Review: 'Killing Them Softly'

The Weintstein Company

What is America? Is it a country that is united? Can an American say that they are a part of a community, the community that is the United States of America? Or is America just one big Business? These are questions that are put into focus and answered in Killing Them Softly. As it looks at America through eyes of organized crime, Killing Them Softly uses its lead character, Jackie Cogan to offer its message of what America really is.

Taking place in what appears to be pre-election 2008 and in the midst of the countries’ financial crises, Killing Them Softly begins with Johnny Amato (Vincent Curatola) collaborating with Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn) to rob a criminal poker ring ran by Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta). The reason that they plan to rob Markie’s game is because he had previously robbed one of his own games so if it happens at one of his games again, the blame will immediately be put on him. Frankie and Russell successfully pull of the robbery and as planned, the person that receives the blame is Markie. This robbery though causes trouble for the mafia as no one is willing to participate in any poker rings. The mafia then hires hitman Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt) to restore order by killing the ones responsible for the robbery.

As the hitman, Jackie Cogan is not just pulling the trigger, he is also the voice of reason. With the films message being that America is not a ‘community’, Jackie is the character, really the only character that not only believes this, but truly lives by it. Jackie, in both his actions and words, says that in America everyone is on their own and with the way things play out in the film this holds true, causing Jackie to be the wise man, the man that is destined to come out on top. Unlike any other character, he stays level headed throughout and never waivers emotionally. Jackie is not just another character in the film, he basically is the film, as he is the message being presented. When a film relies on a character to carry its central theme, the performance of the character is crucial. Fortunately, Jackie was perfectly casted with the talents of Brad Pitt. Pitt is at his best when the character he plays is the one in control as he can project confidence quite well. Because of this he can take over a scene, something that the character of Jackie needs to do for not just the character to be successful but the film in general.

With that said though, Pitt does not give the only noteworthy performance of the film. James Gandolfini’s Mickey Fallon, a second hitman, is the polar opposite to Pitts’s Jackie. Mickey has the most revealed back story and his past affects him to the point that he is emotionally unstable. Gandolfini is solid in giving this persona to the character as the audience can see that this character is really hurting. Scoot McNairy as Frankie is also satisfying as his character has the biggest arc of any character. Frankie is cool, calm and collected before the robbery takes places but when and the robbery does not go as smooth as he had hoped and then when Jackie comes into to the picture, he becomes more and more frantic with each scene he appears in. McNairy is able to make this change interesting but not over the top. Richard Jenkins, an actor that I am starting to think can’t do wrong, delivers once again as Driver, an agent for the mafia. The film may be at its best when Pitt and Jenkins are in a car just talking as the dialogue is excellent.

Even though Killing Them Softly is a performance based film, director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) still manages to work in artful touches that cannot go without notice. The scenes that involve a murder are done in a style that makes them hard to take yours eyes off of. I will not reveal who is murdered but there is one scene in particular that I am not sure that it completely fits but is done so well, so cinematically that it is hard to complain. Dominick also chooses to lace the entire film with several audio or television clips of either George W. Bush or Barack Obama discussing the economic crises of the United States. These scenes help to stress the films focus on how America lives and dies on its economy.

Killing Them Softly, to say the least, is a bitter view of America. When really thinking about the message that it presents tough, is it really that far off? Is America dependent it on one another or is it dependent it on its economy? With the film being set in the midst of a financial crises, it forces one to think about how America would be during or after a financial crises if it did not rely so heavily on financial aspects. It is also a film that looks at how much control someone really has if they are not dependent on one’s self. This is seen in one way or another with every character in the film. For these reasons, Killing Them Softly will not go over well with the majority of its audience but it is a film that is a different look at America that happens to be cinematically well executed.   

Grade: A-