Some
directors are so in love with their own visual panache, with the medium of
cinema itself, that they are often willing to sacrifice story and character in
pursuit of that one amazing shot. Often enough, this turns the film into a boring,
pretentious mess. With other directors like Nicolas Winding-Refn (DRIVE), Guy
Ritchie (SNATCH) or the director of KTS, Andrew Dominik, this very quality
turns what could have been a very, very average film into sublime, mesmerizing
entertainment, raising the otherwise commonplace subject matter into high art.
There
is nothing new in the plot. Three small-timer wise guys decide to rip off a
high-stakes cards game. Things don’t end up too well. If you are familiar with
the genre of the gangster movie (in particular THE DEPARTED and RESERVOIR
DOGS), very little here will surprise you. Almost everyone dies by the end. But
the film is so, so much more than just a story. It is an experience. It has
terse, vulgar mercenary conversations (kinda like Jules and Vincent in PULP
FICTION, but less weird). It has slow-motion assassination sequences. It has
Brad Pitt saying some impossibly cool lines. It has hitmen and enforcers and
prostitutes and drug junkies and sawn-off shotguns. It has style.
The
film is a collection of wonderful, delectable individual scenes. Here, the
tension is built not through elaborate chase scenes or fight sequences, but
through jerky, realistic, gritty, sweaty dialogue. Any fighting which happens
in the movie is like this---one guy shoots, the other guy dies. End of story.
These are real criminals, tough, hard men, whose idea of light conversation
relates to the best way to get sodomized in jail (“get yourself a clean older
man”). They don’t talk in flowery sentences. They are not smart. They don’t
quote the Bible. Ahem ahem. When you watch the film, watch out for a scene
where Brad Pitt browbeats a crook into divulging information. He doesn’t raise
his voice, he doesn’t use physical violence. His interrogation style is like a
juggernaut—unstoppable, ruthless. Another obvious scene is where a major
character is assassinated in his car in super slow-motion. We see the bullet
leave the barrel, we see it punching through glass and into the guy’s head and
we see the poor bastard’s brains splattered all over the car. Brutal, visceral
visual magic, a la the elevator head-bashing scene in DRIVE.
The
acting in the film is top-notch. Brad Pitt is exquisite as the hard-as-nails
common-sense mob enforcer Cogan investigating the robbery. James Gandolfini is
my prediction for Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his intense two-scene cameo
as hit man New York Mickey. Richard Jenkins as the mob intermediary is also effortlessly
good, along with Scoot McNairy as the inexperienced crook who thinks he has morals.
The music also deserves special mention. In a film of this style, it had to be
good, and it was, going for a country and soul sound, that beautifully clashes
with the violent nature of the film, accentuating every seductive flourish of
the camera.
There’s
an underlying motif throughout the film about the 2008 U.S.A. Presidential race
and Obama’s message of hope and change. I’m not sure what to make of that. Are
they comparing Marky’s (Ray Liotta) irresponsibly held, unregulated high-stakes
poker game with the free-for-all thievery of the Wall Street brokers before the
Great Recession? Are they saying that a soft liberal like Obama is not the
ideal candidate to clean this up? When Brad Pitt says, “This guys wants to make
me believe we live in a community, don’t make me laugh”, I am not sure what
meaning to draw from this. The film works for me even without this metaphor. It
will add something to the experience only for those well-acquainted with recent
American politics and finance.
To
sum it up, KILLING THEM SOFTLY is a glorious, bloody thrill-ride of pure,
unadulterated, amoral fun. If you like crime flicks, you’re gonna love it. If
you like funky visuals, you’re gonna love it. If you like Brad Pitt, you’re
gonna love it. A dialogue-driven crime movie—their breed is rare. But when done
well, they can be so delightfully fulfilling.
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