Killing Them Softly (2012)

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Admirable film.

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Blistering performances.

Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse. Killing Them Softly completely wastes a great cast of talented actors such as Ray Liotta and the late James Gandolfini in a film that is simply boring and quite hollow to even enjoy it properly. The action wasn't anything special and the 3 robbers weren't even remotely interesting to at least root them for a little bit at least. The perfomances were also pretty far from being any sort of good as well. (0/10)

This is strong movie-making.Brad Pitt has become one of the best actors around. He is capable of handling the subtext of a story subtly but tangibly. In other words, the characters don't talk about what the scene is really about. The scene is about what they're NOT saying, and Pitt is superb at getting that truth across.This is a guy who wants to do good work. And judging from some of his other excellent pictures, he's succeeding. The Assassination of Jesse James, with the same director, is a great example of this. That story is about trust, but nobody ever says, "Can I trust you?" Instead it's in their eyes. They're asking themselves, inside their heads, "Can I trust him?" That kind of subtext is what makes a story great. Take another look at these other excellent examples: War Machine, 12 Years a Slave, Moneyball, Burn After Reading, Babel, 7 Years in Tibet, 12 Monkeys, Snatch. Those are some terrific movies. KTS unquestionably belongs among them.And look at the range of roles he's played in those movies. He's not afraid of taking a chance.I recently saw Allied for the first time, and was really impressed again by what isn't said. Pitt turns in a high quality performance in that story.Killing Them Softly is first rate work. It builds slowly but surely, and when it comes to that final scene in the bar--no spoiler here, but it is a powerful payoff. Unlike anything else out there.Well-written, well-directed, well-produced, well-acted. Pay no attention to all those negative comments. They're all wrong.Highly recommended.

I was expectantly thrilled to see another Brad Pitt movie that had him playing an edgy character once again, as I feel he is very interesting to watch in these roles. This movie did give Brad an edginess but the script and direction were not half as good as Brad can be. I found the entire movie to be very wordy and the dialogue did not move the story along fast enough to justify all the talk, talk, talk. The title refers to the distance that Jackie says he like to kill from as any closer he gets too involved. Or some such drivel. Then when he gets around to doing it, his second gun shot is from close up. What was all the talk about distance and Killing Them Softly about? I lost interest halfway through this and started to fall asleep.. Not a good sign. Any movie that puts me to sleep is not holding my attention.I would not recommend this picture other then as a cure for insomnia.

Killing Them Softly alludes various political messages regarding greed, violence, theft, dangerous entrepreneurship and irony. Unfortunately, the film portrays these elements very loosely without actually maintaining its concentration and identity. It was advertised as a dark thriller with an inflated mob-mentality story, but was revealed to be a mediocre deflated mob-mentality story with some inappropriate comedic elements.Despite the wonderful cinematography, soundtrack and acting from the cast, the film alone divided from these additions is an unexciting and shallow film adaptation of the 1974 novel Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins. Though changing the source material is a risky decision among any adaptation, it here however would've benefited for newcomers, fans, and would've possibly given the film more opportunities to indulge deeper in its political agenda.Instead, it sends disjointed and elongated messages that could've been memorable if were handled cleverly. The film shamelessly descends into an unfinished, unexciting, misguided and tedious experience for the audience. If the film allowed more character development and distance for less predictably dull outcomes, it would've been a superior product opposed to the novel.It's not terrible - but rather a slow and disappointing experience.