Reviews for this film from our members:
- Marco Albanese @ Stanze di Cinema [Italian]
- Excerpt: Nel finale, Obama parla alla televisione e Jackie Cogan spiega all’avvocato Driver, che gli chiede uno sconto: l’America non e’ una comunita’, ognuno e’ da solo. Quello che conta davvero non sono le persone, ma gli affari, il business. Amarissimo.
- Marina Antunes @ Quiet Earth
- Jason Bailey @ Flavorwire
- Excerpt: Some of ‘Killing Them Softly’’s early viewers have dismissed it as slow, ponderous, pretentious. Don’t forget: they said the same thing about Dominick’s last movie too.
- Luke Bonanno @ DVDizzy.com
- Excerpt: A notch beneath Brad Pitt’s usual high standards, Killing Them Softly will disappoint some viewers, a number of whom will be turned off by the unappealing content and characters. But Andrew Dominik’s film is fairly arresting, mostly well-executed, and clearly superior to the average crime drama.
- Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Excerpt: Absent poppy dialogue and a few terrifically well-staged action scenes, the director doesn’t seem very alive to the material.
- Joshua Brunsting @ CriterionCast
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ SpiritualityandPractice.com
- Excerpt: A character-driven gangster drama exposing the shadow side of America as nothing more than a business ruled by money, power, and violence.
- Daniel Carlson @ Pajiba
- Kevin Carr @ 7M Pictures
- Excerpt: It’s the cinematic equivalent of a comedian retelling the same joke on stage ad nauseum and then taking the last five minutes of his set to explain the joke in great detail.
- Stephen Carty @ Flix Capacitor
- [New – 5/2] | Samuel Castro @ Ochoymedio.info [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Pensando en el crimen como en “otra industria en problemas”, Andrew Dominik decide contarnos la crisis estadounidense desde un ángulo muy particular
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Edwin Davies @ A Mighty Fine Blog
- Excerpt: Most of the best moments, for that matter, are the ones in which the dialogue is minimal or absent entirely. Even though the film’s vaulting ambition lies in its attempts at political critique, it still works wonderfully as a brutal, tense and occasionally haunting crime story.
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: Killing Them Softly is attentive to its characters’ driving philosophies … and challenges those oftentimes twisted principles under harsh, unforgiving circumstances.
- Kimberly Gadette @ doddle
- Excerpt: Though the references to the unstable ’08 economy are a bit heavy-handed, the film’s smart script and unique characters about hit men having to take financial hits pays off handsomely.
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Cynical, stylish and filled with violence
- Richard Gray @ The Reel Bits
- Excerpt: Some filmmakers get in close, forcing you to cry, plead and call out for your mothers. Andrew Dominik kills us softly, from a distance.
- Vadym Grygoriev @ kinoblog.com [Ukrainian]
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: Turns a dark mirror on crime mythology to reflect a startling, unflattering image of America.
- Danny King @ The King Bulletin
- Excerpt: Killing Them Softly,’ above all, is characterized by [a] slick, stylish sadness, which is why the Dominik-inserted political bluntness isn’t a film-killer for me.
- Oktay Ege Kozak @ Oregon Herald
- Josh Larsen @ LarsenOnFilm.com
- Excerpt: …a clever-enough idea – ratty criminal enterprise as the American economy in miniature – but the movie hammers its theme home, repeatedly.
- Dan Lybarger @ Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
- Excerpt: These fellows are hardened criminals, but they’re often darkly hilarious and mesmerizing when viewed from the safety of the big screen.
- Marty Mapes @ Movie Habit
- Excerpt: Director Andrew Dominik controls the clock
- Piers Marchant @ Sweet Smell of Success
- Excerpt: A hired killer has a job to do in the midst of a flat American economy.
- Matthew McKernan @ FilmWhinge
- Brent McKnight @ Beyond Hollywood
- Simon Miraudo @ Quickflix
- Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: Killing Them Softly is a superb little film, and one highly recommended. It’s easy to get caught up in the film’s perceived “timeliness”, but it’s a thoughtful piece of work that would feel well-observed at any time.
- Jamie S. Rich @ DVD Talk
- Excerpt: “Killing Them Softly” is a skillful balance of pretension and genre, low art made with high craft.
- Tom Santilli @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: Had the movie given us more of what we expect from the genre in the way of action, excitement and/or humor, it may have been a bit more effective in delivering its tired political ideals.
- Amir Siregar @ Flick Magazine [Indonesian]
- Cole Smithey Smithey @ ColeSmithey.com
- Excerpt: One of the ten best films of 2012, Andrew Dominik’s cold-blooded satire of American corporate-political-capitalism cuts through its subject like a freshly sharpened guillotine blade.
- Frank Swietek @ One Guy’s Opinion
- Excerpt: Can be heavy-handed at times, but it’s still moodily effective.
- Ron Wilkinson @ MonstersandCritics.com
- Excerpt: Emerging director Andrew Dominick comes out swinging in this nonsensical gangland farce.
- George Zervopoulos @ Movies Ltd [Greek]
