Kiwi Film Review: Killing Them Softly

IMDB: 7.1/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 79%
Roger Ebert: 2/4 starts

Stars: Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini
Directed By: Andrew Dominik
Written By:Andrew Dominik(screenplay), George V. Higgins(novel)
Release Date: 30 November 2012
Described by IMDB as: "Three dumb guys who think they're smart rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse. Brad Pitt plays the enforcer hired to track them down and restore order. Killing Them Softly also features Richard Jenkins , James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Vincent Curatola. Max Casella, Trevor Long, Slaine and Sam Shepard also make appearances."

I've heard a lot of mixed reviews on this film, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. Even from the very beginning its not necessarily a movie filled with action-packed sequences or tons of information, but it somehow keeps your interest throughout the entire film.

The acting in this movie is really impressive. Brad Pitt delivers a really great performance and I have to say that Scoot McNairy(who played Frankie) gave a really impressive performance, especially in the scenes between him and Brad Pitt. He was also in Argo earlier this fall in which he gave a really great performance as well. I also thought that Ben Mendelsohn(who played Russell) did an incredible job. He did a great job in the parts where he was high(which was practically every time we saw him)

I really need to talk about the cinematography because it was absolutely stunning. Trying to explain without spoilers is going to be difficult but I'll attempt it. There are two scenes that really stand out in my mind, but the entire film is beautifully shot. The first was when Frankie(McNairy) and Russell(Mendelsohn)  were in a house after their heist and were getting high and Russell keeps drifting in and out of consciousness. The colours and close-ups are really great, and Russell's acting really puts it over the edge. The second scene is the one that I'm trying to explain without spoilers, lets just say its a scene involving Jackie(Pitt) and Markie(Ray Liotta) where slow motion comes into play. Thats all I'm going to stay because I don't want to give anything away, but trust me, really beautiful. 

I heard some people say that they kept beating a dead horse with trying to make comparisons to the American economic collapse, in 2008, and the mob economic collapse at the same time, because of this heist. I really only think thats true if you know a lot about politics. It really took me a while to figure out why they had so many Obama and Bush news voiceovers, for the first half of the movie I really thought it was just to give you a timeframe of when this was taking place, but I couldn't figure out why it mattered. It honestly wasn't until the last scene in the bar that it hit me. Granted, I'm probably a little thick, but I went to see it twice and both times the people I went with said the same thing, so at least it wasn't just me. I was happy that they put so many references in so I could fully get it, but I do understand that if you figured it out the first time it could get a little annoying. 

I wouldn't recommend this film to just anyone, but I would recommend it to anyone who really enjoys films that don't need to be action-packed the whole time. It has enough talent, story, and cinematography skills to keep you interested the entire time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I also expect some Oscar nods from this one.

I give it a 8.5/10. Really interesting, a few twists and turns, overall a really great film.

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