Movie and Television Reviews

Many acting buffs will find the re-teaming of two of America's greatest and most accomplished actors- both of whom became stars within the same series, Godfather (We'll forget about Heat)- too good to pass up and see Righteous Kill for that reason alone.

Now, it's no sure thing that great actors will act well or be well-matched for their role in a given movie. Both Al Pacino and Robert De Niro have had their share of non-shiny performances. Al Pacino does a terrible job in The Recruit and is in the interesting, but gimmicky Simone (S1m0ne). Robert De Niro is great in Stardust, but he parodies himself in Analyze This, a sign of creative tiredness.

They both do well in Righteous Kill. Pacino plays Rooster, a very veteran cop on the NYPD force, in a locker room-police force tough-humorous manner. De Niro is Turk, another veteran. Turk's a little more pensive and philosophical than Rooster- more hidden rage.

The movie starts with a confession by Turk for the murders of criminals who have cheated justice. This would seem to be what script writers don't want to do in a thriller, but it's original and works out OK. The goal of Righteous Kill is to keep us guessing as to whom the real murderer is, and Righteous Kill accomplishes this task- I never lost interest in the movie. I particularly liked the fact that the murderer can be Turk's girlfriend, Carla (Karen Corelli), a possibility made more plausible by her and Turk's preference for S&M style sex.

Having been born in the spring of De Niro and Pacino's careers and not yesterday, I expected some surprises.

The not-quite shockers feel manipulative and cheap, in the end, however. Righteous Kill also descends into cheesy first-person views to disguise the perpetrator, and the ending has one of those cheap black and white with sound-filtered flashbacks that play back the clues from the movie, which, with your plot epiphany, you now see in a whole new light.

Message/Politics:

Similar to Batman: The Dark Knight, actually: Blurring the line between justice and destructive vigilantism.

There's a pedophile priest. I don't mind, as the Church deserves it.

Simone

Heat (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Analyze This / Analyze That (Double Feature)

The Sopranos - Season 6, Part 2

The Godfather DVD Collection (The Godfather/ The Godfather - Part II/ The Godfather - Part III)

Cast below:

Follow up:

Directed by
Jon Avnet

Writing credits
(WGA)
Russell Gewirtz (written by)

Cast (in credits order)

Robert De Niro ... Turk

Al Pacino ... Rooster

50 Cent ... Spider (as Curtis Jackson)

Carla Gugino ... Karen Corelli

John Leguizamo ... Det. Simon Perez

Donnie Wahlberg ... Det. Ted Riley

Brian Dennehy ... Lieutenant Hingis

Trilby Glover ... Jessica

Saidah Arrika Ekulona ... Gwen Darvis (as Saidah Arrika)
Alan Rosenberg ... Stein

Sterling K. Brown ... Rogers
Barry Primus ... Prosky

Melissa Leo ... Cheryl Brooks

Alan Blumenfeld ... Martin Baum

Oleg Taktarov ... Yevgeny Mugalat

Shirly Brener ... Natalya

Frank John Hughes ... Charles Randall

Terry Serpico ... Jon Van Luytens

Liza Colón-Zayas ... Judge Angel Rodriguez
Malachy McCourt ... Father Connell

Ajay Naidu ... Dr. Chadrabar
Charles F. Krichman Jr. ... Umpire
Rob Dyrdek ... Rambo
Jamey Jasta ... ESU Officer (as James Shanahan)

Fatso-Fasano ... Stubby
Mia Barron ... Jill Goldman

Andre B. Blake ... Officer Jones (as Andrew Blake)
Chris Cenatiempo ... Hispanic Man
John Cenatiempo ... Joseph Cianci
Judy Del Giudice ... Hostess
Bryan Chatlien ... Ellis Lynde
Shalaya Patty Ford ... Latasha
Shaun Kelvin ... Cop #2
Merritt Wever ... Rape Victim

Les Chantery ... Lawyer #2
Katie Bukovsky ... Coach
Tyrone Smith ... Fly Ty
Jim Jones ... Jim Jones
Darryl Pittman ... 39 D / R Period
Margaret Head ... Hot Girl

Katarzyna Wolejnio ... Dancer
rest of cast listed alphabetically:

Edrick Browne ... Stone Cold Killer (unconfirmed)

Brett Granstaff ... Pokerface (unconfirmed)

Nicola Peltz ... Lynn (unconfirmed)

Brian Stapf ... Trager (unconfirmed)

Gail Bugeja ... Club Goer / Kissing couple / Dancer (uncredited)
Tanisha Grant ... Beautiful Waitress (uncredited)
Catie Lazarus ... Sexy Girl (uncredited)
Kimberly Magness ... Club dancer (uncredited)
Create a character page for: ?

Produced by
Jon Avnet .... producer
Boaz Davidson .... producer
Danny Dimbort .... executive producer
Randall Emmett .... producer
Brian E. Frankish .... line producer
George Furla .... producer
Lati Grobman .... producer
Avi Lerner .... producer
Alexandra Milchan .... producer
Marsha Oglesby .... co-producer
Scott Putman .... line producer: additional photography
Daniel M. Rosenberg .... producer
Trevor Short .... executive producer

Original Music by
Ed Shearmur