Click to play videoCast: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg
Director: Jon Avnet
Lots will no doubt be said and written about Righteous Kill, the new Hollywood film that pairs Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in their first full-fledged film together.
You may remember they were both in Coppola's Godfather II but never shared a scene. The only time they came together previously was in Michael Mann's Heat in which they shared an all-too-brief but memorable face-off.
That is perhaps why fans across the world have been salivating ever since it was learnt that these heavyweights were coming together at last.
Righteous Kill, directed by Jon Avnet, is a shitty movie. It's shocking that two of the finest actors ever chose THIS film to make history with.
De Niro and Pacino star as ageing NYC detectives with the unlikely nicknames of Turk and Rooster respectively, and they're on the trail of a vigilante serial killer who's bumping off scumbags who've escaped the legal system.
This killer has the habit of leaving little poems with the corpses as his signature, earning him the nickname The Poet, though the quality of his rhymes is highly debatable.
Two younger cops from another precinct (played by John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg) are also called in to investigate the murders, and pretty soon it becomes clear to all four of them that it's a cop who's doing the killing.
Now from the very start of the film we see De Niro's character Turk confessing to the crimes, which means that the ending would be surprising only if he actually turned out to be the killer.
Of course he doesn't turn out to be the killer, but the identity of the real killer becomes painfully obvious a good twenty minutes before the characters in the film find out. That's how lame this film is.
Alas it's not just the predictable nature of the film; it's also the manner in which both veterans are wasted in this film that breaks your heart.
You'd expect a film starring De Niro and Pacino to be a masterclass of acting, but Righteous Kill gives them very little to sink their teeth into.
Another point I'd like to make here is that after a film like The Departed has raised the bar in terms of production value and overall authenticity, how could the makers of Righteous Kill deliver such a tacky, amateurish product?
The film may not be total rubbish, but it falls way below expectations. I can see fans across the world shocked in disbelief. Two out of five for Righteous Kill.
Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)
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