Book Summary: Killing Them Softly

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Killing Me Slowly Killing Them Softly was released in 2012 with a spectacularly skilled cast whose talents seem mostly wasted on depthless characters doing boring mob work. It may play well as a “mob flick," but brings little to the table for those outside the fandom who are expecting a more well-rounded experience. Killing Them Softly tells the tale of small time criminal 'Squirrel' (Vincent Curatola), who hatches a plan to rob a mafia card game. He plans to get away clean by pinning the deed on another mobster, Trattman (Ray Liotta), who robbed his own game four years prior and then admitted it; he received no punishment because “everybody likes him.” Squirrel hires two losers to handle the details of the robbery. The deed goes off as planned…show more content…
That's the point, of course; these are mobsters – dangerous and ugly men doing dangerous and ugly work. But then that's a betrayal for a paying audience; who wants to watch someone else doing their job? And that's, unfortunately, what the story centers around: two guys are hired for a job which concludes, and another guy is hired for a job which concludes. Very little satisfying happens in between or in the brief denouement. Jackie serves as an everyman power fantasy: the lone competent paddling confidently against a storm of idiocy. His work is revolting, but handled coolly and professionally. Mickey (James Gandolfini), turns in an excellent performance of a hitman who no longer has it in him. He's somewhat sympathetic up until his self-deprecating and disgusting lamentations have exhausted the viewer's patience. One might contend this is a character piece; after all, Jackie's ability to reduce people down to quirks and motivations is what makes him good at his job. However, that's useful for Jackie alone within the story. The audience is not given enough from any of the characters to explore their depths or tease out interesting motivations. It comes back to ugly mobsters just doing ugly things for
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