From the look of the trailer alone, I thought that this was going to be a typical mob movie, given the fact that you had Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini & Ray Liotta all starring; it was going to be something great; action-filled and much in-depth. Brad Pitt has always been notably good in 4^th quarter movies, so this one wasn’t coming to any surprise to see that he would pull this one off as well.

This wasn’t what I expected, but it wasn’t a disappointment because there was a message behind it – The Economy. The Recession has affected a lot of people of all tax brackets and socio-economic statuses. People are not paying as much, people aren’t buying as much, so things have been slow, and when things are slow, and things can turn ugly because people are trying to make a dollar faster because their dollars are fading faster than they can collect them. Life is like a business because there’s constant buying and selling. Everything works within that same context, so this movie brought that ideal to perspective.

The movie is set in 2008, which was the ending of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Presidential elections (we all know who won, so that’s no spoiler). The Economy is the worst it’s been in decades and why? Well, when you have a couple of Wars going on in the Middle East, which can really affect you. Throw in the Katrina disaster and continuing recovery efforts and you have yourself quite the doozie of an economy. Bush messed it up; Obama was elected to clean it. In this movie, there’s a mess that was started, and someone has to be brought in to clean up. Sound bites throughout the movie help drive the story because it’s more than just what’s happening in the movie itself, it’s the subtle messages about how it runs in parallel to the American lifestyle in that world 4 years ago. It was a struggle, and there was a need for redemption. So, what are you supposed to do? You hire the best man possible who sees it their way to ensure that the best possible job gets done.

Ray Liotta & James Gandolfini had their roles, but I thought they would be much bigger. This movie was more focused on Brad Pitt’s character and how he was the reliable one to go around take some names and make problems disappear. He had a good role, not particularly one of his best, but his calm, cool and still bad-guy aura was effective and suitable for the movie. This had great direction, and the soundtrack blended in well. There’s a mere mystery around this movie that would probably take more than one watch to get, but its overall message is broad and crystal clear. A good movie that you should check out, for real. But, this is my opinion & my review

That’s My Word & It STiXX