Killing Them Softly (2012) *

Directed by:  Andrew Dominik

Starring:  Brad Pitt, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini

One problem that has plagued bad mob movies in the past two decades is their attempts to imitate their betters, such as Pulp Fiction, Goodfellas, Casino, etc.    It's not enough to kill people in relentlessly bloody ways, you also have to throw in a lot of irony and dialogue just to show how brilliant a screenwriter thinks he is.    Killing Them Softly is on the low, low end of mob films.    It has about a half-hour worth of plot and one hour worth of unnecessary dialogue.    There isn't a lot to Killing Them Softly, although writer-director Andrew Dominik sure does try and make it seem more substantial than it is.

The film takes place in New Orleans, where it rains constantly during the events of the film.    How did I know it was New Orleans?   I must confess I had to look it up.    I'm thinking rain is supposed to add atmosphere.    This much rain makes me hope the actors had plenty of hot coffee nearby.    A hitman named Jackie (Pitt) is brought in to whack some guys who knocked over a mob poker game.    The game is run by Marky (Liotta) and the rub is that this game was robbed before and in a moment of a hysterical confession, Marky admits that he robbed the game the first time.    Did he do it again?   Actually not, the second robbery was coordinated by another local mobster who thinks Marky will be blamed again.    Jackie wants to kill the robbers and Marky, mostly because he thinks a game being robbed twice is bad for business.    Jackie's boss (Jenkins) doesn't want Marky killed, thinking that Marky wouldn't be dumb enough to rob his own game twice.    

Jackie brings in his friend Nicky (Gandolfini) to do some of the killings, but Nicky is more interested in drinking and hookers than actually killing anyone.    Gandolfini really had to do a lot of heavy lifting here, since he is given endless, uninteresting dialogue passages to recite.    In fact, Gandolfini appears in maybe three scenes and each one plays like a sermon.    Pitt is then left to do the killings, which are bloody and gruesome.     Liotta's death is shown in slow-motion with lots of bullets whizzing through his body and glass breaking everywhere.  

Another curious thing is the film's attention to the 2008 economy crisis.    Speeches by then-President George W. Bush and future President Obama are on radios and TV's everywhere in the film.    Why the focus on the economy?   Is Dominik trying to draw parallels between the failing economy and the mob?   Or is he just trying to establish the film's timeline?   Who even knows?    If there is a link, I don't really see it.  

Killing Them Softly is a joyless film.    The actors try their best, but are worn down by the volume of silly dialogue and dreariness they have to endure.    No one is having any fun, especially the viewer.    Brad Pitt is partly to blame because he not only stars, he is the film's producer as well.    He worked with Andrew Dominik before in The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford, but that was a better film with something to say.    Maybe they saw something more in the film's planning stages, but I don't think neither Pitt or Dominik will count Killing Them Softly among his favorites.