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Last Updated: Oct 17th, 2008 - 13:21:45 |
With its high body count combined with the high profile stars Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino, “Righteous Kill” is an obvious bridge between summer action movies and fall flicks with a higher Hollywood pedigree. But even as it engrosses us in yet another drama of cops and criminals, “Righteous Kill” cannot help but give off the air of a production created with the marketing of its two stars in mind, rather than its plot or message.
We get to hear DeNiro talk about guns, murder and sex. We get to hear Pacino talk about guns, murder and sex. Each also handles a gun and has rough sex with a sexy colleague. In this pairing of two mega-stars, DeNiro, as always, gets the upper hand on the toughness scale, while Pacino is assumed to be the more eccentric and thoughtful man. Each plays the part of a NYPD detective. They have worked together for decades and hold no secrets from each other. They are the glue holding together this story of a police officer who has, in effect, become a serial killer.
Because a prime suspect in these crimes is played by one of these stars, and because those killed are assorted criminal low-lives, we movie-goers are lulled into accepting the killing—and the killer—as “righteous.” Like “The Brave One” with Jodie Foster, “Righteous Kill” easily convinces us to have sympathy for the indignant, wounded vigilante and little if any sympathy for those gunned down without due process of law.
So, again, with the use of some of our favorite stars, another movie nudges us into accepting rogue justice and police violence. This nudging is not highlighted in the script. It just sits there, right beneath the surface as we follow various killings, while the killer’s story is told in a deadpan voice-over. While there is a fair amount of commentary labeling the killer and killings as psychopathic, this focus on his mindset further draws us into his personality rather than into the morality of his actions.
Even with the criminals in this movie coming from a variety of racial and ethnic groups, the issue of NYPD violence is one that has consistently and disproportionately impacted Black people. But “Righteous Kill” does not muddy up the issue of police violence with the issue of innocent lives lost, as in the controversial cases of Sean Bell or Amadou Diallo. The closest that “Righteous Kill” gets to having sympathy for the prototypical young Black male victim is its insertion of rapper Curtis “50-Cent” Jackson in the role of a thuggish drug dealer-entrepreneur who owns a popular nightclub in Harlem. Jackson is improving as an actor and in this film, we can totally understand what he is saying.
It is not as easy to understand what “Righteous Kill” is trying to say about police violence in era of increased police intrusion, surveillance and power in the lives of Americans.
This review also appeared on Tom Joyner's BlackAmericaWeb.com,/i>
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