We’ve been watching the trailer for Righteous Kill for months now. And while we’re certainly excited for the re-pairing of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, we have to admit that the movie looks pretty bad. With its blatant reaches for Martin Scorsese, the trailer feels like one of those rote early 90s thrillers that Bruce Willis would have starred in.
More striking though is the seeming predictability of the entire plot. We feel like we’ve seen this whole movie, and we’ve only watched like a minute! Ie, one of the principal cast members is the real killer. Duh.
Should you decide to see Righteous Kill this weekend, we wanted to make it easy for you to figure out the big mystery. Odds on who the killer is, below:
Carla Gugino
Ms. Gugino plays Mr. De Niro’s girlfriend in the film. The female stars never get killed in these thrillers. Rather, they get taken hostage by the actual killer, setting the third act in motion.
Odds: 35/1
Robert De Niro
There is no chance that it’s Mr. De Niro. His character is described as "pit bull on crack," so you know he’s a loose cannon, and he was seen antagonizing at least one of the victims. He probably has skeletons in his closet too, stemming from a botched shooting earlier in his career. That’s just too many red herrings! Plus, Mr. De Niro gets top billing on the poster and you don’t give the killer top billing.
Odds: 20/1
John Leguizamo/Donnie Wahlberg
On the surface it seems like one of them could easily end up being the killer. They’re both not really famous, but they’re just famous enough, to cause the audience to gasp in faux surprise. Who are we kidding? They’ll both get killed before the credits roll.
Odds: 7/2
Al Pacino
The trailer so clearly telegraphs Al Pacino is the killer that it might as well stop in the middle and cut to a title card that reads, "Al Pacino is the bad guy!" We bet Mr. De Niro won’t even kill his partner, instead choosing to frame someone else to protect his lifelong friend. It’ll make the entire movie so ethically murky!
Nah, on second thought, Mr. De Niro will probably kill Mr. Pacino. They do have a score to settle after Heat.
Odds: Even
