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Righteous Kill
Overture Films

Righteous Kill reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 36 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
5.0 out of 10
based on 27 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 40 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and brief drug use

Starring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, 50 Cent, Donnie Wahlberg, and Carla Gugino

A serial murderer walks the streets of Manhattan, targeting violent felons who have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. All the victims are suspected criminals whose bodies are found accompanied by a four-line poem justifying the killing. The killer’s mission is to do what the cops can’t do on their own—take bad guys off the streets for good. When a notorious pimp becomes one of the killer’s victims, highly decorated detectives Turk and Rooster are called in to investigate. This case could easily be the biggest one in their 30 years on the force. With the unwitting help of a local drug dealer the detectives follow what few clues they have, but their search soon turns inward, eventually leading them full circle as they realize the killer may be one of their own. (Overture Films)


GENRE(S): Crime  |  Drama  |  Mystery  
WRITTEN BY: Russell Gewirtz  
DIRECTED BY: Jon Avnet  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: January 6, 2009 
Theatrical: September 12, 2008 
RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

70
Film Threat Stina Chyn
I'd like to recognize Russell Gewirtz for a screenplay that boasts humor, an impressive plot twist, and for setting up plenty of room for De Niro and Pacino to get their grooves back in order.
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60
Salon.com Mary Elizabeth Williams
Despite how easy it would be to write off Righteous Kill as one sorry excuse for lazy filmmaking, there is still something utterly mesmerizing in the palpable chemistry between the two leading men.
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50
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
A twisty, turny and ultimately silly thriller from "Inside Man's" Russell Gewirtz.
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50
The Hollywood Reporter Luke Sader
An ordinary cop picture boosted by two charismatic superstars but hindered by its dearth of surprises.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
A relatively harmless movie that becomes killing-a-mockingbird sinful for what it does to its leads.
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50
TV Guide Ken Fox
The entire movie is one big build-up to a twist that, while not exactly cheating, plays is an awfully cheap trick.
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50
Washington Post Neely Tucker
It's astonishing how much intensity and focus these two have lost, but the picture itself is not all that bad -- if you can get the collapsing-career thing out of your head.
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50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
In pairing the two icons, Righteous Kill is definitely an event. What it isn't is much of a movie. Such a waste.
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50
Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour
Righteous Kill's script is credited to "Inside Man's" Russell Gewirtz, and you wonder how the sleek, nuanced flow of that earlier movie evaded this one.
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50
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
The movie, which has more than 10 credited producers, feels like one of those slick, for-the-money projects Hollywood studios cook up via graph charts and marketing surveys.
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50
ReelViews James Berardinelli
Its failure to live up to even modest expectations is a blow. There's nothing righteous to be found here.
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50
Chicago Reader Joshua Katzman
Watching these old pros play longtime buddies is a pleasure, especially since they're together in most scenes. But this thriller by Jon Avnet (88 Minutes) is mostly by the numbers, and its surprise ending, though effective, feels somewhat forced.
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45
NPR Bob Mondello
Slack, morally ambiguous, decidedly sub-Dexter serial-killer-cop story that's been cooked up for them (De Niro/Pacino).
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42
The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps
Trudging through a thriller that would have felt warmed over in 1988, the pair investigate a serial killer.
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40
Variety Justin Chang
Unable or unwilling to match the visceral chops and moral provocations of superior serial-killer chillers, Righteous Kill is content to be a twisty genre exercise; it's like "Seven" as reimagined by M. Night Shyamalan.
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40
The New York Times Manohla Dargis
A clutter of recycled cop-movie and serial-killer film clichés.
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40
New York Daily News Joe Neumaier
Of the supporting performances, Gugino, Leguizamo and Wahlberg offer solid turns, but are let down by dialogue.
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40
Time Richard Corliss
Instead of the meeting of maestros at the top of their form, Righteous Kill has the feeling of Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds facing off for the first time in an exhibition game. It's like Old Timers' Day at the Motion Picture Home.
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40
LA Weekly Tim Grierson
It's a sad state of affairs when the best news about Righteous Kill is that it isn't awful.
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38
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Under the guidance of Jon Avnet, they're (De Niro/Pacino) both playing New York police detectives - partners, no less - in the cop-and-serial-killer tale Righteous Kill, and they're thunderously mediocre.
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38
Boston Globe Jason Matloff
When actors are as great as De Niro and Pacino, watching them in a movie like Righteous Kill is deadly.
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38
USA Today Claudia Puig
By the time the movie reaches its protracted conclusion, it feels like a slog. Pacino has a few funny lines, as does Leguizamo, but not nearly enough to save the film from collapsing under the weight of its own self-righteous tedium.
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30
The New Yorker David Denby
The movie is hectic, exhausting, and baffling. It's an embarrassment.
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25
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
It's not much fun to see these two reduced to "Mad TV" parodies of themselves.
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25
Rolling Stone Peter Travers
Righteous Kill, a.k.a. The Al and Bob Show, is a cop flick with all the drama of "Law and Order: AARP." This movie defines drag-ass.
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25
New York Post Lou Lumenick
A slow-moving, ridiculous police thriller that would have been shipped straight to the remainder bin at Blockbuster if it starred anyone else.
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20
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
There's nothing righteous about this tired and tiresome good cop/bad cop NYPD procedural.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 40 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Joe B. gave it a5:
There's been a lot of talk about this movie, mostly bad. I watched it last night and was quite interested to see where it would go wrong. It never really does though, I think the main issue here is how pedestrian the actual movie looks. It's generic quality does little to distinguish it from countless other films made in this style. The lead performances are not horrible, they're just uninspired. Any two actors could have played the De Niro and Pacino roles. People expect these guys to be able to direct themselves when we've clearly learned from historical accounts that even the greatest actors need solid direction. Jon Avnet is really the perp here, guiding both men through a series of re-hashes from other films hoping to score points as an homage. The baseball scene at the beginning is clearly aping "The Fan", while the ending is a shameless replay of the ending from "Heat". De Niro should not have been allowed to rest on his laurels (mugging and turning down the corners of his mouth at every opportunity), while Pacino was never really given a whole lot to do other than react. I understand that the idea of making a film in their home town and to be able to "buddy it up" for a few weeks was alluring in itself, but seriously, don't these guys have some people around them to bounce these scripts off of? I mean, what would it take for De Niro to send a copy of the script to his good friend Marty and say, "whatdya think?" In the end, I suppose the decision to make this film made was made for myriad reasons, none of which however, seem to stem from anything sincere.

Henry O gave it a1:
Wow... didnt expect this one to be as c**p as it turned out to be, it was the first time I actually walked out of a cinema in disgust. Bad story, very poor performance from De Niro and Pacino!

Kyle S. gave it a2:
I can't understand how anyone could find the ending surprising. It was literally one of the most obvious "twists" I've ever seen. Whatever happened to just telling a good story? Pacino and DeNiro were, really, the best thing about the film. But that's not saying much. Terrible movie.

Richard W. gave it a2:
Movies like this one will destroy the well-earned reputations of the co-stars sooner rather than later. A horrible mess, with a ridiculous twist.

Lev S. gave it a0:
Absolute DOG of a movie. Made with utter contempt and disrespect for the audience. Goes to show, just because you work in Hollywood and you've made a movie with de Niro and Pacino, you can still be a f***ing hack.

Josh F. gave it a2:
I feel ashamed to have sat through this all when everyone I started it with walked out, save for my brother. Deniro is a shadow of his former self and essentially an embarrassing contradiction, much like McCain. Why would either of the two leads' agents recommend this tripe to them? WOW! I still think Pacino can act, but this movie is no example I would submit to the jury whatsoever. After all these words, one more: WHY?!?

Adam M. gave it a9:
I read all the bad reviews for this movie beforehand and do not agree with them at all. I thought the screenplay was brilliant, great twist at the end, and the acting was pretty superb as well. Don't believe the hype, judge for yourself!

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