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This gangster flick with a stellar cast tries for a high degree of originality, but its characters (except for Brad) are goofballs who neither inspire respect nor are humorously cool. And the dialogue is dull and unfocused (except for Brad’s last line). The most interesting thing about the film is the underscoring of the story about a gang of petty criminals with lines from televised speeches by George W. Bush and Barrack Obama about how great America is and will be. The visual gags and slow motion give the film the mark of exclusivity, but they’re nothing new and, frankly, they are better suited to The Avengers. A camera mounted on a car door, mirroring its opening and closing motion, had already been done by Tarantino (and God knows where he stole it from). The playful shifts in the narrative are pleasing, but in retrospect they seem gratuitous (Gandolfini’s character and his importance in the story), and in the climax they still lead to the resolution that we assume just from looking at the film’s poster. (25.04.2020)

A solid gangster movie. It’s not boring, but I can’t say it’s anything extraordinary. I didn’t get to know enough about any of the characters to really care for them, and it seems that a character that is introduced at the beginning doesn’t appear until the end just to kill someone. Given that in the end they stick a couple of minutes with some sort of message, my complaint could be disregarded by the fact that it’s clearly intentional. But come on! For me, nothing to write home about, no matter how I look at it. Points for the slow-motion shootout in the rain and the scene with the stoned dialogue. Otherwise, the most interesting thing about this film are the elegant posters. (30.12.2012)

It’s a bit boring, but you still get the bad boy Brad Pitt, who’ll get his head spinning trying to solve a pretty complicated case. Anyways, since the story isn’t that interesting, at least the setting is. It’s been a long time, if ever, since I saw a movie dealing with a financial crisis as urgently as this one does. But I guess it really works this way with thieves. I guess it was supposed to mean that since people don’t have much money in a crisis, people buy much less and the loot isn’t worth much, either. The score certainly wasn’t great here, which the thieves got to understand pretty quickly. (10.10.2014)

Modern-day realism in an old-school blazer. Dominik changes the rules of storytelling, while also balancing the human and political angles. Bush and Obama are depicted often as ridiculous figures thanks to their speeches about unity and faith in the stars and stripes in this game dominated by Pitt’s Cogan. The actors are perfect, the message short and sharp. Everything stands on the last few lines. America is not a country, it’s a business. Now fucking pay me. (02.01.2013)

Rebellious to the core, incredibly polished, skillfully directed, with a mature script. The story may be trivial, but the political subtext is harsh and uncompromising, just like the brawls and wide-open violence. After a long time, a gangster film with guts, which knows what it wants to say and literally screams it to the world. (06.07.2013)