Seeing as Andrew Dominik’s last film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, was often described using words like “sweeping,” “deliberate”, “poetic”, and “meditative,” you might be expecting something similar from his latest endeavor, Killing Them Softly. If this is the case, then you’re in for something of a disappointment. Killing Them Softly isn’t a slow-paced, highly visual rumination on anything. Actually, this is one of those films that would be right at home sitting next to all of those Pulp Fiction copycats that came out in the second half of the 90s, in that we’ve got a cast of criminals with unique quirks, nobody seems to be taking any breaths in between all of the dialogue that they’re trading, and all of the crime is presented as stylishly as possible.
What’s the story being told? Killing Them Softly mostly concerns itself with an ill-advised robbery of a card game and the bloody aftermath that follows. Loosely based on a George V. Higgins novel called “Cogan’s Trade,” the story Dominik is telling focuses on a hitman (Brad Pitt) who’s tasked with doling out the appropriate punishment after a couple of low-level nobodies (Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn) rob a card game being played by a room full of high ranking criminals. Higgins’ novel was originally set in 70s-era Boston, but Dominik’s screenplay sets the action in New Orleans and against the backdrop of the 2008 Presidential election, because, well, it turns out he’s got a boatload of allegories he wants to pack into this fairly simple shoot ‘em up.
Which brings us to the reason why this film just doesn’t work very well. Whether it’s because of a lack of quality in the source material, or because of the changes it went through went Dominik adapted it for the screen, there are just a ton of glaring writing problems that keep this one from ever getting out of first gear. Primarily, Killing Them Softly doesn’t work because, though it feels a lot like one of Tarantino’s early films, it lacks his flashy dialogue. The characters keep talking and talking, but they just never come up with anything interesting to say. As a matter of fact, they’re pretty much all witless goons, and listening to them pontificate on anything becomes something of a chore. This is especially the case when the dialogue gets really pointed and tries too hard to spell out the themes of the film; which is something that happens a lot. Over and over again, the same speeches about isolation and lack of compassion are given, to the point that it eventually seems like flashing lights should start playing across the screen every time a few key points get touched on. This thing right here! What this character is saying! This is the point of the movie!
There are some structural issues going on here as well. This movie never seems to be building to anything, so it’s hard to stay invested in all of the scenes of criminals sitting around and gabbing about whatever. The narrative focus jumps around so often that you get through more than half of the film before you’ve even figured out who the protagonist is. Eventually the story seems to settle on Pitt’s hitman, but it’s a long time getting there without anyone being assigned any clear goals or there being any tension built. You witness a petty, stupid crime, you get the sense that a lot of people are going to die because of it, and then there’s just a general sense of doom that hangs over everything. Maybe focusing the film on one of McNairy or Mendelsohn’s characters and having it be about them escaping retribution could have helped, or making it clear that there would be some sort of repercussions for Pitt’s character if he doesn’t manage to clean the situation up in a timely fashion, but, as is, Killing Them Softly basically consists of random sleazebags committing random crimes, and it’s hard to figure out why you’re supposed to care about any of it.
The settling on Pitt’s hitman as the protagonist might not have even been such a problem if his character wasn’t such a dishwater dull blank page. Who is he? He’s the professional sort of criminal that gets things done... and that’s about it. We know nothing about him, we’re given no reason to care whether he succeeds or fails, and Pitt plays him with such stony-faced resolve that there’s no particular reason to attach yourself to him. The only thing that separates Pitt’s hitman character here from every other overly serious hitman character ever is that, these days, Pitt’s blindingly white movie star teeth are just too over the top for him to believably portray a street tough.
McNairy and Mendelsohn, in comparison, feel like they’re acting in a completely different movie. Where Pitt’s going small and reserved, they’re going completely over the top with their portrayals of these slimy street goons. McNairy has so much desperation in his sniveling voice that he practically feels like a starving puppy begging for treats, and Mendelsohn goes so far over the top in portraying his drug addict character as a grimy creep that every second he’s on the screen you want to pressure wash his body and douse him with delousing powder before you start to throw up. In a more fun movie these guys’ performances could have been a good time, but in this one they feel like clowns barging in on a business meeting.
The one actor who’s able to skirt the line between subtle and broad and put in a performance that you really want to see more of is James Gandolfini. He’s playing a hitman from New York who Pitt’s character calls in to take some work off his hands, and, suffice to say, he’s a man who’s seen better days. The thing that separates this character from all the others is that we actually learn a little bit about him—we get a hint of why he used to be a reliable professional and now he’s a sloppy oaf wallowing in booze and hookers. Gandolfini doesn’t play him like a closed book or an exaggeration of all his faults, he plays him like a real guy who’s trying to play it cool, but who doesn’t realize that he’s completely lost control. I’d say that if there’s any reason to see this movie, then it’s to take in Gandolfini’s performance, but, quite frankly, he doesn’t get nearly enough screen time for this to be the case. Really, this character amounts to little more than a cameo; once again proving how all over the map and without focus Dominik’s script is.
Before we close the book on Killing Me Softly, we’ve got to spend a little bit more time addressing the political and economic material that plays in the background of everything. Dominik is really forceful about getting it all in there, and it’s all really effective at taking you out of the movie. Criminals listen to talk radio while they’re doing jobs, sleazy bar flies have political debates on every TV in the dive they frequent, every conversation about crime that’s had practically beats you over the head with the fact that it’s a metaphor for what happens on Wall Street... good heavens, it’s all so annoying.
The heavy handed nature of the thematics wouldn’t have been so bad if Dominik’s screenplay and direction were beating us over the head with illuminating truths, but this movie has nothing to say. It gives you one surface level observation—crime equals capitalism—and then it just keeps repeating it. At a climactic moment a character practically turns to the camera and says, ”I’m living in America, and in America, you’re on your own. America is a business, now fucking pay me.” There’s no need to see this film. Just read that quote, which is basically its thesis statement, and which gets handed directly to the audience. That’s all you need to know. That’s the whole movie. Deep, huh?
