 Killing Them Softly, three opportunists, Johnny “Squirrel” (played by Sopranos alum Vincent Curatola), Russell (Ben Mendelsohn) and Frankie (Scoot McNairy), rob a card game patronized by the local mob.
So, to make a statement,
local enforcer/hit man Dillon (Sam Shepard), sends in his best man,
Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), to handle the situation.
Jackie is so good at what he does that he has it down to a science and someone decided to craft a whole film around it. That
someone is writer/director Andrew Dominik (based on the novel Cogan’s
Trade by George V. Higgins). He is trying to convey to his audience that
the financial crisis of 2008, which was featured in that year’s heated
presidential campaign, was so major, it affected the criminal world.
How did it affect the criminal world? Hit men are forced to kill people
for less money.
Not being familiar with the book, Dominik’s version
of the story will have to be representative for this critique: Killing
Them Softly lacks the gravitas it thinks it has to pull off such a
statement.
The audience is supposed to think that the 2008 financial collapse in America caused organized crime to re-think its entire strategy, especially its approach to offing people for money. The
audience also is supposed to care that these criminals have to resort
to a kinder/gentler way of addressing people who wrong them.
GRATUITOUS DEATH
And,
the audience is supposed to feel bad that organized criminals and their
enforcers will have to work with less money, even though many
hard-working Americans genuinely felt the after-affects of the financial crisis.
Killing
Them Softly is obviously a guy’s film. There’s so much brutal violence
that one wonders about the dark thoughts that must be floating around
Dominik’s head. How the violence fits the theme — that the bad economy
affects criminals, too — is beyond me. It’s impossible to feel bad for a
cold-blooded killer who’s making $5,000 less for killing people.
Despite it feeling like a slow death, there are three things that make Killing Them Softly tolerable.
Firstly,
the crux of the film lies within the last sentences uttered by its
perceived star. Pitt’s Jackie spouts political rhetoric about Thomas
Jefferson coining the phrase, “all men are created equal,” while mating
with one of his slaves and allowing his own children to be slaves.
Jackie then accuses America of being one big place of business — every
man has to fend for himself. While Jackie’s comments ring true, Dominik
doesn’t convey his theme in an understandable way.
PITT’S PERFORMANCE
Pitt
gives a stellar performance as Jackie, the smooth, yet friendly hit
man. Jackie is the type who doesn’t like violence, but will help you
finish a fight. Pitt is a fine actor and really puts his all in a role,
with Killing Them Softly being no exception.
However, Killing does
Pitt’s performance a disservice by being a violent mess of a film and
not really making Jackie the star of the story. There wasn’t enough of
Jackie’s perspective.
McNairy, who won the Hamptons International
Film Festival “Breakthrough Performance” prize for Killing, is superb as
Frankie. He has found common ground between shifty loser and brains of
the operation.
While Killing is topical — given the threat of a
financial cliff this year — it doesn’t inspire the right emotions. It’s
hard to feel sorry for a murderer who wants more money or a murderer
whose wife is leaving him and who drinks to numb the pain. A criminal
doesn’t deserve special accommodation.
Meanwhile, Brad Pitt, a fine
actor, deserves a better film to showcase his talent. Hopefully, his
next film will make more sense.
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