KILLING THEM EXPLICITLY – Killing Them Softly
KILLING THEM SOFTLY
REVIEWED BY CRITIC, FILM BUFF & BEER CONNOISSEUR F.P. BLUCK
This may wind up as a week of several movies for two reasons. First, in the post-school holiday burst of adulthood, there are few films around that don’t involve animated animals and compulsory wholesomeness. Second, I’ve been dumped* and have time on my hands.
So, to the Tuggeranong Limelight at 10;14 am wearing my best trackie top for
Killing Them Softly
. Should I have left on the slippers/uggies? Good question, but as the shoes were from Rivers, the difference amounts to not very much. Six people – a middle aged Asian couple in front: she texted, he went for walks at intervals – and some older Australians** sitting behind. The latter group was universally disappointed and made their feelings known to the acned youth checking the place out as they left. But they stayed for the
whole thing
first.
Previews for Dredd 3D which, surprisingly, did not include Sylvester Stallone in a typically taxing role, for Savages (cleancut American dope growers fight evil Mexican drug cartel) and End of Watch (eye candy American cops versus the ever-popular drug cartel). These told me that Killing them Softly was likely to be a tad shooty and that it may involve a drug theme. I had no idea of the significance of Paranormal Activity 4 as it seemed to involve neither guns nor drugs***.
The response of the Alan Jones end of the audience, suggests they obviously thought this was
going to be
Sound of Music
with extra tracks by Roberta Flack. This is a provocative movie – people swear a great deal, use drugs and steal stuff throughout. But mostly they point guns and sometimes fire them, the result being captured either in glorious slo-mo or in rapid real-time. Oh, and there’s a bit of extreme beating up as well. So, if you’re offended by blood and flying viscera maybe you should look elsewhere. I won’t spoil the plot beyond saying Ben Mendelsohn and the oddly named Scoot McNair are a couple of small-time crooks who seek the traditional big score. Brad Pitt is engaged by Richard Jenkins to … ahem … rectify matters somewhat in the aftermath, with reluctant maximum prejudice and lines that may have been written for, say, John Travolta.
Wonderful performances by Mendelsohn****, Pitt, Ray Liotta and a strange intervention by a lugubrious yet satyric James Gandolfini. A modest budget, filmed in a gloomy GFC wasteland played by New Orleans, with beautiful slices of the threatening side of American life, a soundtrack of the 2008 Presidential election season and some strangely chosen music. Much better than a pass.
And back to the mean streets of Tuggeranong.
* – yes, ladies, he’s single!
** – even older than your scribe
*** – although, on reconsideration after viewing, Killing them Softly had some wacky close up camera shots and a few people who had entered the spirit world by the end of the movie.
**** – worth the price of admission for sounding Australian, for being smacked out/shambolic at a level off the usual scale for living people, and for his deadpan delivery.