Killing Them Softly (2012)

Where to begin on Killing Them Softly? This is a good film, maybe even a great one, but there is plenty that unfortunately hampers it. Perhaps a brief synopsis will help but not a lot really happens so maybe it won’t. The film initially centres around Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Aussie Ben Mendelsohn who actually gets to play it Australian) as a pair of young criminals, the latter a dog walking heroin addict, who proceed to rob a poker game that has more consequences and not just for everyone involved. Enter Brad Pitt’s hitman, Jackie Coogan, often seen conversing with mafia spokesperson Richard Jenkins and enlisted old-schooler, Mickey (the late, great James Gandolfini). They’re here to do a job but times are tough. Set to the backdrop of the 2008 Presidential election campaign, Killing Them Softly is ultimately about economics. Or at least it wants to be.

With a gritty 70’s feel, it is stylistically impeccable and very much in the vein of Aussie director Andrew Dominik’s outstanding debut, Chopper. That doesn’t really cover up the fact that it is very much a meandering work of talky vignettes and brutal episodes of violence brought together with almost pointless excerpts from election campaign speeches of Barrack Obama and George Bush. It does its best to make a statement about economy and the then current financial crisis America was wallowing in but it falls short in being little more than an overtly violent crime flick. It’s main message coming across as; we do what we need to do to survive, so fuck you. That’s the unfortunate thing; it remains stuck in limbo as to what it wants and is allowed.

The script is still sharp for its genre but incidentally, the novel and film’s original title, ‘Cogan’s Trade’, works far better once you have seen the actual events played out. The performances, though they seem brief and easy, are all solid. James Gandolfini as the alcoholic hitman veteran and Brad Pitt as the suave, cold as ice counterpart are clearly stand outs. But despite how this was marketed, Scoot McNairy is the lead here and is outstanding as the confused youngster trying to get into the game. The actor is quietly making a name for himself these days which is good to see. Ben Mendelsohn shines as Russell and Jenkins is almost too perfectly cast.

Simple enough as it is to understand that this highly anticipated new movie from Dominik is an unfortunately very flawed potential masterpiece. It plays out as the cool pulp crime novel it’s based on, but sometimes a film needs to deliver a little more to be truly memorable. It swaggers in the notion that it is clever, relevant and unique but forgets that its shoelace is untied or its zipper is down. It deserves to be considered still light years better than most things that came out of Hollywood in the past year, but as well as being viewed as one of its most unusual disappointments. Killing Them Softly is a solid genre entry worth it for film buffs and crime flick aficionados alike, but its confusing message and actions will possibly only annoy and bore most others. Breathtaking cinematography, editing, a great soundtrack and strong acting are stock standard for the director leaving much to admire, but I do wonder what could have been, especially when I hear rumours that there has been so much left on the cutting room floor.

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