Killing Them Softly
1.5/4
Starring: Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, Vincent Curatola
Rated R for Violence, Sexual References, Pervasive Language, and Some Drug Use
Wow. This movie is unbelievable.
It is rare that a movie with this distinguished of a cast turns out to be a total dud ("The Proposition" and "Rampart" come to mind). Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta...and up and coming actors Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn. How could this go wrong?
But it does go wrong. Very wrong. This movie sucks. The story is not only dumb and uninteresting, it is non-existent. Ditto for character development. The direction by Andrew Dominik is self-indulgent and his script is empty. The characters talk. And talk. And talk. Occasionally someone gets shot. But they say nothing of any real interest.
The story, such as it is, has two low-level criminals Frankie (McNairy) and Russell (Mendohlson) robbing an underground casino run by Markie Trattman (Liotta). The theory of their employer, Johnny Amato (Curatola), is that because Markie already robbed his own casino and bragged about it, he'll be the first one suspected if someone else tries to rob it again. Of course, the robbery goes without a hitch, but that's when the mob corporation (which is how it's run, apparently) wants this taken care of because a lot of people are pissed that their money got stolen. So they hire professional killer Jackie Cogan (Pitt) to off them. To avoid getting caught, he wants to split the work up with Mickey (Gandolfini), but he turns out to be a drunk.
And that's as far as I got. I hate it when movies have their characters talk and talk and talk but say nothing. It's an ego trip for the director to those artsy types who tumble over themselves with praise for anything so oblique they don't understand, but want to boast to their equally artsy friends that they did. For people like me, who simply want to see a good movie, it's a slap in the face.
At least the acting is solid, but no one has anything to do. The only one worth mentioning is Scoot McNairy. I was deeply impressed with his low-key performance as Andrew Caulder in the low-budget hit (relatively speaking) "Monsters," and have been awaiting more appearances by him. Either he is miscast or is just not that good, McNairy gives Frankie such an irritating voice that the movie is even more of a trial when he's on screen. That and the fact that he's really stupid. Brad Pitt is the headlining star, but he has nothing to do, and he's really a supporting character.
I enjoyed Andrew Dominik's previous feature, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." It was flawed and overlong, but it was beautiful and entertaining. This film however is a disaster. How did he or anyone else think that it was going to work? Everyone is more or less comatose and they say almost nothing. Dominik tries, and fails, to connect the criminal underworld to the failing economy, but he doesn't do it. Yes, we know that a bad economy hurts everyone, including criminals.
I'll admit that there are a few mildly interesting shots in the film, but he over does them to the point where it becomes annoying. There's also one or two violent surprises, but due to my complete lack of interest in what was going on, I didn't care.
The film has bombed at the box office. I can see why.
Starring: Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, Vincent Curatola
Rated R for Violence, Sexual References, Pervasive Language, and Some Drug Use
Wow. This movie is unbelievable.
It is rare that a movie with this distinguished of a cast turns out to be a total dud ("The Proposition" and "Rampart" come to mind). Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta...and up and coming actors Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn. How could this go wrong?
But it does go wrong. Very wrong. This movie sucks. The story is not only dumb and uninteresting, it is non-existent. Ditto for character development. The direction by Andrew Dominik is self-indulgent and his script is empty. The characters talk. And talk. And talk. Occasionally someone gets shot. But they say nothing of any real interest.
The story, such as it is, has two low-level criminals Frankie (McNairy) and Russell (Mendohlson) robbing an underground casino run by Markie Trattman (Liotta). The theory of their employer, Johnny Amato (Curatola), is that because Markie already robbed his own casino and bragged about it, he'll be the first one suspected if someone else tries to rob it again. Of course, the robbery goes without a hitch, but that's when the mob corporation (which is how it's run, apparently) wants this taken care of because a lot of people are pissed that their money got stolen. So they hire professional killer Jackie Cogan (Pitt) to off them. To avoid getting caught, he wants to split the work up with Mickey (Gandolfini), but he turns out to be a drunk.
And that's as far as I got. I hate it when movies have their characters talk and talk and talk but say nothing. It's an ego trip for the director to those artsy types who tumble over themselves with praise for anything so oblique they don't understand, but want to boast to their equally artsy friends that they did. For people like me, who simply want to see a good movie, it's a slap in the face.
At least the acting is solid, but no one has anything to do. The only one worth mentioning is Scoot McNairy. I was deeply impressed with his low-key performance as Andrew Caulder in the low-budget hit (relatively speaking) "Monsters," and have been awaiting more appearances by him. Either he is miscast or is just not that good, McNairy gives Frankie such an irritating voice that the movie is even more of a trial when he's on screen. That and the fact that he's really stupid. Brad Pitt is the headlining star, but he has nothing to do, and he's really a supporting character.
I enjoyed Andrew Dominik's previous feature, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford." It was flawed and overlong, but it was beautiful and entertaining. This film however is a disaster. How did he or anyone else think that it was going to work? Everyone is more or less comatose and they say almost nothing. Dominik tries, and fails, to connect the criminal underworld to the failing economy, but he doesn't do it. Yes, we know that a bad economy hurts everyone, including criminals.
I'll admit that there are a few mildly interesting shots in the film, but he over does them to the point where it becomes annoying. There's also one or two violent surprises, but due to my complete lack of interest in what was going on, I didn't care.
The film has bombed at the box office. I can see why.
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