1-07-10: Righteous Kill or How the Trailer Was Better than the Movie

RIGHTEOUS KILL (2008) **
D: Jon Avnet.  S: Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, Carla Gugino

After I saw the trailer for this I was looking forward to it.  It was about time that these two icons paired up again.   They are two veteran cops who are clearly not beyond bending the law in the name of justice.  You get that from their behavior and banter.   They are put on the case when a serial killer starts icing the scumbags of the city.  They need to move fast before they strike again and things become more sinister when they suspect it's a cop.  Will our heroes catch the bad guy?   Looks like a simple but fun piece.

This is not the film I just watched.  The trailer and the film it marketed was far better than the one released to theatres.

This film was a mess.   This review may contain spoilers.

At the onset we are shown what appears to be a video confession by one of the cops.   Clearly something sinister is up.  Going in you were expecting this to be about two cops in pursuit of a killer.  Now you know one of the killers is one of the cops.  Any hope of suspense has evaporated.   You simply have to wait to see how this all comes together.

When it appears to be things are going to made clear they try to pull a fast one which falls flat.   When the reveal occurred I just shrugged, I really didn't care.

The film is poorly structured.   Neither suspenseful or overly interesting.  You have to icons just exchanging banter that doesn't ring true.   Sure the chemistry is there but these guys deserved a much better script.  

I watched the bonus content on the blu-ray and I was more interested in the real-life stories that cops were sharing about police corruption.

Again if you want to see the best version of this film watch the trailer.