Righteous Kill (DVD, 2009)

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino's face-to-face film pairing who team up to catch a serial killer in this crime thriller! Aiding the screen legends are a fiery younger pair of detectives (Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo) and investigator Karen Correlli (Carla Gugino), who are determined to see that justice is served as well. Curtis Jackson, aka 50Cent, helps round off this motley Crew ensamble as Spider a drug lord/ night club owner.

This a great movie night choice...

Turk (Robert De Niro) and Rooster (Al Pacino) are longtime NYC police partners, in this Jon Avnet thriller that has them trying to stop an unknown serial killer, a person who leaves a poem at the scene of each crime. Victims are law-breakers who were freed on legal technicalities. Two other cops, played by John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg, become suspicious of the investigation, and this hampers the efforts of Turk and Rooster.

The script on which the film is based is rather poor. The setup is muddled; none of the characters are especially sympathetic, and secondary characters are not well defined. Further, "Righteous Kill" is not that much different from other serial killer or urban crime films.

The mood here is dark, and the tone is rather cynical. Characters go out of their way to telegraph their toughness by using lots of "hard" language. There's an edginess to the characters, and that's okay. But I could have wished for a character with some degree of softness. That would have provided much needed balance to the overall tonal savagery.

Without a doubt, the film's best element is the acting. There's not a weak performance in the bunch. Of course, the focus is on De Niro and Pacino. This is really their film. And it's their camaraderie, their back and forth playful banter, that makes the film worth watching. Production design and costumes are credible. Color cinematography is generally dark, consistent with the story's mood.

In spite of a weak script, "Righteous Kill" does provide some good plot misdirection that will leave viewers unsure as to the story's outcome. But the film's main virtue is the casting of De Niro and Pacino, two contemporary screen legends whose performances here are quite good.

WOW Robert De Niro and Al Pacino..who could ask for anything better?..De Niro and Pacino play two tough big hearted NYC Cops out to capture a serial killer..the victims no innocent people in the wrong place at the wrong time, but hardened criminals ie: rapists, murders drug dealers and pimps released on some technicality..who feels sorry for them? not me, while I wont take the law into my own hands I do not expect the law to dole out justice it rarely does..I was thrilled with the premise of a possible cop exacting revenge on behalf of the victim..when the truth comes out jaws drop ours did..did you see that one coming?? No, neither did we!! how I hope Al and Robert do another flick together soon!! I give this film 5 out of 5 bars..

robert de niro and al pacino are great actors no doubt about that. the movie was overall pretty good but the script of the movie kinda stinks. i am a huge fan of the two main actors of the film. this movie is worth the time to rent it and watch it but not worth the time to buy it. if you like action this is worth watching once. rent this one before you buy it.

Not since Heat have these two shared screen time. This time they are on the same side of the law. Working together on a case that could be their biggest in 30 years, the detectives follow what few clues they have on the killer, but their search soon turns inward, leading them full circle as they realize the murderer may be one of their own.