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Later in life, Charlie Chaplin created a film titled Limelight, which was a late attempt at getting him to work alongside Buster Keaton. The film ended with a touching song in which the two men, now past their prime, recalled their glory days. This part of the film reminded me of a scene I saw in Righteous Kill. Righteous Kill is a dull cop thriller that is only remarkable because it features Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, the dueling brothers of the American Method school. These two actors certainly deserve better than this.
De Niro and Pacino act as Turk and Rooster, two traumatized NYPD officers hunting down a serial killer. The killer seems to be going after child molesters and pimps – the scum of the city who gloat about being above the law. Eventually, the blame pours onto the surly Turk, much to the shock of Rooster, who sees his partner as a father figure. There are standoffs and gunfights, stakeouts and brawls. But the whole thing feels perfunctory like it was written in a rush after the cast members had signed up. The ending, fully loaded with guns, is less of a plot twist and instead more akin to an old man’s stiff limp heavy with unnecessary baggage that is ready to be shed.
The two actors appeared in The Godfather Part II but performed at completely different times. They even had an altercation over coffee in Michael Mann’s Heat. However, Righteous Kill gives us a twosome performance for the first time. And make no mistake, the film understands it. Fittingly, director Jon Avnet starts with a rather replication relations montage that places his actors in some battle of machismo. We see them tussling stiff-lipped while chess pieces are advancing on the board, sparring at the shooting gallery, or even pumping iron on the next bench. This montage has the potential to go on forever, and Avnet would probably have them arm-wrestling, racing on bicycles, and working out who can spit further, all at a bar underneath the demands of that pesky plot.
Thus far, all of this is reasonably fine. There is residual pleasure in watching these daintily clad heavyweights going toe-toe, fighting with one man’s daring style and the other’s attack. Despite their somewhat similar pedigree and parallel career tracks, they are all vastly different foes. Righteous Kill gives us two vastly different performers Pacino and De Niro. Shattering the pressure can be any moment. Pacino’s flamboyant declamatory aggression furiously tries to find any blemish in the Rivale’s careful and watchful defense.
Pace slowly, letting their eyes adjust to the dim lighting. Then let them make out the silhouettes of the cage and the arena, and once they know exactly where they are, let them pounce. My favorite of the two seems to know what the goal is for a fight like this, and it makes me like him even more. I must say, the silent ballerina has an impressive portfolio. Along with everything else, it needs to go on her CV. As I grab the mic, I consider how hard it’s going to be to match its bright red color with the gold of my dress. The soothing voice of Pacino seems grateful. In the corner of the arena I, slowly but surely, manage into view. I see De Niro closing in. “We did good,” he finally mutters, freeing himself. As his body tries to cover the space between us, I try to convince Binoche to free him as well. She does so with pleasure. “I did carry, didn’t I?” she states smugly. While we’re still debating about it, Shershow runs off with the claim. “Seek beauty in destruction,” she whispers and out of nowhere, coming right out from sentience. “Yeah, we did good,” he agrees shyly. What he doesn’t consider, is simply the compliment to herself. The battle I had in mind turned out to be a novelty bout, an improvised sparring session show put on where none of them made sense. Weirdly, it came out sounding incredibly beautiful. Indeed, to each, their own its sound and fury signifies very little.
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