Killing Them Softly

Morgan Rodriguez57 said:Right... criminals, the mob, heists—most of the runtime is just characters overthinking things and dealing with personal baggage that dictates their choices and fates... yeah, totally different. It’s "different" because Tarantino knows what he’s doing, whereas this movie just missed the mark...

Look, this movie is actually a serious sociological and political critique. If you view everything through that lens, then every single mob flick filled with dialogue would seem Tarantino-esque to you—including 😛The Godfather
. As for the director, someone who helmed Jesse James is clearly a massive talent... even if they're still in the process of proving it. Dominic is an auteur, which makes his two-film run with Pitt way more interesting to watch.

Is the inclusion of political speeches playing in the background throughout the film intended as some sort of commentary?
Was that meant to be a subtle message, or perhaps something more profound? To be honest, I found it completely distracting from start to finish. It felt unnecessary and quite irritating.

That being said, the dialogue itself is exceptionally well-written.

The movie doesn't really stick because it’s pretty broken.
First issue: That Gandolfini-like figure is totally useless; feels like the writers realized it halfway through and just cut him out with a couple lines of dialogue.
Second issue: There’s no real plot or climax. You finish it feeling like you missed the point.
Third issue: It’s way too violent, though honestly, that says more about the era we live in than the film itself.

4/10

It’s a slow, dull movie that just drags along. Honestly, it was a letdown. Even though the acting is top-notch, everything else falls flat. There isn't enough action and the characters lack depth. It's mostly just people talking about this or that, and the dialogue gets tedious. I wish they had included some flashback scenes. I was actually really curious to see what that Jewish woman the Gandolfini-like figure mentioned looked like. 😎

It’s funny how everyone was buzzing about this movie right when it dropped, but then it just kind of vanished from the conversation. I remember seeing the hype while it was playing in theaters, though I never actually made it to the cinema myself...

Honestly, maybe I’d feel differently if I’d seen it, but to me, it feels like just another one of those "multiplex movies"—you know what I mean? Those cookie-cutter, assembly-line flicks you pick up at the AMC just because you're in the mood for a specific genre and don't want to think too hard. Just total popcorn fodder...

Long story short, nothing really stuck with me. There wasn't anything memorable about it. You can totally skip this one.

It didn't feel formulaic to me at all. Actually quite an intellectual film.

I don't know about you guys. Honestly, I feel like I've seen way too many movies with this exact same premise, so this whole approach feels a bit redundant to me. The only thing that really sets it apart is the special effects in a few specific scenes.

I just think it would’ve worked better if they hadn't taken such a dead-serious approach to a theme we've all seen a million times before. If they had leaned into the trashy, campy side of things and just had some fun with it, I probably would've given it a passing grade...

But hey, it's totally fair if someone else actually digs it!

Personally, I'm all for it—I love a good mix of "deep" conversations and actual action. 🙂