This thriller by Jon Avnet is mostly by the numbers, and its surprise ending, though effective, feels somewhat forced.
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12/09/08
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Righteous Kill (2008)
11
%
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Reviews Counted:27
Fresh:3
Rotten:24
Average Rating:3.7/10
Consensus: Al Pacino and Robert De Niro do their best to elevate this dowdy genre exercise, but even these two greats can't resuscitate the film's hackneyed script.
Theatrical Release:Sep 12, 2008 Wide
Box Office: $39,983,772
Synopsis: Academy Award® winners Robert De Niro (Raging Bull) and Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) star as a pair of veteran New York City police detectives on the trail of a vigilante serial killer in the... [More]
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Curtis Jackson, Carla Gugino
Director: Jon Avnet
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Reviews for Righteous Kill
Top CriticNearly everything about this film is a cliché.
11/05/08
Top CriticSay it ain't so, Bobby and Al.
10/18/08
Top CriticThere's nothing righteous to be found here.
10/18/08
Top CriticThe movie is hectic, exhausting, and baffling.
09/22/08
Top CriticIt's not much fun to see these two reduced to Mad TV parodies of themselves. In the right movie, they'd stop coasting on their legends long enough to remind us how they became them.
09/17/08
Top CriticHere's what I took away from Righteous Kill, the grade Z cop thriller...: If you can come up with the scratch, Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino will do anything: kid's parties, bar mitzvahs, retirement luncheons, you name it.
09/12/08
Top CriticIn the end, neither actor can muster the energy to rise above the subpar material.
09/12/08
Top CriticIt's a dark day when Vito and Michael Corleone get upstaged by a New Kid on the Block.
09/12/08
Top CriticDirector Jon Avnet generously puts the actors together as often as possible, and the sheer satisfaction of watching Michael Corleone and Travis Bickle spark off each other almost mitigates the utter hokum that permeates every other element of the film.
09/12/08
Top CriticThe power couple's onscreen chemistry, which should be the film's strongest calling card, is merely adequate, a major disappointment for those expecting a tug o' war between screen titans.
09/12/08
Top CriticPacino has a few funny lines, as does Leguizamo, but not nearly enough to save the film from collapsing under the weight of its own self-righteous tedium.
09/12/08
Top CriticAl Pacino and Robert De Niro collect bloated paychecks with intent to bore in Righteous Kill, a slow-moving, ridiculous police thriller that would have been shipped straight to the remainder bin at Blockbuster if it starred anyone else.
09/12/08
Top CriticIt's astonishing how much intensity and focus these two have lost, but the picture itself is not all that bad -- if you can get the collapsing-career thing out of your head.
09/12/08
Top CriticIn every way that matters (indeed, in just about every way a movie can), Righteous Kill fails to deliver.
09/12/08
Top CriticTaken purely on its merits as a psychological thriller, Righteous Kill is probably a two-star film. The third star is there strictly for De Niro and Pacino. Playing off each other, they stir up the ghosts of past greatness.
09/12/08
Top CriticTime, alas, doesn't so much pass in Righteous Kill as crawl, despite the usual overcutting, which tries to pump energy into the inert proceedings.
09/12/08
Top CriticPacino is careful to rein in his bad habits in such company, and De Niro is De Niro; neither, however, can do much with material this trite. So, watching them, we're really seeing, and applauding, the ghosts of roles past.
09/12/08
Top CriticA twisty, turny and ultimately silly thriller.
09/11/08
Top CriticHow not to dig into the experience of seeing two of cinema's greatest legends working side by side? Well, first we could focus on the plot:
09/11/08
Top CriticLatest News for Righteous Kill
January 21, 2009:
Razzies Name 2008's Worst Movie Nominees
No awards season would be complete without the Golden Raspberry Awards (AKA The Razzies), awarded each year to the very worst movies to hit Hollywood. This year's winners will... More...
January 04, 2009:
Equally gritty old school crime thriller and flashy seductive post-modern whodunit noir, along with De Niro's off the job kinky rough sex lover forensic babe (Carla Gugino) who likes him to role play criminals in bed, Righteous Kill delivers the goods. 
More...
January 03, 2009:
Equally gritty old school crime thriller and flashy seductive post-modern whodunit noir, along with De Niro's off the job kinky rough sex lover forensic babe (Carla Gugino) who likes him to role play criminals in bed, Righteous Kill delivers the goods.
More...
November 28, 2008:
UK Critics Consensus: Local Critics Warm To Changeling; De Niro Delights But What Just Happened Doesn't
It's Friday, there's a new raft of movies in the UK cinemas this week, but are any of them any good? This week the UK film hacks give us their opinions on Clint Eastwood's... More...
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