2 stars:
(Editor's Note: There is a small spoiler in this review which is indicated by the word "spoiler.")
God, how I wanted to love this movie! Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino together for the… 3rd time. In “The Godfather, part II” they didn’t share any screen time together, and in “Heat” they only shared two scenes together. This time they team up throughout the entire film. Let me start off by asking, why doesn’t Clint Eastwood make another “Dirty Harry” movie? The answer is simple, he’s too old and nobody would buy that Harry Callahan was still on the force. DeNiro, 65 and Pacino, 68 give the audience an unrealistic portrayal of the duties two elderly policemen would have serving the NYPD.
Turk (DeNiro) plays a hard nosed cop who will do whatever to take a “scumbag” down. Pacino plays Rooster, a more sophisticated cop who solves each case as though he is engaging in a chess match. Although both officers have very different methods for bringing down the bad guy, they remain BFF’s throughout the movie.
50 Cent plays a club owning drug dealer who may or may not have connections to the serial killer that DeNiro and Pacino are chasing. Enter Detective Perez (John Leguizamo) and Detective Riley (Donnie Wahlberg), two young, spry detectives in search of the same serial killer.
There isn’t much I can say that won’t ruin this movie - if it can possibly be ruined any more.
What’s good?
John Leguizamo is amazing as usual. He is one of the more reliable actors in Hollywood, and it really is a shame to watch him steal each scene away from DeNiro and Pacino.
Donnie Wahlberg is solid. Hopefully the New Kids on the Block reunion doesn’t affect his acting career, because he’s very capable.
DeNiro and Pacino are good. At times their acting is great, and at times it makes you want to cringe.
What’s bad?
Jon Avnet. When I hear DeNiro and Pacino are doing a movie together my dick gets hard, at least it did when “Heat” came out. As of late, DeNiro and Pacino have been in some terrible movies, such as “88 Minutes,” which believe it or not, was also directed by Jon Avnet. Jon Avnet is best known for directing “Fried Green Tomatoes.” Clue number one that this wasn’t going to be a good movie was when we didn’t see Scorsese, Mann, Coppola, Tarantino, etc. next to the names DeNiro and Pacino.
The story is terrible. Too much of the movie was spent shoving DeNiro and Pacino’s friendship and trust down our throats. They also spent too much time showing DeNiro as a hard ass and Pacino as the voice of reason, while shoving their trust and friendship down our throats.
I can’t really get into the story without spoiling it, but the scenes in which DeNiro is talking on videotape should be completely removed from the movie, as well as what happens to Carla Gugino’s character at the end. It makes no sense. I’d love to explain why they did it and why I think it doesn’t make sense, but unfortunately I’d be giving away the ending.
SPOILER
Brian Dennehy is in this movie. This movie also contains a twist, and that alone will allow you to figure out how this movie ends.
END SPOILER
It pains me to give this a bad review as I’m a huge Robert DeNiro fan and I like a lot of Pacino’s work as well, but this is not a good movie. What’s worse is that it probably could have been good if they had done it right.
BYLINE:
Bob Zerull is a frequent movie and concert goer who talks about his ventures to arenas and theaters more than any person should be allowed to do. Now, he puts them down on paper.
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