Righteous Kill (2008)

I enjoyed Righteous Kill. It's not DeNiro's or Pacino's best movie but, after all, they are in this one together so it is already better than anything with lesser actors. They certainly didn't phone in their performances but even if they had, Righteous Kill had a head start on their inertia alone. However, no one wants actors (esp. these guys) to sit on their laurels, so Righteous Kill seems to have gotten midrange reviews -- and my rating concurs. (Since I rate 3 stars for "liked it" and 4 stars for "really liked it," Righteous Kill comes down in that middle ground of 3.5 stars -- lower than Collateral but better than Insomnia.) I am not one to wring to death the story arc, turning everything on its ear until the final twist, so I can say "See! I knew that was going to happen!" (Like my Oscar predictions, I believe in publicly committing one's predictions to writing in advance so that veracity can be confirmed.) So long as a twist is competently couched, I will allow it to surprise me (as in The Sixth Sense). Righteous Kill received such a benefit of the doubt and I enjoyed the twist all the more for it. I would watch it again sometime if given the chance. Enjoy! 3.5 stars. (11-29-2010, posted 3-9-2016)