Killing Them Softly Review

            Director Andrew Dominik knows how to convey a message and does so in a witty and brutal way in Killing Them Softly, a captivating and compellingly performed thriller about recession-hit criminals doing what they have to do in order to survive. The film is a loose adaptation of novelist George V. Higgins’s 1974 thriller “Cogan’s Trade,” updated to the 2008 presidential campaign and relocated from Boston to post-Katrina New Orleans. The film takes place during a time of financial crisis, which Dominik creatively links to the world of crime using political overtones.

            Brad Pitt plays Jackie Cogan, a professional hit man hired to investigate and kill those responsible for robbing a mob-protected poker game. The economy on a downward spiral, Mobster Jonny Amato comes up with what he thinks is a no-risk plan to make fast money. He hires two lowlife, crimester wannabes, Frankie and Russell (played brilliantly by Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn), to rob the regular card night run by Markie Trattman (Ray Liotta). Trattman robbed his own game once and got away with it, so they knew if it were ever robbed again, he would be the first to blame.

Everything goes as planned until Russell brags about his recent success to the wrong person. Cogan is brought in to take care of everyone involved, including Markie because even though he is innocent, his name is still involved and the streets won’t get back to normal until he is gone. Cogan prefers carrying out his job from a distance in order to avoid the pleading and crying of his victims as they beg for their lives, something he calls, “killing them softly.” So when he realizes he knows one of the men he is supposed to kill, he calls in another hit man to do the job.  Played excellently by James Gandolfini, Mickey is a drunk, sex-obsessed, washed up hit man who no longer has the drive or mental capability of completing the task. This leaves Cogan to carry out the murders on his own and he does so with ease. The parallel between politics and the mobster way of living is brought together with a bang by a riveting monologue from Cogan to end the film.

            The theme of the film is thrown at the audience as blatantly as a slap in the face. The message is delivered quick and direct; America is a business and we have to treat it that way in order to survive. We live in an individualistic world where the government only looks out for the government and we need to look out for ourselves. This way of thinking is nothing new, but Dominik finds a way to demonstrate it in an electrifying and artistic way. The film pulls you in the moment it begins, contrasting Obama’s powerful campaign speech with silent credits on the screen. Speeches made by the current and incoming president are heard throughout the film, addressing the state of the economy and promising change. 

            Dominik manages the scenario and the cast very well, from the slow motion hit scenes accompanied by ironically romantic music to the comical banter between the robbers. Names are thrown around and some characters are hard to follow, but like other similar crime stories, this doesn’t matter because it is pretty obvious that everyone involved is guilty of some wrongdoing, making their executions less emotional. More important is style and attitude, which the film delivers to its audience on a silver platter. For example, as Russell realizes he has royally screwed up, his drug-enforced stupefaction is shown through several distortions of time, visual perception and sound. Mickey’s execution is delivered from many angels in a slow-motion explosion of breaking glass and penetrating bullets, so sophisticated and prolonged with the romantic music that it’s almost like an artistic demonstration.

            The film consists of basically an all-male cast and each performance is brilliant from start to finish. Pitt’s character is first introduced with the accompaniment of Johnny Cash’s “The Man Comes Around,” which is more than fitting for the complex and (for lack of a better word) badass man he portrays. His electrifying final speech alone makes the film worth seeing. The dialogue between Cogan and Mickey is captivating; with Gandolfini playing the part of the drunken has been to a tee. When it becomes obvious to Cogan that Mickey is incapable and unwilling to do his job, he sets him up to get arrested in order to get him out of the way. This further demonstrates the individualist mentality of the film through classic mob betrayal.

While the film’s message is overly blatant and unoriginal to say the least, it is overshadowed by excellent performances and thought provoking parallels between the dysfunction of the government and the dysfunction of the mob.

Cast & Credits:

Brad Pitt

Ray Liotta

Richard Jenkins

Plan B Entertainment, 1984 Private Defense Contractors, and Annapurna Pictures present a film directed by Andrew Dominik. Written by Andrew Dominik and George V. Higgins (novel). Total running time: 104 minutes.