Film Review: Killing Them Softly

'Killing Them Softly' film review by Jack Flahavan

Note: The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of RetoxMagazine.com

'Killing Them Softly'

"America's not a country, it's a business." – Jackie Cogan, 'Killing Them Softly'.

When it comes to hitmen, cinema is somewhat of an expert. Gun-toting, bone-chilling thrills and spills have, and always will be, a permanent fixture at any picture house worldwide. It could arguably be said that the subject of assassination has long since run its course, played out by a conveyor belt of film stars who have brought varying contributions to the art of murder. Some do it with panache, some do it painfully. Brad Pitt and co. however, do it with pathos. Written and directed by Andrew Dominik, 'Killing Them Softly' is a film of great profundity, spiked with black humour, in a world of crooked politics and the formality of death. Set in 2008, during the last presidential election, the film paints a portrait of the struggles of the American man in an economy gone bust and in desperate need of repair. It was a time when Barack Obama's political ascent was meant to bring forth a new era of hope and prosperity, something, which much of the nation bought into, but Dominik offers a flipside to the coin of the American dream.

Jackie Cogan, played by Pitt, is an experienced contract killer who has long since grown weary of the business in which he operates. Tired of having to clean up the mess that bumbling criminals leave in their wake, Jackie has become desensitised to the act of murder, operating in a direct, orderly fashion without much reflection on the brutality of his deeds. In his eyes, being a hitman is just as legitimate as any other profession, and as a working man he is merely forging a position of security for himself in a society that has been pulverised by a recession. The coldness in his custom is maintained by keeping his distance from the men he kills, opting to shoot them from far away instead of having to watch them beg for mercy. "I like to kill them softly", says Jackie, believing that he is doing his victims a service by sparing them from embarrassment. Allied to this, it is apparent that Jackie does not want to let compassion interfere with business, much like a hardy politician in a time of crisis.

Jackie's new assignment comes in the form of two moronic small-time crooks, Frankie and Russell, played by Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn, who hold up a card game run by a mob affiliate named Markie, portrayed by Ray Liotta. The money appropriated by Frankie and Russell belongs to some very dangerous people, and as swiftly as the money has been taken, a contract has been placed upon their aimless heads. Their haphazard actions activate a bloody chain of events with fatal consequences, but not without complications for the men on their tale. Jackie, unwilling to do all the killing himself, seeks the services of Mickey, played by James Gandolfini, a washed-up, manic-depressive with a detrimental drinking habit, and the first true indication that the man behind the gun is not the pillar of strength in which people would imagine. Upon Mickey's introduction, the narrative takes a strange turn that many people will not foresee, as the focus on Frankie and Russell's misdemeanour becomes less significant, and the morose hitmen take centre stage.

'Killing Them Softly' is not about the pursuit to exact annihilation, nor is it centred on the fear of death. In fact, the subject matter is much more recognisable, and resonates with audience members on an economic and social grounding. What unfolds is not an awestruck projection of slick assassins who sift through the night with the composure of stars like Robert Mitchum or John Wayne, but of men who are struggling to make ends meet both in their financial and personal lives. The hitman, like any other, is just another auxiliary, expected to do his duties as and when instructed, and to take what he can get from his efforts and be grateful for it. He is flawed; burdened by addiction, indiscretions, money troubles, and dehumanised to the point of numbness. His employers are, in many ways, representations of the higher echelons of society; unsympathetic, stingy, and totally unwilling to get their hands dirty. In Mickey, the audience is acquainted with the nihilism of the worker, long since defeated by the job, which has consumed his life. Jackie, on the other hand, remains strong in his resolve, a cynical malcontent who will not be browbeaten into submission by the demands of his working life, and eventually in the film it is he who takes the mantle of responsibility and emerges with his pride intact.

Barack Obama is a constant fixture in the film, both on the radio and on various television screens in cafes and bars. His rhetoric that pledges reform and equality is a fallacy regularly contradicted by the unhappy men in the story, who symbolise the crippled blue-collar public of America, trying to stay afloat as the tide takes a turn for the worse. The hitmen and the thieves are juxtaposed fantastically, and one can't help but sympathise with them in spite of their transgressions, as the film triumphs by bringing forth realism, a facet of life that is occasionally the perfect tonic to the chimerical escapism that cinema offers. The cast is aptly selected and each role is played effectively, particularly by Pitt who seems to improve with age. Andrew Dominik deserves a great deal of credit for writing and directing the film, and hopefully the fruits of his labour will be rewarded at the Academy Awards, for 'Killing Them Softly' is, in this critic's opinion, the best picture released so far this year.