Righteous Kill (2008)

Two veteran New York City detectives work on a case of serial executions of criminals who escaped justice.

Director:

Jon Avnet

Writer:

Russell Gewirtz

Stars:

Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, 50 Cent

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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	...	Hingis
Trilby Glover	...	Jessica
Saidah Arrika Ekulona	...	Gwen Darvis
Alan Rosenberg	...	Stein
Sterling K. Brown	...	Rogers
Barry Primus	...	Prosky
Melissa Leo	...	Cheryl Brooks
Alan Blumenfeld	...	Martin Baum
Oleg Taktarov	...	Yevgeny Mugalat

Storyline

Turk and Rooster, two aging NYPD detectives who have been longtime partners are faced with a serial killer who is murdering sociopathic criminals. They both have personal issues, and when they start working with a younger team, Perez and Riley, tensions between the pairs of partners is inevitable, especially since Turk is now living with Perez's ex-girlfriend, also a homicide detective.

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Plot Keywords:

execution | new york city | nypd | serial killer | confession | 

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Taglines:

Watch your back.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and brief drug use

Details

Official Sites:

Lionsgate [uk] Metropolitan Films [fr]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish Russian

Release Date:

12 September 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Las dos caras de la ley

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£768,803 (UK) (26 September 2008)

Gross:

$40,076,438 (USA) (12 December 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Millennium Films, Emmett/Furla Films, Grosvenor Park Media

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The initial cut of Righteous Kill ran for two hours, but after a rather negative test screening, Nu Image hastily re-cut the film down to its slender 101 minutes to make it more fast-paced and action-orientated. Snippets of some of the deleted scenes can be seen in the trailer.

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Goofs

When Karen Corelli goes to her apartment, thinking she is being followed, you can see the shadow of the cameraman just before she steps up the first step leading to her door.

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Quotes

Turk: My name is David Fisk, detective first grade. I've been a cop in the NYPD for over thirty years, in that time I've killed 14 people.

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Crazy Credits

After the credits, the sound of a train is heard.

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Connections

References First Blood (1982)

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Soundtracks

"La Traviata - Libiamo N'e Liete Calici"
Written by Giuseppe Verdi
Courtesy of 5 Alarm Music

User Reviews

Good Acting, Very Weak Script

Turk (Robert De Niro) and Rooster (Al Pacino) are longtime NYC police partners, in this Jon Avnet thriller that has them trying to stop an unknown serial killer, a person who leaves a poem at the scene of each crime. Victims are law-breakers who were freed on legal technicalities. Two other cops, played by John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg, become suspicious of the investigation, and this hampers the efforts of Turk and Rooster.

The script on which the film is based is rather poor. The setup is muddled; none of the characters are especially sympathetic, and secondary characters are not well defined. Further, "Righteous Kill" is not that much different from other serial killer or urban crime films.

The mood here is dark, and the tone is rather cynical. Characters go out of their way to telegraph their toughness by using lots of "hard" language. There's an edginess to the characters, and that's okay. But I could have wished for a character with some degree of softness. That would have provided much needed balance to the overall tonal savagery.

Without a doubt, the film's best element is the acting. There's not a weak performance in the bunch. Of course, the focus is on De Niro and Pacino. This is really their film. And it's their camaraderie, their back and forth playful banter, that makes the film worth watching. Production design and costumes are credible. Color cinematography is generally dark, consistent with the story's mood.

In spite of a weak script, "Righteous Kill" does provide some good plot misdirection that will leave viewers unsure as to the story's outcome. But the film's main virtue is the casting of De Niro and Pacino, two contemporary screen legends whose performances here are quite good.