Righteous Kill pairs two cinematic icons whose previous screen collaboration; Michael Mann's 1995 Heat; was absolutely electrifying despite minimal time together in a long movie. Now in their mid-60s; De Niro and Pacino are playing veteran cops who; despite being grizzled; should look much younger than these actors. The incongruent casting makes the dark story improbable from the get-go; and things get worse as dialogue by screenwriter Russell Gurwitz quickly sounds like a parody of vintage cop movie cliches. It's a strain to find anything that works. The two leads play longtime detectives and partners whose weariness with rapists; murderers; pedophiles and other villains appears linked to the acts of a serial killer taking out bad guys who got away with heinous crimes. A videotape confession by De Niro's tightly-coiled Turk--who has been seeking the killer with Pacino's Rooster--would seem to establish his ties to the events. But the movie isn't over until it's over; assuming one is still with the movie after plodding along with its facsimile of noir conviction. Director Jon Avnet never gets a handle on Righteous Kill's gritty heart; superficially pushing suspense along with heavy-handed editing; and adding unpersuasive sauce in the form of Turk's somewhat S&M sexual relationship with a female cop (Carla Gugino). Giving the proceedings sort of a boost are Donnie Wahlberg and John Leguizamo as a younger pair of sleuths working the same case. This could easily have been a better movie with those two in the leads. --Tom Keogh