Killing Them Softly: Movie Review

Killing Them Softly: Movie Review

Cast: Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkin, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, James Gandolfini
Director: Andrew Dominik

Crime films are gritty grab you by the balls kinds of affairs when they're done properly.

Add to the pantheon, this latest from Wellington director, Andrew Dominik.

But in adapting the 1974 novel, Cogan's Trade by George V Higgins, Dominik's brought the book into the year 2008 with a presidential campaign taking place and with the American economy facing global meltdown.

Ray Liotta plays Markie Trattman, who runs a series of local illegal card games - a little while back, Trattman held up his own card game to make some cash. But unable to keep the secret, he confessed that he'd stolen from his own - and somehow managed to get away with it.

However, he's warned that if any further hold ups occur, he'll be the number one suspect...

Seizing on this, local wannabe Johnny Amato (The Sopranos' Johnny Sack aka Vincent Curatola) hires two goons, Frankie (McNairy) and Aussie Russell (Mendelsohn) to knock over the game and get the blame squarely resting on Trattman's shoulders.

But when this heist's carried out, the bosses decide the economy of the local criminal underworld (much like the economy nationwide) is under threat, so Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), an enforcer is called on to try and resolve the situation and restore some order before it gets any worse.

Scuzzy, gritty, grimy and quite bleak in parts, Killing Them Softly is a compelling watch from beginning to end.

It's a brilliant character piece too with Dominik letting the dialogue take centre stage rather than anything else; it's dialled down, back to its roots film-making with various speeches from Bush and Obama providing the OST rather than any OTT music ever could. (Though its over-use and reliance from the director to propel the story along becomes a bit of an issue later towards the end).

It's also unrelentingly bleak and the violence is bone-crunchingly brutal. The sounds of Liotta's character being beaten to a bloody pulp echo through the sound system of the cinema, leaving you nowhere to hide from this violent smackdown. That, coupled with Dominik's use of close ups leads to a feeling of being totally sucked into this world.

Dominik's also brought some dazzling visual flair to some sequences (and quite possibly one of the best sight gags involving an exploding car you're ever likely to see) - one in particular, where a character gets shot through the car window while waiting at lights, is an astounding a piece of cinematic direction which screams stylish editing and I doubt you'll see anything better this year.

Crackling dialogue throughout is delivered by an all male cast; Liotta's like a shadow of his ferocious self from Goodfellas, Gandolfini, as a broken assassin, makes you pine for the return of the Sopranos; Jenkin, as a corporate go between, who tries to negotiate Cogan's work and his bosses' desires is another piece of character brilliance; Pitt is restrained and menacing as the enforcer and McNairy is Jersey Boy personified as  a wannabe.

But it's Ben Mendelsohn, so impressive in Animal Kingdom, who really shines here. His drug-addled, permanently hazy, shambolic Russell is a character masterpiece from an ensemble who all bring their A game.

Essentially, Killing Them Softly is Sopranos x Economic recession x the story telling of Animal Kingdom.

It's a welcome addition to the pantheon of crime films and is instantly a classic.

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