Killing Them Softly

I left the cinema three quarters the way through this film.....never had to do that before. It dragged on and on and on. The endless dialog that had nothing to do with the film was infuriating to say the least. At one point James Gandolfini talks about getting a divorce from his wife for a good ten minutes which is completely pointless and has no relevance to the story line at all. This is just one example of a constant series of ridiculous conversations that the film is riddled with. Throughout the film they seem to have some sort of political undercurrent in the background between George Bush and Barack O Bama which I couldn't get my head around. Whether Brad Pitt was trying to get across his political views or what was going on is anyone's guess. I have no problem with the acting in this film....what I can't understand is why Prad Pitt and Ray Liotta (both accomplished and celebrated actors) agreed to do this film. Please save your money and time and don't go!

My first review ever and i've seen some dumb movies...but i felt compelled to tell people to avoid this one. I was excited,saw the trailer,looked really good,i like Brad Pitt,Gandolfini too,glad to see Liotta here as well,seen Chopper done by Andrew Dominik. All them included should mean i was up for a treat,oh my was i wrong... Watched it with my brother who was lucky enough,and by lucky i mean he slept trough it. This movie has about 2 minutes of gun-play,and everything else and i do mean everything else is guys talking,and not in a cool Tarantino lines talking,but just talking,and 90 percent could be summed up in one sentence...but then,this movie would be 30 minutes long. Acting is great,but with a script like this u couldn't care less. The only good thing about it is that it looks good,beautifully shot,good music in it too... And that's about it...hope u take my advice,if not i'll be waiting for your angry review.

Interesting and well directed by Andrew Dominik with similarities to the Coen brothers. Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins and Ray Liotta give outstanding performances.

I've done some research prior to watching Killing Them Softly and found out that the book it's based on had been made almost entirely out of dialog. Seeing the cast i thought the idea of translating such a literally template into a movie as a challenge for the authors. Unfortunately, this became it's biggest issue. The plot is good with outsider thugs meeting the heavyweights in the business and causing trouble that had to be resolved by those pulling the strings. Probably the best thing is drawing parallels between governments and gangsters which both work by the rules set (or broken) by corporations and banks. Despite being prepared i've been struck by the amount of text spilled across the screen. The characters talked as if there were no tomorrow. It's a pity since i don't have to know anything about a movie before i see it. Without knowing upfront the details about the book i would have liked it even less.

Looking at the cast, pedigree and story being based on George Higgins' Cogan's Trade, this should have been an easy home run. Instead, the sum is much weaker than the parts involved. Brad Pitt is up to the task, but the director's slow pacing, weak dialogue and fixation on uninteresting character backgrounds (Mendelsohn and Gandolfini especially), really kill the movie. This should have been a good movie.

Apart from a few interesting scenes, Killing Them Softly is rather disappointing: the script lacks substance, dynamism, and the movie often drags the viewer into long and tedious dialogues, clearly inspired by Tarantino's endless monologues. The cast isn't fundamentally bad but suffers from the weakness and shallowness of the characters, also very formated and little nuanced. Moreover, some choices are really pompous and almost an insult to the viewer's capacities such as the political allegory of the crisis that keeps on repeating with speeches of Bush or Obama unsubtly integrated into the script. It is a shame because Dominick, through a polished cinematography, still showed a certain sense of aestheticism.

I'm not sure what people are looking for nowadays, but from reading the reviews of this excellent movie, I fear it is some sort of escapist garbage: Killing Them Softly was one of those crime movies that just seems like a slice of real life just slightly above the gutter. I didn't know it was based on a George Higgans novel, either, and I was thinking while watching it that I hadn't seen a crime movie this good since 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle,' only to find out that both movies were based on books by the same author. I just got sucked in, the tension was great and interrupted periodically by the dark humor that is so typical of lowlife criminals and junkies. I hope we start getting more like this, more realism in our crime movies, as this one grabbed me from start to finish.

Eeeeeugh, the close up shots of fake blood are enough to turn your head, the attenuated sounds will just make you squirm - unless, of course, this is the stuff you want in your thrillers. I wasn't convinced by all the actors in this Brad Pitt vehicle. Vincent Curatola was oddly wooden in his Squirrel/Johnny role. James Gandolfini however was truly convincing as the hired gun who's too far gone to perform any more. Now, as to Brad....erm, well, he's alright, putting in a workmanlike performance. I suspect its the political message he's trying to make that was more important to him. However, a cynical one liner, delivered right at the end, doesn't quite make this any more than the average thriller/petty crime story. There are too many continuity mistakes - and obvious too, that it really should be sent back for editing. You'll need to do better next time guys.

Killing Them Softly The softest way to kill someone is to place a silk encased feather-down pillow over their face and smothering them to death. This thriller, however, defines "soft killing" as shooting from afar. Johnny (Vincent Curatola) hires Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn) to holdup a gangland poker game under the assumption the blame will fall on Markie (Ray Liotta), the guy who robbed it previously. Unfortunately, when Russell spills the beans about their successful heist, it gets back to Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), a cold-blooded hit man hired by the mafia to kill Markie. Fearful for his life, Frankie makes a deal with Jackie to give him Johnny, but can he trust Jackie to keep his word? While the assassinations are impressive, the longwinded chats and Frankie's irritating voice make for an uneven experience. Incidentally, the best disguise for robbing a poker game is wearing sunglasses and a hoodie. Red Light vidiotreviews.blogspot.com

And nearly 10 years later (time goes by so fast), it's still the same. I'm staying with those last words, because this doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon, we'll have to wait for a very, very long time.