I chose to see this movie after reading the IMDb reviews and I'm happy that I made that choice. Against the backdrop of a failing economy and towards a presidential election in the state of New Orleans, the film briefly explores the mob-psychology in a penny-pinching situation. The acting by the lead as well as the supporting actors are good. Brad Pitt highly excels in the 'professional enforcer' character. His philosophy that he does not like his victims to die in sheer pain (and hence the implied meaning in the film title) and would take them down by sheer surprise is indeed rare in professional enforcers. That also defines his working style as such. The character played by Richard Jenkins (actually a 'no name' character) called 'Driver' is equally matching Brad's wits in their conversations ('as long as things are with-in budget'; 'decisions are being taken by a committee / board' etc.). Ray's role demonstrates that in the mob-world, once a sin is committed against them and is also owned by, it follows them to their grave.
Given all the above, I found that Gandolfini's character occupied too much screen time for nothing. His interaction with Brad was going on and on on a topic (failing marriage, hooker-stuff etc.) was simply unrelated to the story that was going on. I wonder how Andrew let this happen as part of his screenplay. That's the only flaw that I noticed in the film.
Coming to Direction, Andrew Dominik managed to deliver goods by making sure that the viewers are hooked for the full film for its crispy narration. Just when I thought that the film is going somewhere, it actually finished!!. But, it was nice to have done that way!. Kudos Dominik, well done!!!.
My rating for the movie is a 7 out of 10. Regards, Ganesh.
Given all the above, I found that Gandolfini's character occupied too much screen time for nothing. His interaction with Brad was going on and on on a topic (failing marriage, hooker-stuff etc.) was simply unrelated to the story that was going on. I wonder how Andrew let this happen as part of his screenplay. That's the only flaw that I noticed in the film.
Coming to Direction, Andrew Dominik managed to deliver goods by making sure that the viewers are hooked for the full film for its crispy narration. Just when I thought that the film is going somewhere, it actually finished!!. But, it was nice to have done that way!. Kudos Dominik, well done!!!.
My rating for the movie is a 7 out of 10. Regards, Ganesh.