Movie : Righteous Kill

Movie Info :

Title : Righteous Kill
Release Date: 09/12/2008
Genre: Action/Adventure
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Curtis Jackson, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Carla Gugino, 50 Cent, Donnie Wahlberg
Rating: R
MPAA Reasons: for violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and brief drug use
Distributor(s): Overture Films
Production Co.: Emmett/Furla Films
Genre(s): Crime and Mystery, Drama
Director: Jon Avnet
Screenwriter: Russell Gerwitz
Producer: Avi Lerner, Boaz Davidson, Lati Grobman, Randall Emmett, Rob Cowan
Composer: Ed Shearmur
Themes: Serial Killers
Country of Origin: USA
Language: English
Status: Coming Soon
Official Movie Site : Righteous Kill



Synopsis

Academy Award winners Robert De Niro ('Raging Bull') and Al Pacino ('Scent of a Woman') star as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer in the adrenaline fueled psychological thriller 'Righteous Kill,' directed by Jon Avnet ('Red Corner,' 'Fried Green Tomatoes') and written by Russell Gewirtz ('Inside Man'). The cast also features hip-hop superstar Curtis Jackson ('Get Rich or Die Tryin').



After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement, but aren't. 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.



Like the original murder, the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place, it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer, one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can't do on their own--take the culprits off the streets for good. The similarities between the recent killings and their earlier case raise a nagging question: Did they put the wrong man behind bars? -



MOVIE REVIEW :

By Gene Seymour, Special to The Times

It seems an imposition on somebody's part to ask Robert De Niro and Al Pacino to use their iconic power to prop up and inflate "Righteous Kill," a tricked-up and often turgid police thriller. At least these two aging virtuosi of the Method don't altogether submit to the temptation of mailing in their performances. And they seem comfortable enough in each other's company on-screen to make you wish there were more scenes that allowed them to just kick back and riff. It'd be a lot more enjoyable than watching the movie strain for clarity -- or cleverness.



De Niro and Pacino play, respectively, Turk and Rooster, veteran New York Police Department detectives whose skills have stayed sharp while their fortitude has been worn down by decades of sordid criminal behavior. Once (though it's not clear how long ago), Turk crossed the line by planting evidence on a child killer who'd been freed from custody by that handy-dandy leitmotif, the legal technicality. Turk's gambit puts the scum back in the hole, but it springs open a growing impatience on his part with due process that leads him and his partner to some late-career snafus and botched arrests.



Now there's a serial killer on the loose in their precinct who leaves calling cards with doggerel. The victims are all criminals who somehow got away with murder, rape and other heinous activities. Turk and Rooster aren't trusted by their superior (Brian Dennehy) to handle the case alone. So another, younger duo (John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg) is brought into the investigation. Through their eyes -- and Rooster's -- it begins to look as though the killer could only be "one of their own," i.e., a rogue cop. And when that child killer turns up dead after the courts have once again set him free, the suspicions become more -- how to put this without spoiling things? -- specific in their focus.

"Righteous Kill's" script is credited to "Inside Man's" Russell
Gewirtz, and you wonder how the sleek, nuanced flow of that earlier movie evaded this one. The movie seems so intent on deploying its gimmicks that it clumsily shoves aside any genuine character development. Turk's girlfriend and colleague, Karen (the habitually intriguing Carla Gugino), carries a few quirks that would have been worth fleshing out even just a little bit more.



But everything, even logic, is sacrificed in favor of the movie's main event: the commingling of De Niro and Pacino's thickening personas. There's no getting around the fact that the erstwhile young lions are long in the tooth. The pouches beneath Pacino's eyes, for instance, look deep enough to carry his laundry -- and yours. But those eyes can still burn a hole through the screen, even in what for all practical purposes is a "Law & Order" episode bent and stretched beyond all hope or reason.

"Righteous Kill." MPAA rating: R for violence, pervasive vulgarisms and brief drug use. Running time: 1 hour, 41 minutes. In general release.

Taken From : http://www.latimes.com



Righteous Kill -2008- Official Trailer HD - Pacino & De Niro