In Brief: Frankie (Scoot McNairy) is a low level crim, his been in prison before, and doesn't intend to go back, along with his Australian friend Russel (Ben Mendelsohn), and they knock over a card game run by Markie (Ray Liotta). Markie's knocked over his own game, before, and suspicion is cast on him. In comes Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), an enforcer brought in to clean things up, and get the money rolling again, all the while dealing with the building financial crisis and election of 2009.
Killing them Softly (Based on the book 'Cogans Trade'), directed by Andrew Dominik (Chopper, Assassianation of Jessie James by the coward Robert Ford), is a very somber affair, not that his last film was a barrel of laughs. The film's got a constant background noise of political debates. Letting you know that the Crisis doesn't just effect the Blue and White collar works of the country, but also ... the guys that don't wear collars? Job's are harder to come by, people aren't spending much green and Hit-men are flying Economy. They're all just trying to make a living and maybe get they're foot in the door.
Scoot McNairy really sells his roll as Frankie, his not so much a bad guy, just one that doesn't have alot of options. McNairy give's Frankie and nervous quality. While Mendelsohn's Russel is about as foul mouthed and unpleasant as they come, as he moves through life in a drug addled daze. Pitt plays it as Business as usual, and it suits the style of the show and it's commentary.
There's some beautifully shot scenes in this film (There's a scene shot in slow motion that's as beautiful as it is brutal), but it never hits the same level as those in Jessie James. That could come down to the open planes and a built up city.
The film's well paced, it's 98 minute run time seems to breeze by, and its been mentioned that there was a 2 hour + cut of the film. It might be interesting to see what was removed/cut for this pace to work. Killing them softly is a good little film, worth seeing.
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