Dinesh Kamath's column on Hollywood movie 'Killing Them Softly' that was published in Newsband

Killing Them Softly is an American crime film directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Brad Pitt, based on the 1974 novel Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins. On May 22, 2012, the film premiered in competition for the Palme d'Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, receiving positive early reviews.

The movie has a great story. Adapted from George V. Higgins' novel and set in New Orleans, Killing Them Softly follows professional enforcer Jackie Cogan (Pitt), who investigates a heist that occurs during a high stakes, mob-protected poker game. The film also features Scoot McNairy (Monsters), Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom), Ray Liotta (GoodFellas), Richard Jenkins (The Visitor), with James Gandolfini (The Sopranos), Vincent Curatola, Max Casella, and Sam Shepard, among others.

The film has Brad Pitt as Jackie Cogan, Richard Jenkins as Driver, James Gandolfini as Mickey, Ray Liotta as Markie Trattman, Scoot McNairy as Frankie, Ben Mendelsohn as Russell, Sam Shepard as Dillon, Slaine as Kenny Gill, Bella Heathcote, Vincent Curatola as Johnny Amato, Linara Washington and Garret Dillahunt as Eddie Mattie.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a "fresh" rating of 95% based on reviews from 37 critics, and reports a rating average of 7.7 out of 10. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 77% based on 7 reviews.

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 5 stars saying the film is a "compelling comment on economic bloodletting in the real world". Tim Robey of The Daily Telegraph gave the film 4 stars describing it as "bleakly electrifying". Total Film awarded it 3 stars calling it "tough, stylish, violent and studded with stars" but countered that it "doesn’t quite get the job done". Den Of Geek called the film "another great achievement from an astoundingly talented director and one of our last remaining true movie stars" and gave it 4 stars. New In Cinema also awarded it 4 stars stating that Killing Them Softly is "a towering achievement and one of the finest films of 2012 so far". WhatCulture called the film "unsubtle" but gave it it 3 and a half star review describing it as "often entertaining but also frustrating".

This killer, Cogan – played by Brad Pitt – is relaxed and talkative; he is craggy, leonine, casual and imperious; absolutely on top of his game, but with a flaw. He cannot kill anyone he's met, and hates to kill up close, squeamish about them begging for mercy. So he has to murder at a distance; it's what he calls "killing them softly"

Cogan is part antihero, part choric observer, terrifically acted by Pitt in this compelling movie from Andrew Dominik, the director who made Chopper (2000) and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007). He has adapted the 1974 crime novel Cogan's Trade by George V Higgins and updated it to the America of 2008, the era of financial meltdown and political changeover.

The drama is thrillingly and casually pessimistic, a world of weary tough guys complaining about having to clear up the mess left by other screw-ups, and for less money than they'd hoped for. This is a stiflingly and reekingly unhappy male world.

The political dimension comes in two parts. In 2008, US taxpayers were asked to bail out banks for the sake of confidence and prestige, and these taxpayers also had to tighten their belts. Here, local wiseguy Markie (Ray Liotta) has to be whacked for robbing some other wiseguys' poker game: he didn't do it, but someone has to be seen to get killed for the sake of confidence and prestige, and hitmen have to accept a reduced fee in the economic climate.

Cogan is contracted by an anonymous apparatchik played by Richard Jenkins, whose own criminal superiors are as cautious as any of the suits in corporate America: their paralysis is another symptom of the economic times. The robbery was actually done by two ridiculous jerks, Frankie and Russell, superbly played by Scoot McNairy and Ben Mendelsohn, whose boss must also now be whacked: this is Johnny "Squirrel" Amato, played by Vincent Curatola. But Cogan subcontracts this wet job, and here is where Dominik shows how Cogan is guilty of sentimental incompetence. He gives the work to his old friend Mickey, hilariously played by James Gandolfini, who to Cogan's polite dismay, shows himself to be nowadays unequal to the task of contract killing: a heavy drinker and prostitute addict who is morosely in unrequited love with one of the girls he despises. Mickey exhibits the undignified emotions Cogan hates in his own victims.

There are some high impact scenes – the poker game bust is taut and unpredictable and the scene where Ray Liotta is pummelled to a vomiting, pulpy mess is bloody, vicious, relentless, and so good.

Thus Killing Them Softly proves that criminals are not romantic desperados who go outside the law to get what they want. They are ruthless, greedy, stupid people who get themselves into a progressively worsening, violent mess. So do watch the film when it gets released on 5 October 2012.