For any true film fan, seeing legends Al Pacino and Robert De Niro on screen together should be one of life’s highest priorities. Yes, they were both in The Godfather Part II (where technically De Niro played Pacino’s father) and Heat but they never were on screen together for an extended or satisfying period of time. Along comes Righteous Kill, the film we’ve all been waiting for in order to see these two acting heavyweights team up. It’s for that reason that I find myself inconceivably disappointed by it; not even two of the best actors to have ever lived can save this nonsense.
The film follows two veteran New York detectives working together to catch a serial killer who is killing criminals who have gotten away with murders they have previously been charged with. But what at first seems like a simple enough case soon gets more and more complex as the body count rises and the the search for the killer brings people they never expected under suspicion.
What happened to Robert De Niro and Al Pacino? These used to be two of the most respected men in the business and they have given some of cinema’s all time greatest performances. For Pacino it is The Godfather, Scarface, and Dog Day Afternoon and for De Niro it is Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, and The Godfather Part II. So again, what happened to these guys? Save for a couple of roles, and even that may be pushing it, over the last ten years or so they have done crap after crap after crap. Is it the money? Are they riding on the fact that they once were the very best acting had to offer? Are they just lazy? It’s not as if they don’t have the ability to tell the difference between a good and bad project and yet they seem to contribute to the latter far too often.
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