Righteous Kill (2008)

Turk (Robert De Niro) and Rooster (Al Pacino) are longtime NYC police partners, in this Jon Avnet thriller that has them trying to stop an unknown serial killer, a person who leaves a poem at the scene of each crime. Victims are law-breakers who were freed on legal technicalities. Two other cops, played by John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg, become suspicious of the investigation, and this hampers the efforts of Turk and Rooster.
The script on which the film is based is rather poor. The setup is muddled; none of the characters are especially sympathetic, and secondary characters are not well defined. Further, "Righteous Kill" is not that much different from other serial killer or urban crime films.The mood here is dark, and the tone is rather cynical. Characters go out of their way to telegraph their toughness by using lots of "hard" language. There's an edginess to the characters, and that's okay. But I could have wished for a character with some degree of softness. That would have provided much needed balance to the overall tonal savagery.
Without a doubt, the film's best element is the acting. There's not a weak performance in the bunch. Of course, the focus is on De Niro and Pacino. This is really their film. And it's their camaraderie, their back and forth playful banter, that makes the film worth watching.
for the script they were given, this was way too average and they are above it. I even hate to say it, this was very predictable if you've seen a lot of these thriller movies of today. Not to mention, I think Al Pacino, this must have been his third movie where he has worn that same leather jacket, I mean is it just me, or does anyone else notice this? Over all, it's not a bad movie, but it could have just been done with average actors, instead of all the hype that has been around it because of the actors. Just don't be fooled, it's a typical thriller, nothing special.
3/5