Brad Pitt's newest movie, Killing Them Softly, is a mystifying movie. At times, it is one of the best crime films I have seen in recent years. At other times, it is annoying and confusing. The movie starts where two half-witted guys stick up a mafia card game and make away with $50,000. Brad Pitt, a contact killer, is called to kill both of them. He later calls James Gandolfini (Tony Soprano if you didn't know), a fellow killer to help with the job. Gandolfini then goes on an alcoholic and whoring binge and then inexplicably disappears from the film. Brad Pitt kills all the bad guys and demands payment. The end.
If that seems abrupt, the movie does that a lot. This being a movie from the Weinstein Company, it has to be arty, and this movie attempts to be just that. First, I'll get I to what I liked about the movie. It gets onto the gritty aspects of being in the mob. It does not gloss over any of the gruesome aspects of being in the criminal element. Movies like Goodfellas and The Godfather, while excellent, tend to glamorize the criminal life. In Killing Them Softly, there is absolutely nothing glamorous about any of the characters. All of them are dim-witted, dull and stupid. What is even better about it is that most of the actors have played iconic mob roles. In the vein of not glamorizing anything, the scenes of violence are some of the most visceral I have ever seen. The violence is gruesome and cruel, nothing cool about it. I, for one, think cartoonish violence is not a healthy thing. It should be portrayed as it is, ugly and destructive. Otherwise, it both loses it's dramatic punch and desensitizes us to its impact.
What I didn't like about the film was, first, it's abruptness. The movie literally ends when Brad Pitt demands payment for what he has done. The movie also tries too hard. It is trying to be arty, and it shows. I have made it a point to say that there should be nothing in a movie for its own sake. In this case, it is art for art's sake, sacrificing story for sentiment and making some kind of message. The filmmakers are obviously trying to say something, but it is unclear what. The movie attempts to be deconstructionist, but it fails miserably at this, as well. It was done much better in Clint Eastwood's masterpiece, Unforgiven. Finally, there was a specific element that annoyed me to no end. Throughout the movie, which takes place during the McCain/Obama election, we keep hearing snippets from the news totally unrelated to the story. It prattles with Bush speaking on the state of the economy and politicos saying how bad the economy is. There is also inappropriate music in the soundtrack, using very old and time/subject inappropriate tunes. The movie ends on a cynical take on the cut-throat business environment of the U.S. This is probably the point of all the news snippets, but who knows? Anyway, not a great mob movie, or movie movie for that matter.
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