Jack at the movies - our resident film buff

Since shooting to fame in the early '70s, the pair have redefined screen acting, with a host of incredibly powerful performances in the likes of The Godfather, Scarface, Taxi Driver and Raging Bull.
They have only appeared together in films twice before, in 1974's Godfather Part II, and 1995's Heat, where they briefly shared the screen together for the first time, so the promise of a film where the two legends spend the majority of the film on screen together was a highly anticipated prospect.

Righteous Kill, directed by Jon Avnet, is that film, but, it fails to live up to the extreme high standards of the pair's previous outings.

The most obvious comparison for this film is Heat, as that too dealt with themes of men obsessed with their work, but while that was a simple cops and robbers film with much greater depths, Righteous Kill never delves into its characters' motivations or thought processes, making it a feel more like an episode of Inspector Morse rather than the genuine cinematic event it aspires to be.

The plot sees Pacino and De Niro's veteran detectives investigating a serial killer who is targeting criminals. As the evidence begins to gather, it becomes obvious that the murderer could well be a cop , leading the finger of suspicion to be pointed at one of the pair.

The story line itself has potential but it is so let down by a script with no wit or memorable dialogue whatsoever. This means that by the climax, any tension that could have been built up has long since disappeared, due to the fact that the so called big twist the film relies upon being so obvious that everyone in the audience has guessed it about an hour before it is revealed.

Add to that the fact that someone decided it would be a good idea to cast 50 Cent alongside to of the greatest actors ever, and you are left with a mess of a film that is not worthy of the reputations of its two leading actors.
The only positive thing about the film is, predictably, the performances of Pacino and De Niro, who are obviously revelling in each others' company, and by far and away the best scenes are the ones where they share the screen.

The bottom line is that if this film proves that even if you have the greatest actors in the world on screen together, without a decent script, you might as well not bother.

VERDICT: 2 out of 5