Killing Them Softly has a heavy hand

Killing Them Softly writer-director Andrew Dominik (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford) has said he sought to bring out the relevance of George V. Higgins’s 1974 novel Cogan’s Trade about the criminal underworld by setting it in the late ’00s, a period when the U.S. economy was tanking.

This point is delivered relentlessly throughout the bleak film as Dominik incorporates footage of the speeches George W. Bush made to calm the American public. Dominik also includes clips of Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, talking about things that needed to be done to fix the economy. Okay, we get it. The economy was crumbling and even the gangsters and criminals had lower their prices and rethink their business strategies. The film’s message is delivered with such deliberation that it’s a bit off-putting.

The film’s plot involving a gamble made by Johnny Amato (Vincent Curatola) serves as one big metaphor. Johnny takes a risk and sends two lowlifes (Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn) to rob a high-profile card game. He bets that everyone will think Markie (Ray Liotta), the culprit behind a similar heist, will get the blame for it and his guys can weasel out of the deal and split the profits. But when that doesn’t happen, the mob sends out hit man Jackie Cogan (Brad Pitt), a thug with a sensitive side (he says he likes to “kill them softly”), who, in turn, enlists Mickey (The Sopranos’ James Gandolfini) to help him take care of the dirty work.

There’s certain grittiness to the film that distinguishes from other, like-minded heist films. It’s also populated with extremely capable actors, set to a thoughtful soundtrack and artfully shot.  But, even though the film only clocks in at 90 minutes, the pacing is rather sluggish and in the end it offers few surprises. And when characters say things like “America is a business,” they speak too directly to the heavy-handed theme.