Plot: Turk and Rooster are two NYC detectives, played respectively by De Niro and Pacino. They go on the hunt for a serial killer who is targeting criminals and leaving poems on their bodies. The deeper they delve into the case, the more it looks like the killer is one of their own, a cop.The Ups: Following in the footsteps of Heat and The Godfather Pt. II Robert De Niro and Al Pacino show amazing chemistry. The fact that Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller can get together for 87 movies in one year, and these two have only done three in the span of more than thirty years is disheartening, but maybe that’s what makes it so good. It’s not overdone, it’s an event. The story provides a solid background with some good twists and turns for these two to do their thing. Donnie Wahlberg delivers another good performance, I really think he is underrated and perhaps a better actor than his kid brother… or at least makes better choices on what films to do. Lastly, there were quite a few funny moments in the film which I wasn’t expecting but worked well.
The Downs: The story like, I said earlier, is a good background for De Niro and Pacino to showcase their chemistry, but that’s it. As a stand-alone story with any other two actors in the lead, it’s unmemorable and somewhat predictable. I also didn’t like how they tried to play up on the chemistry between De Niro and Pacino. These two are great together anyway you put it, but the filmmakers tried to put emphasis on that fact and it ends up looking really cheesy in some parts. 50 Cent shows some decent acting but that’s overshadowed by the fact that his role was completely unnecessary and it feels like they only added him to draw a larger audience. The pacing also wasn’t all that great. The flick never really slows down but it felt a lot longer than its 1 hr 40 min run time.
The Final Word: I really….really….REALLY didn’t want to have to tell anyone to wait for this one on DVD, but unless you have some serious love for the De Niro/Pacino connection I wouldn’t bother spending the ten bucks. Don’t get me wrong this wasn’t a bad movie by any means, it just wasn’t particularly good. Go rent Heat if you want to see these two together this weekend and rent Righteous Kill in a couple months when it’s out on DVD.
6.75/10
