Killing Them Softly

[baumer]

Discuss

[Vanilla]

Loved some of the scenes. Like most of the characters. James character was pointless and unnecessary. 7/10

[acab]

There's already a thread for this

[FilmBuff]

Here's my short review. Saw it last night at the Moore Warren.Anyways, I went into this movie without seeing a lot of trailers or reviews. The only premise I knew of this movie was Brad Pitt was a professional hit man good at what he did. Felt like watching a lot of movie trailers and tv spots ruin and mis-market movies completely. I have mixed-feelings about this movie. The pacing was EXTREMELY slow except for the last 30 minutes. I enjoyed the last 30 minutes much more than I did the rest of movie. It was what I was looking for in a Mob movie. Tense action, good character moments, and brutal mob violence. I especially like ending(won't spoil it). The problem is the first 2/3 too 1/2 of the movie was just poorly directed and edited, certain scenes dragged for me. The first 2/3 of the movie was a total disconnect from the last 1/3 of the movie. At the beginning. They spent far too much time away from Brad Pitt's character arc. His story-line was the most intriguing. This was a very well acted movie. Pitt could possibly sneak as a dark-horse for the Oscars for his role(probably leading). He NAILED the character completely. He continues to impress me as an actor, one of the best in Hollywood. I've never seen a bad performance in any movie he's been in. The other actors were good as well James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, and the guy from Argo. No problems with acting. This is a total niche film like Drive and Dredd. There will be certain people who defend this movie to their dying breaths. Art-house films are a mix-bag for me. I either like them or find myself bored by them. Killing them Softly is more of the 2nd for me.C-

[The Toymaker]

Killing Them Softly

I was quite looking forward to this, and I don't know why because I should have known that being from the same director as The Assassination of Jesse James it was going to be dull. Well, I wouldn't call it dull it such. It was just ... uneventful. There's a lot of chatter, much of it with names that aren't really at the forefront of your mind just yet. James Gandolfini is in it, but I'm not sure why his character is even there, he does nothing apart from get drunk and swear. Pitt is Pitt, so nothing remarkable from him. It's all over very quickly, I was waiting for another scene or two regarding Pitt getting his extra $5,000 per hit, but it just ended. Weird.

The start was odd too. The titles came up one word at a time whilst cutting off a news broadcast being made by Obama. You'll have to see it to understand what I mean, but it just wasn't very clean. It was sloppy. I know they were trying to go for that edgy, different, indie feel, but it just didn't work because it cut in the middle of Obama was saying so it made no sense.

It was kind of a pointless story with nothing inbetween to make it interesting or exciting. A card game gets knocked over, Brad is called in, he kills 3 guys, end of movie. The talk with Gandolfini in the bar was very boring. For me this is in the same league as The Grey, Assassination of Jesse James, and Syriana....serious, adult, mature movies that look really cool by the trailer/poster, but are just quite boring and don't live up to even the lowest of expectations. It didn't even have a cool soundtrack that could make up for it.

The movie was obviously a metaphor for the current state of America, but this was the wrong movie to showcase that idea. I didn't like that aspect at all. The constant news clips of Obama and Bush, while good to have some real-life storyline within the film, were just annoying and far too pushed. Unneeded.

Ray Liotta takes a beating, and the killings in it are pretty good. Brad doesn't feel like a character, though, he feels like Brad Pitt just with a goatee. Possibly the biggest let down of the year.

C+

[Gopher]

I kind of hated it.

Really saddens me to say that since Assassination of Jesse James is one of my favorite movies. I even thought some of the action and performances were effective (give it a Best Sound Editing nomination?). Brad Pitt is a star and he totally owns the movie. But, okay... it's a damning takedown of American capitalism, I got that in those first terrible two minutes. It's a sad, ugly, uncomfortable, narcissistic, overtly cynical film and that's the point. That didn't make it entertaining or effective or even eventful. It felt like an eternity until Pitt's final speech cuts short and I felt like I hadn't watched anything. The gritty action borders on torture porn that makes you squirm for the sake of making you squirm. Every cut to a speech by Bush or Obama stalls the film in its tracks. The whole thing is lazy, pretentious, and a waste of time. That's the hardship of Killing Them Softly... I wish I hadn't even seen the movie.

C-

Edited December 2, 2012 by Gopher

[acsc1312]

Ouch. I was actually excited when I saw that Owen Gleiberman gave this an A in EW this week. Maybe I'll just wait for redbox.

[ChD]

This movie simply tries too hard... The editing and the cinematography at the beginning are simply horrendous. The slow motion shots are great, but they get kinda ruined by the bad special effects (mostly the blood).

 

D+

[baumer]

Fucking horrible in every way.1/10

[4815162342]

There's already a thread for this http://forums.boxoffice.com/index.php?/topic/5966-killing-them-softly/page__hl__killing+them+softly

 

please merge this thread with the one that already exists

[rockNrollaDIM]

Finally caught up with this last night via Redbox. It's not a movie without issues - it was pretty obviously cut to death in the editing room, a couple of characters simply disappear from the story without resolution (Australian robber and Gandolfini), the theme/metaphor is about as subtle as a punch in the face, and Pitt's "bad boy" act feels a bit disingenuous at times. But then there's moments that tell me that there's a great movie in there somewhere. I love the style, the mood, the brutality, and the acting is most of the time pretty good. The dialogue is repetitive at points but it's also wicked quoutable. I love the final line: "This guy wants to tell me we're living in a community. Don't make me laugh. I'm living in America, and in America you're on your own. America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fuckin' pay me!" Mixed bag and I wish the studio had just let Dominik do his thing because this is unforutnately a step down from the fantastic Jesse James, and probably a career-killer (at least in Hollywood).

 

6.5/10

[Jack Nevada]

I just want to see the 150 minute version

[Jake Gittes]

I just want to see the 150 minute version

I'm starting to think I'm the only one who loved the movie and doesn't. The movie is pretty much perfect as it is, and while I might be wrong, I strongly suspect that if you added another 30 minutes to it, it would only become bloated as hell, rambling, tiresome and kinda useless... pretty much like Gandolfini's character. Except, while that's the whole point of Gandolfini's character, the movie would only suffer.

Edited March 28, 2013 by Jake Gittes

[4815162342]

I really liked the movie but I can't help but be curious about the original cut.