Reviews: Film – Killing Them Softly
by Suzan Ryan , under Reviews
Directors: Andrew Dominik
Cast: Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, James Gandolfini, Ben Mendelsohn, Scott McNairy
HOYTS DISTRIBUTION
KIWI writer/director Andrew Dominik (Chopper, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) brings back the leading man of his last film adaptation for a result that, tonally, sits halfway between his first two feature-length movies.
Brad Pitt stars as Jackie Cogan: a hitman who’s called into town after a mob-sanctioned poker game run by Markie Trattman (Liotta)—a man who stupidly bragged about knocking over his own game in the past—is robbed by two opportunistic thieves (McNairy and Mendelsohn). He liaises with an unnamed middleman (Jenkins), as they discuss the various ins and outs of the best way to deal with the sticky situation. They eventually agree on bringing in Mickey (Gandolfini) to help Cogan with the multiple hits; but Mickey isn’t the hitman he used to be.
If you’re a fan of Dominik’s work, Killing Them Softly is an easy choice. It’s not as accessible as Chopper—in fact, its pace is closer to The Assassination of Jesse James than Dominik’s breakout hit—but the short running time, abundance of black comedy and occasional graphic violence make it comparable to the Eric Bana-led film.
In many ways, Killing Them Softly feels like the rebirth of the slow-burn films of the ‘70s but, regardless of how you feel about that, you’re still in for impressive performances across the board from a solid and diverse cast. McNairy and Mendelsohn play the stupid-but-loveable thieves to a tee, Liotta nails his depiction of a character whose past has come back to haunt him, Jenkins provides some offbeat comic relief, and Gandolfini injects a whole lot of brokenness into Mickey.
At the end of the day, though, for a film that’s based on a 1974 book called Cogan’s Trade (also, the original title of the film), Killing Them Softly belongs to Pitt, who dominates every scene he’s in with, arguably, his best performance to date. The pace may not be to everyone’s taste, but the performances that Dominik draws from his cast are worth the price of admission.
KILLING THEM SOFTLY is in cinemas now.
Review: Nathan Lawrence
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