Crime thriller starring Brad Pitt and Ray Liotta. A couple of small-time hoods make the mistake of robbing a high-stakes card game run by the local mob and throw the underground economy into crisis. A hitman is brought in to settle the score and put the Mafia back in the black.
The foul-mouthed spirit of David Mamet hangs heavy over this modern-day crime drama set during the Bush-Obama handover in 2008. It begins with two petty criminals, Scoot McNairy (Monsters) and Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom), being briefed by a small-time mobster on a job that involves holding up a high-stakes poker game run by local bigshot Ray Liotta. But then the victims of the stick-up bring in enforcer Brad Pitt to hunt down the dim-witted culprits. Pitt is terrific as the cold-blooded but practical gunman, and his effortlessly cool, world-weary presence makes up for the film's shortcomings, despite his relatively late entry into the proceedings. Otherwise, this a talky and heavy-handed comment on post-financial crisis USA that fails to add anything new to the gangster genre, and is only saved from earnest preaching by a raucous turn from James Gandolfini as a drunk, womanising and ultimately incompetent hitman, and some well-executed, gripping set pieces.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Jackie Cogan | Brad Pitt |
| Markie Trattman | Ray Liotta |
| Frankie | Scoot McNairy |
| Russell | Ben Mendelsohn |
| Driver | Richard Jenkins |
| Mickey | James Gandolfini |
| Johnny Amato | Vincent Curatola |
| Kenny Gill | Slaine |
| Barry Caprio | Max Casella |
| Steve Caprio | Trevor Long |
| Dillon | Sam Shepard |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Andrew Dominik |
