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Killing Them Softly (2012)
Rate:
3
Viewed:
11/25
11/25:
Instead of "them," it's been Killing Me Softly.
Obviously, this is a Tarantino wannabe. There are boring scenes of guys trying to sound cool.
Their favorite word is "fuck" or some variation of it which turns out to be 171 in all. How about Dillon?
I never knew who that was until looking up the cast afterwards; it's Sam Shepard. Gee, he appeared for
like a minute, making zero impression on me.
The background babble of politics is another annoyance. Who cares?!? I didn't follow it back
then and doubted any street-level criminal was interested as well. At the end, the director tries to
make the connection by having Brad Pitt's character give the following weird speech:
"Don't make me laugh. We're one people. It's a myth created by Thomas Jefferson. My friend, Jefferson's an
American saint because he wrote the words, 'All men are created equal.' Words he didn't believe, since he
allowed his children to live in slavery. He was a rich snob who was sick of paying taxes to the Brits. He wrote
some lovely words and aroused the rabble. They went and died for those words while he sat and drank his wine
and fucked his slave girl. This guy wants to tell me we're living in a community. Don't make me laugh. I'm
living in America, and in America, you're on your own. America's not a country. It's just a business. Now
fucking pay me."
In many ways, the film resembles The Friends of Eddie Coyle.
How do I know this for sure? George V. Higgins wrote both books. There's no conflict this time.
Two guys and a mastermind rob a bunch of criminals during a poker game, and they are subsequently killed.
Where's the suspense in that? While at it, somebody should've figured out there's an Australian with a weird
accent and narrowed down the number of guys due to familiarity on top of seeing their faces plain and clear.
At least, Brad Pitt is the headliner. He plays his character well, and I don't have any issue
with him. It's been a waste of his talent, that's all. James Gandolfini and Ray Liotta look unwell; the
former would die prematurely the following year while the latter did in ten years' time. Meanwhile, I wasn't
sure if the film took place in South Philadelphia, but they filmed the whole thing in New Orleans as a
stand-in for Boston.
All in all, Killing Me Softly is an overwritten improv workshop that happens to star Brad Pitt.