Killing Them Softly

A dash of Rusty Ryan, a pinch of Lt. Aldo Raine, add Brad Pitt's natural charm and good reputation, bake at 350 degrees and in 104 minutes you will have the hit man from Killing Them Softly. All of the buzz surrounding Brad Pitt being in a new movie did not work in his favor. He did a good job with his delivery and overall acting as the character (Jackie), but his role has been done before. Not only has the role been done before but it felt reminiscent of roles that he has played before. Pitt's character appeared to be an untouchable hodgepodge of Pitt's past characters down to the very look. My love of the character Rusty Ryan from Ocean's 11 only extends to other movies in the series not another movie entirely. Killing Them Softly is about a few men that seize a risky opportunity to hold up a mobsters poker game. Mickey, played by Ray Liotta, is the head of an illegal poker ring for the mobsters and robbed his own casino at gun point in the past, but now a few men do it again trying to frame Mickey as a repeat offender. Jackie, played by Brad Pitt, is an enforcer hired by the mob to track down and "take care" of the thieves. Brad Pitt's character was probably the most interesting and boring man of the movie. He had everything figured out economy wise and had no real threat of death. From the beginning every other character had a threat to their life, the middleman and his bosses, the scam artists, Frankie, and Mickie. This gave depth to their personalities as well as building suspense in the movie. Frankie, played by Scoot McNairy, did a wonderful job expressing the creeping and every increasing paranoia. Pitt's character lacks this depth. There is no lack of blood in this mobster mentality film. The first incident is when Mickey, is roughed up because he had pulled the heist before, making him the prime suspect. The mob bosses suspected he might have tried to pull the heist again. Two lackeys "slap him silly". Mickie pukes, spits up blood and by the end looks like he has gone through a blender. The scene was gory and excessive. Just like the lackeys had to make an example of Mickey to reassure the mob bosses, Killing Them Softly had to reassure the audience that it is a violent, gritty film, that deserves it's R rating. This scene was grotesque and violent enough to make the audience cringe, but not enough to make (most of them) leave their seats. In major contrast to the first incident of brutality, the films second attempt (Mickie's murder) was beautiful. It had amazing attention to detail and outstanding visual affects. The mood is set with a calm Frank Sinatra-esque song instead of sound effects. The scene is in slow motion. We see every rain drop and drop of blood when Jackie unloads a round into Mickey's head. There is a considerable amount of gore and we see Mickeys head explode, but differently than the first scene. It was crafted visually in a way that seemed more like a dramatic ballet, than the murder of a man in high def. The brutality scenes that follow are not constructed in the grotesque manner of the first scene, yet do not hold a candle to the elegance of this one. Economy and capitalism are themes that engulfed the film. They were expressed through the plot of deception within a mobster community mirroring the corporate world. Andrew Dominik uses audio clips from the 2008 presidential political debates to outline this comparison. At first it seemed like a unique commentary, but as the movie progressed the clips of speeches became more and more preachy. This idea was good in theory, but the execution lacked tact and ultimately made me roll my eyes with annoyance. In contrast the soundtrack was complimentary. The songs were still literal and descriptive about the scene, yet still inoffensive. The plot moved slowly. I would find myself wondering who will be offed next. After the first act it seemed as though the pacing of the film plateaued. It became increasingly predictable. We know people will be hurt it is just a matter of when and how. The pacing seemed off in certain parts like the ending (which seemed to miss a beat) and reliable in others. Maybe this was done on purpose. If so it still left me unsatisfied. Overall Killing Them Softly is worth seeing once but I probably will not be seeing it again. Plan B Entertainment presents a film written and directed by Andrew Dominik, Run Time: 104, Rated R With: Brad Pitt, Scoot McNairy, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins