When two iconic figures like Robert De Niro and Al Pacino join forces, at the very worst a person goes into the theater anticipating a few fireworks. At best, they hope for another instant classic like Michael Mann’s 1995 crime opus Heat. But most would settle for something lying somewhere in-between, a smoothly constructed thriller with a modicum of intelligence more than enough to keep the majority of audiences satisfied.

Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in Overture Films' Righteous Kill

What they do not expect is something instantly forgettable. Not horrible, not good, just another piece of disposable B-level genre filmmaking that doesn’t ask audiences for a lot and does even less for them, which is exactly the kind of motion picture Righteous Kill is. Even with Oscar-winning heavyweights like De Niro and Pacino anchoring it, by the time it was finished I admit to having more than a tiny bit of trouble recalling what it was I’d just sat through.

It starts with writer Russell Gewirtz’s (Inside Man) formulaic script and continues with Jon Avnet’s (Fried Green Tomatoes) pedestrian direction. This is a movie that telegraphs its twists and turns during the opening credits, and before they were over I knew exactly what the secret twist was and what the solution to the forensic mystery would ultimately prove to be. There weren’t any surprises, and for a film supposedly built on unleashing a whole flurry of them this was one problem not even Travis Bickle or Michael Corleone could have blasted their way clear of.

The plot concerns two veteran New York City police officers, Detective Turk (De Niro) and Detective Rooster (Pacino), investigating the gruesome murders of some of the city’s most notorious criminals. As their examination deepens, it soon becomes apparent that one of their own might be responsible for the crimes. With connections to the majority of the victims, soon their names rise to the top of the suspect list, everything connecting back to a case supposedly solved by the duo five years ago that could very well hold the answers everyone is clamoring for.

The movie starts with a blustery bang of machismo and subsequently refuses to turn down the volume. Everything is amped all the way up to 11, and while that works just fine for Spinal Tap for the rest of us all it really does is produce a side-splitting headache. Admittedly far superior and more confidently constructed then the director’s last effort 88 Minutes, Avnet just seems out of his league. There is no style to the project, no intoxicating nuance to the story’s iniquitous machinations, actors like Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo, Carla Gugino, Donnie Wahlberg and Frozen River stunner Melissa Leo wasted in throwaway parts so poorly constructed and realized I almost couldn’t believe my eyes.

It isn’t a total loss. No movie staring the likes of De Niro and Pacino could ever be all bad. The pair even resurrect that old Heat coffee shop magic in a couple of scenes during the third act, the later in particular holding the bluster in restraint and dialing his character in so acutely I literally couldn’t take my eyes him. While nowhere near either man’s best, both find a way to make Turk and Rooster’s ultimate journeys feel honest and true, and while the rest of the movie crumbles around them they rise just enough to the occasion that the film is nowhere near as painful as it could have been.

The thing is, so much of this just feels like the same old-same old we’ve seen so many times before most viewers almost can’t differentiate one program from the next. Heck, with so many solid cop melodramas on television right now audiences could get their monies worth just by sitting at home and watching an episode of “Law and Order” or “Dexter” (which, by the way, this borrows liberally from) and avoid Righteous Kill altogether.

- review reprinted courtesy of the SGN in Seattle 

Film Rating: êê (out of 4)