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Righteous Kill

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Righteous Kill (2008)

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Reviews Counted:137

Fresh:28

Rotten:109

Average Rating:4.1/10

Consensus: Al Pacino and Robert De Niro do their best to elevate this dowdy genre exercise, but even these two greats can't resuscitate the film's hackneyed script.

Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins

Genre: Action/Adventure

US Box Office: $39,983,772

Synopsis: Academy Award® winners Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) and Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) star as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer in the... Academy Award® winners Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) and Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) star as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer in the adrenaline fueled psychological thriller Righteous Kill, directed by Jon Avnet (Red Corner, Fried Green Tomatoes) and written by Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man). The cast also features hip-hop superstar Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Get Rich or Die Tryin’).

After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement, but aren’t. Before they can hang up their badges, they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before.

Like the original murder, the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place, it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer, one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can’t do on their own—take the culprits off the streets for good. The similarities between the recent killings and their earlier case raise a nagging question: Did they put the wrong man behind bars? --© Overture Films
[More]

Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Curtis Jackson, Carla Gugino

Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Curtis Jackson, Carla Gugino, Dan Futterman, Donnie Wahlberg, Trilby Glover, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo

Director: Jon Avnet

Director: Jon Avnet
Screenwriter: Russell Gerwitz
Producer: Rob Cowan, Avi Lerner, Randall Emmett, Jon Avnet, Lati Grobman
Composer: Ed Shearmur
Studio: Overture Films

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Reviews for Righteous Kill

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

The worst about Righteous Kill is that there's probably a perfectly acceptable procedural thriller somewhere in the mountain of cliches and stupidity that riddle the film.

Full Review Source: Washington Times | comment Comment
08/30/09
Sonny Bunch
Sonny Bunch
Washington Times
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: JoBlo's Movie Emporium | comment Comment
02/27/09
Chris Bumbray
Chris Bumbray
JoBlo's Movie Emporium

Imagine this conversation: A phone call between actor Bob De Niro and director Marty Scorsese. Bobby: Hello, Marty. I've been calling and texting, but you never answer. (Silence) Bobby: I'm talking to you. Are you talkin' to me? Are you talkin' to me?

Full Review Source: Fayetteville Free Weekly | comment 3 Comments
02/01/09
Tony Macklin
Tony Macklin
Fayetteville Free Weekly

An overly decorated pinata afraid to expose the vacuum inside.

Full Review Source: Projection Booth | comment Comment
01/20/09
Rob Humanick
Rob Humanick
Projection Booth

Pacino. DeNiro. Armed and dangerous. In a cop drama. In NYC. Together. Written by the writer of Inside Man. Sounds great, doesn't it? Well, what could've gone so wrong?

Full Review Source: CinemaBlend.com | comment Comment
01/11/09
Brian Holcomb
Brian Holcomb
CinemaBlend.com

This thriller by Jon Avnet is mostly by the numbers, and its surprise ending, though effective, feels somewhat forced.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/09/08
Joshua Katzman
Joshua Katzman
Chicago Reader

...the phrase phoning-it-in was practically invented for Pacino and De Niro's work here...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
11/26/08
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

Russell Gewirtz's script is built around a trick, one that is simultaneously too clever by half and not clever at all (which itself is quite a trick).

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
11/12/08
Andy Klein
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

Nearly everything about this film is a cliché.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
11/05/08
Ben Mankiewicz
Ben Mankiewicz
At the Movies

Say it ain't so, Bobby and Al.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
10/18/08
Jason Matloff
Jason Matloff
Boston Globe

A derivative and increasingly silly crime thriller.

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
10/18/08
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

There's nothing righteous about this tired and tiresome good cop/bad cop NYPD procedural from Avnet; in fact, it's pretty much an abomination from the get-go.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
10/18/08
Marc Savlov
Marc Savlov
Austin Chronicle

So somebody finally got De Niro and Pacino to co-star in a movie together and this is the best they could come up with?

Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | comment 2 Comments
10/18/08
Scott Nash
Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs

The movie, which has more than 10 credited producers, feels like one of those slick, for-the-money projects Hollywood studios cook up via graph charts and marketing surveys.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
10/18/08
Rene Rodriguez
Rene Rodriguez
Miami Herald

There's nothing righteous to be found here.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
10/18/08
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

Seeing Robert De Niro and Al Pacino circling the thin line between cop and criminal paints a giant grin on the face.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
10/18/08
Stina Chyn
Stina Chyn
Film Threat

Direct Avnet is just plain terrible, and screenwriter Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man) should be ashamed of himself.

Full Review Source: The Cinema Source | comment Comment
10/12/08
Michael Dance
Michael Dance
The Cinema Source

Teria sido melhor se eles tivessem seguido o exemplo de Paul Newman e Robert Redford e interrompido a parceria enquanto esta ainda era trazia um histórico impecável.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
10/10/08
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

Moviegoers that haven't seen alot of cop mysteries will probably like it. I have seen too many of them so it was very unoriginal and just silly.

Full Review Source: Sin Magazine | comment Comment
10/08/08
Austin Kennedy
Austin Kennedy
Sin Magazine

It's good to see the two great actors of their generation back together in Righteous Kill. Frankly, though, although a few sparks of fire at times, the heat has subsided significantly.

Full Review Source: San Antonio Express-News | comment Comment
09/29/08
Larry Ratliff
Larry Ratliff
San Antonio Express-News
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
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Latest News for Righteous Kill

January 21, 2009: Razzies Name 2008's Worst Movie Nominees
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year's winners will... More...

January 04, 2009: Equally gritty old school crime thriller and flashy seductive post-modern whodunit noir, along with De Niro's off the job kinky rough sex lover forensic babe (Carla Gugino) who likes him to role play criminals in bed, Righteous Kill delivers the goods. Opens in new window
More...

January 03, 2009: Equally gritty old school crime thriller and flashy seductive post-modern whodunit noir, along with De Niro's off the job kinky rough sex lover forensic babe (Carla Gugino) who likes him to role play criminals in bed, Righteous Kill delivers the goods. Opens in new window
More...

November 28, 2008: UK Critics Consensus: Local Critics Warm To Changeling; De Niro Delights But What Just Happened Doesn't
It's Friday, there's a new raft of movies in the UK cinemas this week, but are any of them any good? This week the UK film hacks give us their opinions on Clint Eastwood's... More...

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