Director – Jon Avnet
Screenplay – Russel Gewirtz
Plot
David “Rooster” Frisk(Al Pacino) and Tom “Turk” Cowan(Robert De Niro) are 2 Veteran New York City Police Officers who are investigating a case where a mysterious killer is targeting criminals who have been acquitted by the court due to legal loopholes.
The modus operand is to kill the criminals leaving no clues except a 4 line poetry on a piece of paper. The story is told in a series of flashbacks where Turk is shown as confessing to the murders in front of a CCTV Camera. All clues seem to lead to Turk and the police officers are not to keen to frame him but when duty calls, Rooster is asked to keep a close eye on him.
Critic’s Comments
When you have the two of the world’s best actor paired together, you cant expect anything less than a brilliant film with fantastic acting. In the Godfather -2 , Pacino and DeNiro didn’t share any screen space. In 1995’s Heat, they shared just 8-9 minute of screen time together although the movie was a constant cat and mouse chase between them. The director, ensures, that in righteous kill, both get maximum coverage together. Pacino and DeNiro, for all practical purposes, are there together in nearly 80% of the movie. So one tends to give the story line a miss. However, as mentioned earlier, one cant expect a weak story line considering the actors in concern. The movie would have been perfect had it been for any other actors, but one feels, that Pacino and DeNiro could have been given a much more respectable script. Anyone who is a hard core movie buff will figure what is going to happen in the climax within the first 15 minutes. Still, watch it on the big screen, because this might be the last time we’ll get to see the 2 stars together.
*Psst –
1) Movie was made on a budget of $60 million and grossed $16.2 million in the opening weekend.
2) It was shot in only 2 months time. Post Production took almost a year.
3) The original movie was supposed to be a story based on a Rookie and a Veteran cop. De Niro was chosen to play the part of the Veteran Cop. The second character was changed to another Veteran Cop after De Niro strongly recommended Al Pacino’s name as the co-star.
4) A real life cop was always present on the sets to provide inputs for the movie.
Quotes
1) “You pick up a cheque, that’ll be a miracle.”
2) “She got my sperm level so low, I have to sit and pi$$.”
3) “PMS, let it be.”
4) “You don’t become a cop because you want to serve and protect. You join the force because they let you carry a gun and a badge. You do it
because you get respect.
5) “Most people respect the badge. Everyone respects the gun.”
6) “Nothing wrong with a little shooting, as long as the right people get shot.”
*Oops-
None that I could notice.*