Jackie Cogan is a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that went down during a mob-protected poker game.
This has the feel of an arthouse offering, with a gift for blood and desperation but a rather studenty grasp of subtext and narrative.
Tough, stylish, violent and studded with stars – but like so many of its American gangsters, Killing Them Softly doesn’t quite get the job done.
Such character-driven moments may slow the film down, but they do help it transcend some of the more questionable stylistic choices Dominik makes...as well as giving weight to the film’s magnificent final line, which Pitt delivers with breathtaking mix of bitterness and ruthlessness.
An electrifying take on modern America at the same time as it satisfies all the usual requirements of a Mob movie: eyeball-scorching violence, disgustingly cool hitmen, spectacularly grubby low-life and endless cynicism. There might be a moral lesson in there too, if you care to look hard enough.
Far from the sinuous crime epic we might have expected, it’s more like a caustic but thoroughly impressive kick in the teeth.
This is an unrepentantly cynical take on the hope-and-change promised to the US in 2008; this year's election race makes it look even bleaker, an icily confident black comedy of continued disillusion.
Lean and punchy. Comes on a little strong, though.
A good, efficient crime thriller, let down by clunky social commentary but lifted by excellent performances, including perhaps Brad Pitt’s recent best.
This grippingly toxic and cynical movie is a lowlife crime drama, and something more – a boot in the crotch of American capitalism.
Brutal but gripping.
Killing Them Softly is further vibrant and interesting work from a filmmaker yet to produce anything ordinary.
There are a few stumbles along the way but with Brad Pitt and the cast in such fine form it is still a pretty memorable ride.
Killing Them Softly isn't pleasant, and it's not perfect, but it's hardcore: American crime cinema at its smartest and most unapologetically cynical.
The stylised, brilliantly turned exchanges are punctuated by often stunningly staged outbursts of violence.
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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