By the time the final reel winds down, you're left with a very typical, alarmingly predictable genre film.
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09/12/08
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Righteous Kill (2008)
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Reviews Counted:137
Fresh:28
Rotten:109
Average Rating:4.1/10
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
As people have been saying lately, you can't put lipstick on a pig. This movie shouldn't star DeNiro and Pacino. It should star Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.
09/12/08
Here'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 CriticIf the movie isn't anything to write home about, Pacino and DeNiro are.
09/12/08
Al Pacino and Robert De Niro seem to make this schlock palatable, but for everyone thinking Righteous Kill is going to be the next Heat, you're going to be left burnt. It's more like a bad episode of Law & Order.
09/12/08
There is such a palpable lack of enthusiasm from the two stars that it feels at times as if the film has been entirely crafted out of rehearsal footage of them going through the material at quarter-speed in order to save their energy for the actual take.
09/12/08
Righteous? Not exactly--though with these two, it certainly should have been.
09/12/08
In the end, neither actor can muster the energy to rise above the subpar material.
09/12/08
It's a dark day when Vito and Michael Corleone get upstaged by a New Kid on the Block.
09/12/08
Director 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
What a waste.
09/12/08
The film is well-paced and features subtle performances from De Niro and Pacino.
09/12/08
The 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
Aside from the novelty of two acting legends working together, Righteous Kill plays like a pumped-up episode of Law and Order, with the lurid benefits of the R rating.
09/12/08
De Niro seems tired, Pacino's only half interested, and the gritty New York City milieu only serves to remind you of better days and much better movies.
09/12/08
Fans in need of a Pacino/De Niro hit can just watch the coffee-shop scene from Heat again: it's 20 times cooler and 80 minutes shorter.
09/12/08
Pacino 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
Al 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 CriticSmothering close-ups, slam-bang montages and sudden, bloody assaults, all sleekly effective.
09/12/08
Righteous Kill was helmed by Jon Avnet (the excruciatingly bad 88 Minutes) with the sort of phony, frantic energy that suggests a director with little faith in his material.
09/12/08
Latest 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. 
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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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