Kevin Reviews Killing Them Softly

Brad Pitt is one of my favorite actors. He was awesome in Inglorious Basterds and Fight Club, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing him in World War Z (minus the CGI zombies). How did his performance fare in Killing Them Softly?

I had mixed feelings about this film. Brad Pitt gives the performance you would expect from Brad Pitt, nothing special here. He plays an enforcer of sorts that investigates after a mob protected card game is robbed. The robbery scene is thrilling and very well done, arguably the best scene of the film. I also liked the very end of the film, the last line spoken by Brad Pitt, specifically. He says: "America is not a country, its a business. Now fucking pay me." I liked how this film made commentary on the overly high value America places on money. Up until the end of film, Jackie (Pitt) is the non-materialistic representation of society. He is the least selfish character of the film, however, we see his other side when Richard Jenkin's unnamed character fails to pay him the full amount of money he owes him. My favorite part of this film was the underlying theme and message it sent to the audience, who must be smart enough to pick up on to really appreciate this film.

There are a lot of things I disliked about this film. From the start, the intro titles were very jarring and hard to watch and hear. This film is very dialogue heavy, which I didn't mind. What bothered me was how dull these scenes were. There wasn't a whole lot to engage myself in through most of the movie, which made me feel very detached from the story. I also found the scene where Ray Liotta is beaten to be more brutal than necessary for the context of the film. As desensitized as I am to violence, this scene disturbed me. That's not to say that it wasn't well done, because evoking that reaction out of me is a difficult thing to do. I felt a bit insulted because references to Bush and Obama were constantly being thrown at me. I was thinking, "Okay, I get it, this is set in 2008." Andrew Dominick was obviously insecure about how good of a job he was doing with the setting, and hitting us over the head with this was a bit obnoxious. Finally, I thought this film mimicked the style of Guy Ritchie, who's films I don't really like in the first place, so an imitation won't really strike me as anything special.

Overall, I would recommend Killing Them Softly only to those who enjoy crime films and want to see the economic side to the crime world, as well as those who appreciate the underlying themes and commentary made on our country. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

MY RATING:

3 out of 5

-Kevin A. Millward