The American crime movie “Killing Them Softly“ has been hyped a lot in the press and on the Internet lately and after having seen it last week, where I was so lucky to get invited to a film screening, I sure understand why – the movie is a masterpiece and deserves all the attention it can get. “Killing Them Softly” is directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Brad Pitt, based on the 1974 novel Cogan’s Trade by George V. Higgins. Even though the movie is a potentially tense and gritty crime movie, the talented Andrew Dominik manages to take it to a higher level and turns it into a heavy-handed analogy of the 2008 financial crisis.
Plot:
Pitt plays Cogan, a hit man brought in to clean up the mess when two idiots, Frankie (Scoot McNairy) and Russell (Ben Mendelsohn), rob a card game run by mobster Markie (Ray Liotta). Cogan is hired to exact gory punishment, which he negotiates with his Mob contact (Richard Jenkins) like a bloodless business deal. Andrew Dominik updates George V. Higgins’ Boston-based 1974 novel, Cogan’s Trade, by setting it in Louisiana right before the 2008 presidential election. Murder is just another day at the office for corporate America, and the film hammers that theme home with diminishing returns. The acting is aces, especially Pitt mixing it up with the superb James Gandolfini, as an assassin losing his game to hooch and hookers. They make this movie a potently nasty provocation.
The movie premieres in Denmark December 6. See more images below and make sure to follow it on Facebook as well.
