Killing Them Softly
Go! 96 minutes of Pitt swagger.
Gangster life, mid-recession.
We used to have Brandos and Deans and Bogarts and McQueens - good-looking, achingly talented American actors that oozed masculine charisma, dominated cinema screens and took ownership of women's dreams and men's nightmares. These days, while we have excellent actors - Damons, DiCaprios, Depps and Phoenixes, so few have that quiet, early 20th Century, black and white aura that makes them seem fictional even in real-life. Brad Pitt is that guy. He always brings the cool to the party, even as he nears his 49th birthday (despite looking 15 years younger). Killing Them Softly - a neat tale of modern American organised crime - was merely another opportunity for Mr Pitt to excel and, of course, he does.
Lead actor aside, this is a very interesting movie with some familiar characters to elevate it. While he might be less of a stereotypical film star than Pitt, James Gandolfini is a whale sized presence on any size of screen. Here, he hulks around with the obvious expertise of six charged seasons playing Tony Soprano in his back pocket, but with just a touch of the criminal ineptitude he added to his repertoire in The Mexican - his other film with Pitt. To Pitt and Gandolfini, add wiseguy veteran Ray Liotta to the field and from the team sheet, you may begin to imagine that this film is shaping up to be a typical mafioso flick.
But Killing Them Softly is a distinctly different mafia movie - oddly without much participation of the mafia. Set during the recession and immediately prior to Obama's election, the whole criminal aspect of the film is wrapped up in a big message of cynicism about American society and its individualistic, flawed, capitalist nature, where the recession affects even the criminals. At the time, the message may come across as being a little crassly handle and ill-measured, but on reflection, Pitt's stoic contract killer just about makes it work, like very few others could.
But Killing Them Softly is a distinctly different mafia movie - oddly without much participation of the mafia. Set during the recession and immediately prior to Obama's election, the whole criminal aspect of the film is wrapped up in a big message of cynicism about American society and its individualistic, flawed, capitalist nature, where the recession affects even the criminals. At the time, the message may come across as being a little crassly handle and ill-measured, but on reflection, Pitt's stoic contract killer just about makes it work, like very few others could.
Imagine a magical world where the Coen Brothers direct an organised crime film written by Quentin Tarantino. That is, of course, far too good to be true, but while Killing Them Softly doesn’t quite hit those heights, director Andrew Dominik does indeed deliver QT-style, long, Pulp Fiction-al conversations; sharp lines of dialogue; and almost excessive graphic violence. In the Coen vein, he gives us a witty story, comedic characters, charm, bemusement and a mocking of our mundane world. It really is rather good.
Go if you like the sound of all that (and how could you not?!), or you simply want to see a classy performance from a genuine Hollywood superstar.
Go if you like the sound of all that (and how could you not?!), or you simply want to see a classy performance from a genuine Hollywood superstar.
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