In his 2000 directorial debut he choppe(re)d up Eric Bana and then in 2007 had a cowardly Casey Affleck assassinate Brad Pitt, and now writer/director Andrew Dominik is back 5 years later with his third feature film, Killing Them Softly, teaming up with Pitt once again.
I’ve been keenly interested in the film ever since I first heard of it, and the first trailer certainly did nothing to dull that excitement. But if for some reason, and I’d be guessing here that it’s because you have no eyes and ears, you still weren’t actually looking forward to it, then this super cool, super slick new trailer should do the trick. Well, do the trick for increasing your excitement level for the movie that is. Can’t really help the no eyes/ears thing.
Three dumb guys who think they’re smart rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse. Brad Pitt plays the enforcer hired to track them down and restore order. “Killing Them Softly” also features Richard Jenkins (“The Visitor”), James Gandolfini (“The Sopranos”), Ray Liotta (“NARC”), Scoot McNairy (“Monsters”), Ben Mendelsohn (“Animal Kingdom”), and Vincent Curatola (“The Sopranos”). Max Casella, Trevor Long, Slaine and Sam Shepard also make appearances.
Whereas Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (best. title. ever.) was a masterful study in sobriety and restraint, this film is definitely looking to be everything but subdued. It’s no Michael Bay explodathon, certainly, but it just oozes cool and deadly fun in equal amounts, with Brad Pitt appearing to be the living embodiment of those qualities. And with the stellar cast that Dominik has assembled around him also appearing to be holding up their end of the bargain, this looks like it could a be just a grinning badass of a film, which doesn’t look behind it as it walks away from explosions.
And I can’t tell you happy it makes me to see Ray Liotta working on top class material again instead of direct to Recycle Bin (even the pirates delete them immediately) drivel. He was always a favourite of mine, but over the last decade or so has been pulling a serious Val Kilmer. Or was it that Val Kilmer was pulling a Ray Liotta? Either way, the dude is back. Just a pity Brad Pitt is going to have to kill him. Softly.
PS: Since the first trailer and this one, a whole glut of posters for the film has been released. We’ve already featured a couple of them around these parts, but here are all of them collected in one spot for your viewing please.
Last Updated: November 22, 2012
