Killing Them Softly

2012
R
1h 37m

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

155K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:30

Dark Comedy Crime Drama Thriller

Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.

Director
- Andrew Dominik
Writers
- Andrew Dominik
- George V. Higgins
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.2/10

155K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,011

489

Director
- Andrew Dominik
Writers
- Andrew Dominik
- George V. Higgins
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 3 wins & 9 nominations

Videos13

Clip 0:50

"Kill 'Em Softly"

Clip 0:58

"Jackie and Frankie at the Bar"

Clip 1:08

"I Don't Take Orders from You"

Clip 0:50

"Touchy Feely"

Clip 0:35

"What's This All About?"

Photos191

185

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The Turkish former minister of culture found the movie so offensive that he told the press that he wanted the age bar for this movie to be raised from 13 to 18 or, if possible, remove it from the theaters altogether.

Goofs
After using his shotgun and putting it in the getaway car, Jackie wipes down the car of evidence but fails to retrieve his gun and his fingerprints on it.

Quotes
[last lines]
Barack Obama (on TV): [on TV delivering his election victory speech] ... to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth that out of many, we are one.
Driver: You hear that line? Line's for you.
Jackie Cogan: Don't make me laugh. We're one people. It's a myth created by Thomas Jefferson.
Driver: Oh, now you're gonna have a go at Jefferson, huh?
Jackie Cogan: My friend, Jefferson's an American saint because he wrote the words, "All men are created equal." Words he clearly didn't believe, since he allowed his own children to live in slavery. He was a rich wine snob who was sick of paying taxes to the Brits. So yeah, he wrote some lovely words and aroused the rabble, and they went out and died for those words, while he sat back and drank his wine and fucked his slave girl. This guy wants to tell me we're living in a community. Don't make me laugh. I'm living in America, and in America, you're on your own. America's not a country. It's just a business. Now fucking pay me.

Alternate versions
There are two versions of this film. One is the theatrical release, and another the rough cut. Runtimes, respectively, are: "1h 37m (97 min)" and "2h 30m (150 min) (rough cut):.

Connections
Featured in At the Movies: Cannes Film Festival 2012 (2012)

Soundtracks
Dosruk
Written and Performed by Carl Stone
Used with permission of Electro-Acoustic Music (ASCAP)

User reviews504

Review

Featured review

Even Crooks Are Hit by the Poor Economy

Killing Them Softly (2012)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Three idiot, wannabe thieves rob a mob run cards game and make off with a ton of cash. Then Jackie (Brad Pitt), a hit-man, is called in to figure out who was behind the robbery and to take care of them. KILLING THEM SOFTLY is being called by many a masterpiece and by many others as one of the worst films of the year. I think most people are really going to hate this film because it's just so different from other stuff out there but I'm going to fall somewhere in the middle of the two groups. While I enjoyed the style and the performances, at the same time the film just takes way too long to really get to where it's going and there are some other questionable things that I'll comment on in a bit. What I did like about the picture is that it's pretty brutal and ugly in regards to its violence and characters. The film really doesn't show any of the characters in a good light as the "good" guys are bad and the bad guys are really bad. There's never an attempt to make you connect with these people or enjoy what they're doing. The film also benefits from some wonderful characters actors. Pitt, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendlesohn and Ray Liotta all fit their roles nicely and deliver very good performances. This is especially true of Gandolfini and Liotta. The problem with the picture is that it just has way too many moments where things seem to really get dragged out. Another major problem is that the film tries to be too much like Tarantino. The scenes early one with the two thieves talking dirty about a wide variety of objects is just going to remind people of PULP FICTION. The dialogue here offers up some funny stories but it's not good enough to really grab one and bring them into the picture. KILLING THEM SOFTLY certainly has a unique look and feel to it but in the end it adds up to very little. The Bush-Obama bits of dialogue thrown in throughout the movie also add up to a big nothing, although I'm guessing the point was that even low-life criminals have bit hurt by the economy.