Killing Them Softly

ATTN:  MOVIE SPOILERS INCLUDED

Killing Them Softly

December 2012

2 out of 5 bags of popcorn for the overall movie

2.5 out of 5 boxes of milk duds for my own personal entertainment

My Suggestion:  DVD

The gist:  This film is set in New Orleans during the financial crisis and 2008 presidential election where the economy is bad, even for criminals.  When a mob protected card game gets robbed by a couple of amateurs a professional hit man (Brad Pitt) is hired to take them out.    

My take:

I was not happy with this movie at all.  It was like the film was trying too hard and it just missed the mark completely.  The 3 most notable actors in the film were all playing characters I had seen before.  Brad Pitt was a grungy version of his character from Fight Club, James Gandolfini was a Tony Soprano-esque hit man and Ray Liotta plays an older version of Henry Hill from Goodfellows.  The acting is fine, but come on, you’ve got to give us a little more here!  I do appreciate all three of these actors and their craft, it just didn’t work here.

One of things that really bothered me about the film was the amount of drawn out, LONG conversations between the characters.  A few were clever, but most were overkill.  I can see what they were trying to accomplish here but it didn’t work at all.  The dialogue has to be interesting if it is going to go on over 5 minutes.

Also, the whole premise of the film is “killing them softly” which Pitt’s character explains as not getting too close to his targets and taking them out somewhat gently.  He then proceeds to completely ignore his own rule and becomes friendly with his final victim while shooting him at point blank range.  Not sure how that is “killing them softly”?  Actually, all of the killings are very brutal including the scene where Ray Liotta’s character is beaten.  Nothing “soft” about that either!!

There are a few redeeming qualities in this film.  For one, the setting in New Orleans was perfect and the constant debate telecasts in the background between Obama and McCain added nicely to setting the scene for the hard times the world was going through. 

I was surprised by the good reviews this film has been getting….those people must have seen something that I clearly missed.