Definitely one of the year's best, it's less a conventional crime flick than a damning takedown of American capitalism. Though rather overt at times (Pitt's final speech, set over Obama's victory speech in '08, comes to mind first, though it is rather terrific), Dominik's assured hand and confident direction keeps things low-key and effective. In a year filled with dramas inspired by the recent economic turmoil (Cosmopolis, Magic Mike, The Dark Knight Rises, to name but a few), this stands out as the best.

This was very good (though mainstream audiences will hate it). However, tw things bugged me a bit:

- The fact how overt it was (trix has pretty much summed it up)

- The way they bring Gandolfini's character into the film. While the character himself provided some great moments and did play an interesting role, it makes little sense in retrospect that Jackie Cogan would want/need him for the job. In the end he had little problem killing Squirrel from a distance AND it seems unlikely that he would have so easily given up $15,000 for the job to Mickey. So yeah.

Scott McNairy was surprisingly awesome, though and the cinematography stands among the year's best.

Killing Them Softly

I was quite looking forward to this, and I don't know why because I should have known that being from the same director as The Assassination of Jesse James it was going to be dull. Well, I wouldn't call it dull it such. It was just ... uneventful. There's a lot of chatter, much of it with names that aren't really at the forefront of your mind just yet. James Gandolfini is in it, but I'm not sure why his character is even there, he does nothing apart from get drunk and swear. Pitt is Pitt, so nothing remarkable from him. It's all over very quickly, I was waiting for another scene or two regarding Pitt getting his extra $5,000 per hit, but it just ended. Weird.

The start was odd too. The titles came up one word at a time whilst cutting off a news broadcast being made by Obama. You'll have to see it to understand what I mean, but it just wasn't very clean. It was sloppy. I know they were trying to go for that edgy, different, indie feel, but it just didn't work because it cut in the middle of Obama was saying so it made no sense.

It was kind of a pointless story with nothing inbetween to make it interesting or exciting. A card game gets knocked over, Brad is called in, he kills 3 guys, end of movie. The talk with Gandolfini in the bar was very boring. For me this is in the same league as The Grey, Assassination of Jesse James, and Syriana....serious, adult, mature movies that look really cool by the trailer/poster, but are just quite boring and don't live up to even the lowest of expectations. It didn't even have a cool soundtrack that could make up for it.

Ray Liotta takes a beating, and the killings in it are pretty good. Brad doesn't feel like a character, though, he feels like Brad Pitt just with a goatee. And who the fuck is Dillion? I got confused. Is Dillon and Squirrel the same person?

B-/C+

No, Dillon is Pitt's friend/mentor who comes to "visit" Liotta after the first robbery.


Also, you didn't get this movie at all.

Oh wow, that makes you feel really superior now.

That's not my problem. Many people will dislike it (or not "get it") and it'll make no money. Hurrah for making boring as shit movies, Dominik!

This is from the director of Jesse James? My anticipation just SKYROCKETED.

Jesse James is a masterpiece.

Agreed.

Yeah.....for me it was way way too overt and on the nose.

Also, bringing it Gandolfini didn't make much sense. Someone like Pitt (given his speech at the end), wouldn't have given up the money so easily to someone else.

Drive is much more subtle than this. But, for some reason, the overtness didn't really bother me here, whereas I found it unbearable in something like Flight. I think it's just a question of craft.

a few unnecessary scenes allmost kill this movie, like pitts conversation with gandolfini in the restaurant where gandolfini just keeps rambling on and on and on but the conversation doesnt go anywhere. also there is no satisfactory balance of characters like a good ensemble movie should have, with gandolfini playing a character that has no reason to be in this movie in the first place. i also hated the use of "love letters from my heart" in the scene where ray liotta gets shot because it rips off david lynchs masterpiece "blue velvet".

C

I agree with Gandolfini's character having no reason to be in this at all. As I said, friends or not, Pitt's final speech makes it very unlikely that he'd be so friendly towards Gandolfini.

That said, Gandolfini's speech in his hotel room was fucking hilarious.

A critique of American capitalism via a brutal, old-fashioned crime drama. When a pair of idiotic thugs steal from a mob run card game, an enforcer, played by a crisp and cool Brad Pitt, is enlisted to investigate, enact vengeance, and restore order to the underworld. Instead of exploding into a conventional action picture, this plot is the foundation for a deliberate, desolate, inventive, and smart piece driven by character, beautiful and profane conversation, and a palpable sense of nocturnal menace and decay. Set two elections ago, economic and political debate is ever present in the film. It is on television and on the radio and even referenced more than once by a character. Several critics describe the central idea (modern financial concern reflected in this desperate, mid-level criminal environment, where even the choice of whom to murder and when is a belabored and bureaucratic one) as didactic, forced, overt to a fault, etc., which is fair, but I disagree: the film turns its political conscious into vivid spectacle, starting with an amazing shot of a dirtily clothed character slowly moving through a grim, almost apocalyptic urban space (Louisiana standing in for any city, with a hint of Boston) below two glowing political billboard advertisements (BELIEVE! CHANGE!). There is often this default preference for the subtle, but much of this film's power and propulsion is derived from its open rage, and I would not cut the caustic final monologue for the world.

A

I am not sure I would just describe the hotel scene as hilarious, even though it may be. It is also very sad and a bit frightening.

The novel is set in Boston, BTW. But I'm pretty sure the film is suppoed to be srt in New Orleans specifically.

Oh and the hotel room scene was hilarious. Sad and laughs-inducing is not necessarily mutually exclusive in life, so I thought it fit.

Andrew Dominik has said it is meant to be any city, for the record.

http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood ... ew-dominik

Yeah, the license plates and cop cars were all generic. That's usually how I discern where something takes place.

It was on the East Coast, though, because they mentioned about driving DOWN to Florida. I got the vibe that it was in Philly for some reason, or in Pennyslvania at least.

KILLING THEM SOFTLY

I enjoyed the film overall. Pitt was good and it had a few intense scenes. The whole gadolinium character was a total waste. He spends five minutes blathering about women before discussing what his mission was. All the political drivel was used way too much and was actually distracting.

Grade B

Epic misspelling.

I think he's poking fun at his stupid name.

I just get tired of trying to fix words when posting/texting from my phone. I just give up or I'm being lazy.

I'm not really sure why this got an F on CinemaScore

I heard a few complaints about how 'stupid' the political backdrop was, but it seemed agreeable to me. I dunno.

Only thing I hated was the opening.

I'd put it in 'B' range. The story felt slight, with the events posing little challenge for those involved. Four guys did something wrong -- and they got shot.

Probably because people saw Brad Pitt with a big shotgun on the poster and expected a kick-ass crime thriller with lots of action. They didn't get that.