Killing Them Softly (2012) [Blu-ray]
Crime | Drama | Thriller

Adapted from George V. Higgins' novel and set in New Orleans, Killing Them Softly follows professional enforcer, Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), who investigates a heist that occurs during a high stakes, mob-protected, poker game. The film also features Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, with James Gandolfini and Sam Shepard.

Storyline: Three amateurs stickup a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse. Brad Pitt plays the hitman hired to track them down and restore order. Killing Them Softly also features Richard Jenkins , James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Vincent Curatola. Max Casella, Trevor Long, Slaine and Sam Shepard also make appearances. Written by Anonymous

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov, March 22, 2013 -- New Zealand writer-director Andrew Dominik's "Killing Them Softly" (2012) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment/The Weinstein Company. The only supplemental features on the disc are four deleted scenes and a short making of featurette. In English, with optional English SDH and Spanish subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

After three small-time gangsters hit the popular card game of made man Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta), reliable and efficient killer Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) is called to restore order. Jackie's contact with the local mafia bosses is the Driver (Richard Jenkins), a quiet and indecisive man who likes to follow orders.

At first, it seems like Jackie will be able to take care of business alone, but when he discovers that one of the men he has to eliminate is someone he knows, he asks the Driver to get in touch with Mickey (James Gandolfini), an old pal from New York City, and ask if he would agree to assist him. Mickey likes the numbers the Driver mentions to him on the phone and shortly after that arrives in town. But in a local bar, Jackie quickly realizes that Mickey isn't the man he used to be.

Determined to fulfill his contract, Jackie goes after his targets, while a few local guys are sent to "talk" to Trattman. The latter gets his nose, hands, ribs, and a few other bones broken, before Jackie eventually finishes him off a few blocks away from his house.

Meanwhile, while the mafia bosses are waiting for order to be restored so that everyone in town can go back to work – selling drugs and booze and running card games – President Bush and Senator Obama repeatedly appear on TV and address America's troubled economy.

Loosely based on George V. Higgins' 1974 novel "Cogan's Trade", Andrew Dominik's Killing Them Softly is a notably violent but at times irresistibly hilarious gangster film Quentin Tarantino would have loved to direct. It has the terrific dark humor Tarantino's early films had (Reservoir Dogs) and that great style that made Gary Fleder's Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead a minor classic.

More than likely, however, Killing Them Softly will not have the same fate Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead had because it is also wrapped in metaphors about the financial crisis that rocked America in early 2008. The shady dealings and backstabbing amidst the constant talk of trust, responsibility and loyalty, all of which are enhanced with extracts from some familiar political speeches, seem very similar to the dirty games that were apparently played by different players in the financial sector. The entire film is about this mirror image of a world most people in America knew nothing about, which is now introduced from a familiar angle, with great style and terrific sense of humor.

But don't get the wrong idea: Killing Them Softly is not a straightforward political film. It offers some food for thought for those that might be willing to take a closer look at the relationships between the gangsters, their attitude and agendas, and then think about the real world, but it also works great as a stylish neo-noir piece that simply does not want to follow familiar rules.

The cast is fantastic. Pitt is incredible as the cool enforcer who likes to "kill them softly". There is one particular sequence where he meets one of his targets in a bar that is nothing short of brilliant – the manner in which he utters his lines and the body language are pure class. The chemistry between Ben Mendelsohn and Frankie Scoot McNairy, both very entertaining actors, is also excellent. The funniest sequences in the entire film, however, are with Gandolfini. His repertoire is familiar, but it never gets old. Great film.

Note: In 2012, Killing Them Softly was nominated for the prestigious Palme d'Or Award at the Cannes Film Festival.

[CSW] -3.2- One of the best examples of the humor in the film lies within the meaning of the title of the film. Jackie (Brad Pitt) is having this conversation with the driver (Richard Jenkins) and Jackie asks him if he's ever killed anyone before saying some people get very "touchy feely" whenever they're about to die. Jackie then turns to the driver and says, "They cry, they plead, they beg, they piss themselves, they cry for their mothers. It gets embarrassing. I like to kill 'em softly. From a distance." Next to "Lawless," "Killing Them Softly" is the other must-see mob related film you should go out of your way to see this year. You don't expect it to be as funny as it is, but it's also extremely intense. The film is like a lion stalking its prey. It slowly creeps up on you the entire film until it chooses to pounce and show its true colors. "Killing Them Softly" is a volatile piece of crime cinema that is ferocious and violent as hell.
This is very much an artsy movie. People looking for a straight up action movie or a typical comedy will not be pleased. People who think in a one dimensional manner when it comes to politics will not be pleased. The humor isn't based on punchlines, it's much more subtle than that. The people who are complaining that this is boring - they didn't get the humor. This movie is about the people who make decisions (the figureheads and the people plotting in back rooms) and the people in the streets. The facade. Keeping up the charades. Doing what you must to maintain the status quo. And it's very much a commentary on American politics. Killing Them Softly was made to be art. It wasn't made with a formula like so many other movies in the action/comedy genre. Be warned though - there is a decent amount of violence that may make you wince. It might deserve a second viewing.
[V5.0-A4.5] MPEG-4 AVC - No D-Box motion codes were available at the time of this rental although they are available now.

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