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"Righteous Kill" Review

by Jane Boursaw on September 14th, 2008

With Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in a movie together, you’ve gotta expect big things. I can’t deny that those two guys are a lot of fun to watch on the big screen together. Still, the formulaic plot in Righteous Kill left something to be desired.

More after the jump…

It’s a standard cop-thriller about two veteran partners on the NYPD force. Turk (De Niro) is getting sick of all the losers who end up back on the streets. Thus, he starts entertaining ideas about turning into a vigilante killer to right the wrongs of the justice system.

His partner, Rooster (Pacino) is averse to this idea, but willing to go along for the sake of cop loyalty. A prime target is a nightclub owner named Spider (Curtis Jackson, aka rapper 50 Cent). More threatening is the younger cop team of Detectives Riley (Donnie Wahlberg) and Perez (John Leguizamo), who are starting to suspect that Turk is the notorious Poetry Killer, a serial murderer who leaves poems at the scene of his crimes.

Brian Dennehy plays his usual gruff lieutenant, while Barry Primus plays a police shrink who sees the partners separately. Their stories are tight, though, with neither willing to bring the other down.

The other major player is Carla Gugino, whose forensic crime scene investigator Karen Corelli (also De Niro’s girlfriend who “likes it rough”) is gritty, intense, and maybe a teensy bit too glamorous for the role.

There are a few twists and turns along the way, but this movie is mostly an ordinary buddy-cop film enhanced by two Hollywood heavyweights. It’s worth seeing for them, but the story could have used something more.

Note to Parents: With plenty of swearing, violence, and mature themes, this one’s not for kids younger than 16.

Images: Righteous Kill, Overture Films, 2008

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