Reviewl Killing Them Softly

Killing Them Softly features Brad Pitt as a hitman who prefers to kill his targets softly, but also features a script that drives its point comparing Washington and Wall Street to the gangster underworld home a little too hard at times.

By the 4th or 5th time a excerpt from a Bush or Obama speech is played in the background the point starts to become a little laboured and the lack of subtlety shown is in contrast to the performances from the cast, with several stars like Ray Liotta and James Gandolfini playing against their charismatic calling cards shown in previous gangster classics to portray a cast of slimly, sleazy and crass characters.

Unlike The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward, Killing Them Softly comes in at just over 90 minutes, but still manages to go along at a slow pace - the world created is a compelling one, but the simple story feel like it would be better suited forming part of a longer story arc in something similar to The Sopranos, not quite working a single film.

Review: Gangster Squad

It's hard to call Gangster Squad anything more than a disappointment when after putting an impressive cast with an interesting choice of director (Zombieland's Ruben Fleischer), all you get is a poor man's version of The Untouchables.

Sean Penn is the film's highlight as the over the top villain, but the squad assembled by Josh Brolin's good cop suffer from next to no character development in favour of simply looking good in hats. Ryan Gosling in particular is wasted alongside Emma Stone, with Crazy Stupid Love proving a much better example of the chemistry the pair have.

It might've been okay for Gangster Squad to shun story for shoot-outs if the action itself was a little more memorable but that's far from the case, leaving a film that looks full of forties flash on the surface, but is instantly forgettable.