Killing Them Softly

That buzzing sound you hear in the background, the one that takes up nearly every available second of soundtrack that isn't already populated by the wisecracks of this or that gun-packing scofflaw, is the sound of 2008's financial meltdown. Wall Street types and George W. Bush and news reports and the Obama campaign all weigh in on endless TV reports about the sinking of the American economy as an underworld operetta about crime and punishment plays out amidst point-of-impact violence (none of these guys chill with repeats of Friends in between killings or shaking down people for protection cash; they're all very concerned with the news cycle). And that clanking noise accompanying the buzzing sound is the film hitting you over the head with its heavy message again and again and again. Here it is: the government and the financial sector is a brutal business full of criminals just like the mob and the mob has turned corporate and we're all doomed and you're all on your own and you might as well let James Gandolfini shoot you in the face.click here for full review