Sitting through this 111-minute debacle is akin to watching two amateur comics giving bad impersonations of De Niro and Pacino. Worse, actually; the comics would at least be funny.
Righteous Kill (2008)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
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...
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 adrenaline fueled psychological thriller Righteous Kill, directed by Jon Avnet (Red Corner, Fried Green Tomatoes) and
written by Russell Gewirtz (Inside Man). The cast also features hip-hop superstar Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson (Get Rich or Die Tryin’).
After 30 years as partners in the pressure cooker environment of the NYPD, highly decorated Detectives David Fisk and Thomas Cowan should be ready for retirement, but aren’t. Before they can
hang up their badges, they are called in to investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have ties to a case they solved years before.
Like the original murder, the victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four line poem justifying the killing. When additional crimes take place, it becomes clear the detectives are looking for a serial killer, one who targets criminals that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. His mission is to do what the cops can’t do on their own—take the culprits off the streets for good. The similarities between the recent killings and their earlier case raise a nagging question: Did they put the wrong man behind bars? --© Overture Films
[More]
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Curtis Jackson, Carla Gugino
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Curtis Jackson, Carla Gugino, Dan Futterman, Donnie Wahlberg, Trilby Glover, Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo
Director: Jon Avnet
Director: Jon Avnet
Screenwriter: Russell Gerwitz
Producer: Rob Cowan, Avi Lerner, Randall Emmett, Jon Avnet, Lati Grobman
Composer: Ed Shearmur
Studio: Overture Films
Get This Movie
Reviews for Righteous Kill
Lazy, muddled and so misdirected it should be a felony itself, "Righteous Kill" is nothing but a cheap trick.
An ordinary cop picture boosted by two charismatic superstars but hindered by its dearth of surprises.
One of the most patently imbecilic thrillers to come down the pike in many a moon.
The novelty of watching De Niro and Pacino team up wears off pretty quickly.
Compared to 88 Minutes, Pacino's previous collaboration with director Jon Avnet, it's a work of art, but the movie is so dreadfully by-the-numbers and predictable that comparing it to a TV cop show would be an insult to TV cop shows.
Pacino and De Niro look totally spent, and watching Righteous Kill will likewise make a long, tired day feel even more endless.
Everybody involved has earned a more righteous, movie and righteous director, than this.
Righteous Kill, a.k.a. The Al and Bob Show, is a cop flick with all the drama of Law and Order: AARP.
It's not that the crime thriller Righteous Kill is spectacularly awful. It's just thoroughly mediocre — a standard police procedural, a long episode of Law & Order, unremarkable but for the pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.
...reveals what Robert De Niro and Al Pacino truly have in common: Neither can say no to a crappy script.
Leaden with cliches, obvious red herrings and logic-abandoning choices by the lead characters, the Russell Gewirtz script is the proverbial pig in De Niro-Pacino lipstick.
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.
Lurid, stupid cop melodrama...crammed with sequences so overwrought and dialogue so monumentally pseudo-tough as to be absolutely laughable. The celebrated stars...produce nothing but crude self-parody.
At last, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino star in a film together. Too bad it's a fairly run-of-the-mill cop drama with an ending you'll see coming from miles away.
De Niro and Pacino's iconic acting and Avnet's stylish direction compensate for a movieish, implausible, predictable, and morally debatable tale, which combines elements of the cop and serial killer genres, imitating Seven and The Usual Suspects.
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. ![]()
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...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 83% 83% | Harry Potter and the H… |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 75% 75% | Julie & Julia |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Righteous Kill at Rotten Tomatoes
- Righteous Kill at IGN
Fresh Links
Featured

Take a look at MSN's choices for the Top 10 films of 2009.

Last week, Moviefone offered us their worst films of the 2000s. Now see their 40 best!

Hollywood.com explores why QT's characters resonate so well with audiences.

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic


