Life > September 25, 2008

By Paul Griebel | Contributing writer

In 1995, a little movie called Heat was released in theaters. Headlined by Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, this Michael Mann film depicting the two sides of an L.A. bank heist is regarded as one of the best films of the 1990s.

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Since that release, DeNiro and Pacino have separately signed on to numerous projects, some of which were great and some of which were absolute flops (I’m looking at you, Hide and Seek).

If you haven’t seen Heat, go check it out, because it is a much better alternative than the newly released Righteous Kill.

So Righteous Kill, marking the first pairing of these two iconic actors in 13 years, created high hopes that another classic would be the end result.

And I have to say, it lived up to the hype. Kind of.

Righteous Kill is, essentially, another semi-suspenseful, I-didn’t-see-that-coming cop drama.

It starts out with a fast-paced montage of our heroes at the firing range, showing off their deadly accuracy; lifting weights, exemplifying their deadly commitment; Pacino’s character winning two separate chess games at the same time, showing off his deadly intellect; DeNiro coaching a girls’ softball team demonstrating his deadly … sense of community service?

I think some shots of him pounding a punching bag would have been more appropriate, but whatever.

Anyway, we come to learn that these two cops, named Turk (DeNiro) and Rooster (Pacino), are not only partners on the job, but also close, supportive friends when off-duty.

Rooster even comes out to one of Turk’s softball games (it’s an NYPD game, not girls’ little league, so he is actually playing in this one).

At one point, the two literally stare into each other’s eyes and share a nice moment, albeit a bit awkward for the audience.

Since they are the longest-serving cops in the department, the case they are currently investigating is a big one.

Somewhere in New York City, there is a vigilante murderer killing off criminals who have managed to avoid arrest. He also leaves short poems at the scene of each crime, prompting characters to drop lines such as “well, it’s no iambic pentameter” and other things of that hilarious nature.

Aiding them are two young up-starts in the NYPD, detectives Perez (John Leguizamo) and Riley (Donnie Wahlberg), as well as Turk’s on-the-job love interest, investigator Karen (Cara Gugino), who I’ll just say ‘likes it rough’ (warning: it gets weird).

Supervising the team is the somewhat cliché and grizzled Lieutenant Hingis (Brian Dennehy, or Big Tom Callahan as he will always be in my mind).

Soon, the evidence begins to pile up that someone within the police department is responsible for the murders, and from there the movie takes off.

Frankly, even though Righteous Kill did not entirely live up to the hype, it was an enjoyable movie.

Let’s face it, DeNiro and Pacino aren’t exactly what they used to be, but they do a decent job. Curtis Jackson, also known as 50 Cent, is another matter in his portrayal of Spider, a drug dealing club owner.

A few clichés show up, such as the aforementioned lieutenant, and one of those scenes where the cops unload two full clips into a guy, then run over to his corpse with their guns pointed like he might still jump up from the floor and return fire. That may be standard procedure, but I always think it just looks comical.

On the positive side, there are a few genuinely funny scenes, there was no overkill on suspense and it didn’t drag on as some cop-murder thrillers tend to do.

Plus, it raises a few issues to create interesting discussion for the car ride home: for example, the idea of vigilante justice was intriguing without shoving it down your throat (apologies to Boondock Saints fans).

Overall, I would say Righteous Kill is a righteous way to kill a few hours. That’s right, I said it.