Hollywood icons Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have only appeared together in one short scene in Heat. The teaming of these two legends in a film where they get to bounce off of one another should’ve been the event of the season. Yet, this monumental occasion is soured by a mystery that’s not too hard to figure out.
Detective Tom “Turk” Cowen (Robert De Niro) and David “Rooster” Fisk (Al Pacino) are old pros on the police force. The partners have come to rely on each other after all there years of experience on the force. One day a killer is going to walk so Turk plants evidence to make sure that he goes to the clink. The two have now moved on to try and catch the drug dealer Marcus “Spider” Smith (Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson) and recruit a young lawyer to help them.
The bust goes wrong and the lawyer gets wounded and they don’t get the goods on Spider. Their boss, Lieutenant Hingus (Brian Dennehy), orders them both to consult a police psychiatrist and he starts the duo writing their thoughts into personal diaries.
Turk is seeing crime scene investigator Karen Corelli (Carla Gugino) who is into some pretty kinky role-playing with the hot-tempered Turk. His temper is on full display when a rapist gets off on a technicality, but soon justice is served as a mysterious (or not so mysterious) person of interest is knocking off criminals that have escaped justice and leaving poetry behind has his calling card.
Detectives Perez (John Leguizamo) and Riley (Donnie Wahlberg) [What? They don’t get nicknames?] are investigating the poetic killer and team up with Turk and Rooster. Suspicions begin to mount that’s it a police officer who’s been putting the crooks down and all eyes fall upon Turk.
There’s no denying that both De Niro and Pacino are the best actors of their generation. They’ve been on the screen in some classic films. One that I’d mention is the Godfather Part II - though both appeared in it they never shared the screen together as Pacino’s scenes took place in a different time period than De Niro’s (playing the young Don Corleone).
In 1995, tongues were wagging and geeks were drooling when Michael Mann got both legends to star in Heat.
However, their scene together was so short and shot in cuts that some thought that the two might not have really been on the set the same day (behind the scene production photos show them sitting in the diner across from each other, but they faked the moon landing too right? Actually, if you watch it in widescreen they’re together, it’s the fullscreen TV version that makes it look like they’re not. Conspiracy sells better I guess.).
Unfortunately, both actors have seen better roles in their heydays and this teaming of legends might’ve been met with delight at first, but the film was so pedestrian that any excitement quickly died away. If they would’ve announced that the duo was starring in Righteous Kill directed by Martin Scorsese then you might’ve seen geeks drooling buckets.
What we get though is the fellow that helmed Pacino’s flop 88 Minutes (it felt longer…). The film isn’t as bad as 88 Minutes, but we’ve seen it all before.
We know that when Righteous Kill starts with a character confessing to the crime(s) that it’s all a smokescreen. I saw the final act reveal from the get go (Larry King gushes hammily on the back of the box about it).
Both De Niro and Pacino are looking their ages with Al having a scowl on the front cover that you might see in the Alzheimer’s wing of your local nursing home. Most of the characters either are archetypes or have baggage that makes them less than appealing. Both Pacino and De Niro are okay, but it’s nowhere near the top of either of their games (Larry gushing again on the back cover).
Righteous Kill is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include the 14 minute making of “The Investigation: In-Depth look at Righteous Kill.” The 19-minute “The Thin Blue Line” looks at what drives both cops and criminals. Finally you get the 2-minute theatrical trailer and previews of other Anchor Bay DVDs.
Righteous Kill is only middling. It still beats the messy 88 Minutes, but it comes nowhere near the “event film” that it could’ve been. There are better films in both De Niro and Pacino’s career that are far more entertaining.
Righteous Kill is now available at Amazon . It is available for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Feb. 16th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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