Killing Them Softly – Review

Much of the film feels like an extended farce right out of the Coen brothers` repertoire – which is intended as a compliment. Just as the Coens have a penchant for whipping up frothy concoctions about the depth of human stupidity and greed, Dominik mixes crime, death and murder in Killing Them Softly with human impulses and frailty. As a result, he creates a film full of characters and moments that can be played for pure comedy or sheer tragedy – and often teeter between the two extremes. The entire enterprise glides by on a kind of insouciant charm, soundtracked by the chirpy likes of Life Is Just A Bowl Of Cherries and It`s Only A Paper Moon.

That`s not to say Killing Them Softly is all sweetness and light. Dominik ensures that the showdowns in the film have a bite and ferocity that`s not for the faint of heart. The scene in which Markie is put through the wringer is one of the most memorable of the year: it manages to be both hyper-stylised and bone-crunchingly realistic, Dominik allowing his camera to linger where other directors might have cut away a few seconds before. Frankie and Russell`s amateurish mistakes are played as much for laughs as suspense – each tactical error making ever clearer how ill-equipped they are to deal with the consequences of their actions.

 

Dominik`s cast is superb. Pitt is the rightful star of the show, finding unexpected nuance and complexity in the role of a sociopathic bastard. He manages to terrorise and charm, often within the same scene, and it`s a credit to McNairy that he manages to hold his own against Pitt when Jackie eventually meets the increasingly desperate Frankie. James Gandolfini is fantastic too as a hitman gone to seed, a man whose skill at killing has long been eclipsed by his failure at living.

Not everything in Killing Them Softly works as well. The suggestion that crime is just as much an industry as any other more legitimate business is marvellously captured in scenes between Jackie and the elderly, dignified bureaucrat (Richard Jenkins) who pulls the strings and provides the cash behind the scenes. But the frequent references to the tanking of the American economy amidst the 2008 presidential election, channelled via radio and television broadcasts peppered throughout the film, are heavy-handed and don`t gel as well as Dominik would clearly like. On occasion, it`s like being punched repeatedly in the face – as poor Markie Trattman was – with the obvious, yet not really understanding the point of it all in the end. That rather blunts the overall effect of the film, even though it remains – for the most part – a powerful, smart treatise on the price of a life of crime: both literally and metaphorically.

Summary: A fun, smart take on the gangster flick that`s full of charm and hard knocks – though it may prove too much and too puzzling by the end.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

Shawne Wang