Righteous Kill

Two veteran New York cops (Robert De Niro, Al Pacino) investigate a serial killer who is targeting criminals who avoided paying for their crimes—meanwhile, flash-forward scenes suggest that one of the cops is himself the culprit. Written by Russell Gewirtz and directed by Jon Avnet, the movie’s sturdy cast includes Brian Dennehy as the cops’ supervisor, Carla Gugino as a kinky co-worker and John Leguizamo and Donnie Wahlberg as fellow detectives. Even so, make no mistake, De Niro and Pacino are the big draw here; if the movie starred Al Schwartz and Robert Greenblatt, it would hardly be worth watching. But whatever the movie’s flaws, it gives these old pros the opportunity, at long last, to actually work together (Michael Mann’s Heat was a real cheat on that score), and the two stars deliver the goods.