Movie: Killing Them Softly
Director: Andrew Dominik
Cast: Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta and Richard Jenkins
Rating: ****
Somewhere towards the fag end of ‘Killing Them Softly’, Brad Pitt says, America is not a country. It’s a business. In the most unconventional fashion, writer-director Andrew Dominik throws light on the most successful business of the world’s ‘greatest’ country, America – organized crime. For starters, KTS is not a mob or gangster film. It’s one of the finest American films on the art of business management.
Two cons, hired by a local crook rob a gambling den for the second time knowing the blame will go on the owner of the den, Markie, who had recently organized the robbery of his own den. The town, which depends entirely on gambling for economical development, is wrecked after the second robbery. The crime lords call upon Jackie Cogan, a hitman, to clean up the mess.
Touted to be an action-packed entertainer, the film focuses on less action, but more on long conversations that are insanely funny and scream sarcasm. Having said there’s less action, let me also clarify that there are few visually gripping action sequences capable of sending chills up your spine. The entire film is carried forward with spectacular dialogues written in such a way that average audience will find it boring and sleepy, but to others it serves as moments of sheer excitement.
The film is partly comical and thrilling in its overall presentation and it’s by far one of the best misleadingly uncomplicated films you may have watched in a long time.
Scenes showing Bush and Obama talking economics are not to be ignored or considered irrelevant. ‘Killing Them Softly’ draws parallel from these scenes, the 2008 American financial breakdown in particular and uses it as a metaphor to highlight that the assault on economy by George Bush is same as Markie robbing his own den. What followed in America was provocative as the country royally welcomed Barack Obama to clean up the mess, likewise, the crime lords welcomed Cogan to do the cleaning.
What we get to see is the demolition of an economy, by thugs like Bush or the two cons in the film, whose acts disturb the very own existence of the people who govern the economy. In the film, people who own the economy are the same ones who successfully run the gambling business, and when they’re business is wrecked, they call upon an enforcer to manage the damage.
Adapted from a 1974 novel named ‘Cogan’s Trade’, by George Higgins, this film boasts some spectacular performances by Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins and James Gandolfini. The action is brutally cynical and menacing to watch, especially in the slow motion scene which zooms in on Brad’s gun as pulls the trigger, allowing the bullet to shatter through the car window and breaking it into million pieces and finally piercing through the face of the victim.