“Righteous Kill” You Talkin’ to My Little Friend?

You Talkin’ to My Little Friend?

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

RIGHTEOUS KILL is a terrific film worth seeing for more reasons than two, and by “two,” of course, I mean Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

These two iconic actors are together again for the first time playing two veteran New York City police detectives named David Fisk and Thomas Cowan, but who go by the nicknames of “Turk” and “Rooster.”

They have been partners for 30 years, they are highly decorated, and as another police detective says about them, there is not an inch of daylight between them.

In fact, as one of them says to the other, “You’re my partner. You’re my role model. What am I going to do without a role model?”

However, before they can retire, Turk and Rooster investigate the murder of a notorious pimp, which appears to have a connection with a case they solved years ago.

The victim is a suspected criminal whose body was found accompanied by a four-line poem that claims to justify the killing. And then the next thing they know, there are additional killings with additional poems, and they realize that they are looking for a serial killer, someone who is targeting criminals who have managed to escape being punished.

Eventually, Rooster and Turk are forced to team up with two other police detectives, and there is even more than one investigation going on.

Also, when it becomes clear that Turk has connections with most of the victims, the detectives have to face the possibility that the serial killer might actually be a policeman.

Now, don’t get distracted by the distractions, and there are plenty of distractions, just as there is lots of misdirection in the story. Stay focused on the actors and the acting, and pay attention to the details, because there is a terrific turnaround, and even when you think you know what has happened, you can’t imagine what is going to happen next.

In fact, see this wonderful film twice. See it once for the story and then see it a second time just for the acting and the actors. You will be glad you did.

And, of course, while you are watching De Niro and Pacino, you will keep being reminded of the previous films they have starred in.

RIGHTEOUS KILL cries out for someone to say, “You talkin’ to my little friend?”

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”