Righteous Kill

This was a hard one for me. Should I go see it? I mean, having De Niro and Pacino in a movie together is not what sells me on a going to see something. Especially since most of what they've done in the past decade, or so, has been... well, less than stellar. To be hones with you, it also looked like a lot of other cop movies. Cop (or cops) decide to take the law in their own hands, and take out some criminals that have slipped through the cracks. Not much new there...

Righteous Kill, though, surprised me. I really enjoyed it. It was humorous, dramatic, and, even though it told you who the killer was in the beginning, if you weren't REALLY paying attention, you confused it with your first instinct (which was wrong). De Niro and Pacino play Turk and Rooster (respectively), two New York City police detectives that get caught up in a possible serial killing case. The killer, though, is targeting felons who Turk and Rooster, and even other cops, could not put away for one reason or another. All evidence points towards a cop, and maybe even one of the two, so another cop team, Perez and Riley (played by John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg, respectively), are on the case. Their chances on finding out whether it's who they think it is come to a head when a drug dealer who slips through the cracks, makes a deal to draw the killer out into the open.

Righteous Kill was well written, and I thought that De Niro and Pacino actually did a good job. De Niro managed to find a character in which he wasn't just playing himself, and Pacino tried his best to keep Pacino in check. It's been a long time since these guys have really ACTED, and not just played caricatures of themselves on screen (although De Niro stepped out of his own skin for a small part in his own film The Good Shephard). The only mistake in this film was casting 50 Cent in a role. I'm sorry, but, if you want a black guy to play a drug dealer, I'm sure there are plenty of black actors, who can actually act, that can play the part. Let 50 stick to rapping. Having Carla Gugino as the sex crazed forensics detective, though, balanced it out. I would like to say that I wish Gugino would have more roles in which she wasn't just the sexy professional woman, but... She's hot. Sorry, just a personal taste thing...