jon Avnet, and Pacino please pick better films, I’m sure after so many great movies you can be more selective with what you do.

What I can recommend everyone check out is the newest episode of Filmspotting’s podcast. Mainly because during the “Listener Feedback” segment Adam and Matty read and email from a listener who actually attended a very early screening of the film and has a great story about that experience there. It is fun to hear.

IMDB says 6.5/10

Rotten Tomatoes says 23%

I say 2.5/10

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