# Righteous Kill
**Righteous Kill** is a 2008 American crime thriller directed by Jon Avnet and written by Russell Gewirtz, starring [Robert De Niro](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-de-niro) and [Al Pacino](https://www.edgepedia.org/al-pacino) as Turk and Rooster, two New York City police detectives nearing the end of a 30-year partnership who investigate a vigilante serial killer.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/28/thriller.actionandadventure) • [2](https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/righteous-kill-stumbles-through-story-220346.php) It was the third film in which the two actors appeared together, after *The Godfather Part II* (1974), in which they shared no scenes, and *Heat* (1995).[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/28/thriller.actionandadventure) • [3](https://www.screendaily.com/righteous-kill/4040793.article)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | September 12, 2008 (wide, United States), by Overture Films; earliest release September 10, 2008 (Philippines)[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Righteous-Kill) • [5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1034331/credits/) |
| Director / writer | Jon Avnet; screenplay by Russell Gewirtz (*Inside Man*)[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64739-RIGHTEOUS-KILL) |
| Leads | Robert De Niro as Turk (Thomas Cowan) and Al Pacino as Rooster (David Fisk), 30-year NYPD partners[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/righteous_kill) |
| Running time / rating | 110 minutes; MPAA R for violence, pervasive language, some sexuality and brief drug use[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Righteous-Kill) |
| Budget and financing | $60 million, financed by Nu Image/Millennium and Emmett/Furla; Overture acquired US rights for $12 million[8](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2008-2/righteous-kill/) |
| Box office | $40,081,410 domestic, $38,400,000 international, $78,481,410 worldwide against the $60 million budget[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Righteous-Kill) |
| Critical reception | 18% on the Tomatometer (145 reviews) and 37% on the Popcornmeter; Metascore 36 from 27 critic reviews[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/righteous_kill) • [9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/righteous-kill/) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The story follows a serial murderer in Manhattan who targets violent felons that have fallen through the cracks of the judicial system. Each victim is a suspected criminal whose body is found accompanied by a four-line poem justifying the killing; the killer's stated mission is to take bad guys off the streets when the police cannot.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/righteous-kill/) The targets include figures such as a priest who abused altar boys and a child rapist who beat the rap.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/28/thriller.actionandadventure)
Detectives Thomas Cowan (De Niro) and David Fisk (Pacino) investigate the murder of a pimp that resembles a case they solved many years earlier. As the body count rises, they realize a vigilante is taking over where the police fail, and the similarities between past and present crimes lead them to wonder whether they put the wrong man behind bars.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/righteous_kill) The film implicates one of the two partners immediately through a videotaped confession, then leads viewers through red herrings and misdirection that put the admission in doubt.[2](https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/righteous-kill-stumbles-through-story-220346.php)
## Cast and production
[Carla Gugino](https://www.edgepedia.org/carla-gugino) plays Karen Corelli, a crime scene specialist; 50 Cent (Curtis Jackson) plays Spider; [John Leguizamo](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-leguizamo) and [Donnie Wahlberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/donnie-wahlberg) play a rival detective team, Det. Simon Perez and Det. Ted Riley; and Brian Dennehy plays the detectives' boss, Hingis.[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64739-RIGHTEOUS-KILL) • [2](https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/righteous-kill-stumbles-through-story-220346.php) The supporting cast also includes Melissa Leo and Sterling K. Brown.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/righteous-kill/)
The film was produced by Millennium Films with Avi Lerner, Randall Emmett, Jon Avnet, Rob Cowan, Lati Grobman, Alexandra Milchan, and Daniel M. Rosenberg as producers; Denis Lenoir was cinematographer and Paul Hirsch the editor.[6](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64739-RIGHTEOUS-KILL) Pre-sales began at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, where Lerner promoted the film on the pairing of its two stars.[8](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2008-2/righteous-kill/) [Marketing](https://www.edgepedia.org/marketing) leaned heavily on the actors' shared history, particularly the six-minute diner scene in *Heat* (1995), their first scene together on film.[3](https://www.screendaily.com/righteous-kill/4040793.article) • [10](https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/colcoa-press-2019-part-iii.pdf) Unlike *Heat*, which cast them as adversaries, *Righteous Kill* keeps the two on screen together for virtually the whole film.[8](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2008-2/righteous-kill/) • [11](https://www.blackfilm.com/20070511/features/righteouskillnews.shtml)
## Box office
The film opened in 3,152 theaters with $16,288,361, 40.6 percent of its eventual domestic total, and ranked third for the weekend.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Righteous-Kill) Weekly grosses fell steeply, dropping 54 percent in the second weekend and 70 percent by the fifth, and the run ended after 15 weeks at $40,081,410 domestically.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Righteous-Kill) With international receipts of $38,400,000, the worldwide total of $78,481,410 was about 1.3 times the production budget.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Righteous-Kill) [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo) records a slightly higher worldwide figure of $79,498,846, split $40,081,410 domestic and $39,417,436 international.[5](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1034331/credits/) Estimated domestic DVD sales added $16,873,803 after the January 6, 2009 home video release by Anchor Bay Home Entertainment.[4](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Righteous-Kill)
## Reception
Critical response was negative. Rotten Tomatoes reports an 18 percent Tomatometer from 145 reviews, with a critics consensus that De Niro and Pacino do their best to elevate the film but cannot resuscitate its hackneyed script; audience approval stood at 37 percent from more than 50,000 ratings.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/righteous_kill) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 36 from 27 reviews, categorized as generally unfavorable, with 1 positive, 18 mixed, and 8 negative reviews; the user score was 4.9 out of 10 from 60 ratings.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/righteous-kill/)
Reviewers singled out the script and the predictability of the twist. Manohla Dargis of *The New York Times* called it "a clutter of recycled cop-movie and serial-killer film clichés," and David Denby of *The New Yorker* called the movie "hectic, exhausting, and baffling."[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/righteous-kill/) Justin Chang of *Variety* wrote that the film was content to be a twisty genre exercise without the moral provocations of superior serial-killer thrillers.[12](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034331/criticreviews/) The *Chicago Reader* judged the surprise ending effective but forced.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/righteous_kill) The Guardian's Philip French, while finding the film "slightly ridiculous," noted that De Niro and Pacino were "riveting performers," as was [Brian Dennehy](https://www.edgepedia.org/brian-dennehy) as their boss.[1](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/28/thriller.actionandadventure) The most favorable review tallied by Metacritic, a 70 from *Film Threat*, credited Gewirtz's screenplay with humor and an impressive plot twist.[9](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/righteous-kill/)
## References
1. [Philip French, "Righteous Kill" review, The Guardian / The Observer, 27 September 2008](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/sep/28/thriller.actionandadventure)
2. [Colin Covert, "'Righteous Kill' stumbles through story," News-Times, 12 September 2008](https://www.newstimes.com/news/article/righteous-kill-stumbles-through-story-220346.php)
3. [Brent Simon, "Righteous Kill," Screen Daily, 11 September 2008](https://www.screendaily.com/righteous-kill/4040793.article)
4. [Righteous Kill (2008), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Righteous-Kill)
5. [Righteous Kill (2008), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1034331/credits/)
6. [Righteous Kill (2008), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64739-RIGHTEOUS-KILL)
7. [Righteous Kill, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/righteous_kill)
8. [Righteous Kill (2008), Bomb Report](https://bombreport.com/yearly-breakdowns/2008-2/righteous-kill/)
9. [Righteous Kill Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/righteous-kill/)
10. [COLCOA press materials (2019), on Heat and Righteous Kill](https://theamericanfrenchfilmfestival.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/colcoa-press-2019-part-iii.pdf)
11. [blackfilm.com, "Robert De Niro / Al Pacino news," Cannes, May 2007](https://www.blackfilm.com/20070511/features/righteouskillnews.shtml)
12. [Righteous Kill, Metacritic reviews via IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034331/criticreviews/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Crime, thriller, and mystery films (individual works) › 2005–2009 films › Released 2008 to 2009*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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