The film stars Robert De Niro and Al Pacino as New York City Police Department detectives on the hunt for a serial killer.

Police psychologists review video recordings of a man who goes by the nickname Turk, who states that his full name is Detective David Fisk, the "Poetry Boy" killer.

Poetry Boy assaults an intended fourteenth victim, Russian mobster Yevgeny Magulat (who survives), and shoots at Perez's house and rapes Corelli.

Rooster lost his faith in the justice system when Turk, whom he admired, planted a gun at the house of an acquitted child molester and murderer named Charles Randall, convicting him.

The website's consensus reads: "Al Pacino and Robert De Niro do their best to elevate this dowdy genre exercise, but even these two greats can't resuscitate the film's hackneyed script.

"[7] Al Pacino and Robert De Niro do their best to elevate this dowdy genre exercise, but even these two greats can't resuscitate the film's hackneyed script.

"[8] Ken Fox of TV Guide also gave Righteous Kill a score of two stars out of four, saying, "The entire movie is one big build-up to a twist that, while not exactly cheating, plays an awfully cheap trick.

To get there, writer Russel Gewirtz and director John Avnet sacrifice mystery, suspense, sensible editing and everything else one expects to find in a police thriller just to keep the audience off-guard.

"[9] Claudia Puig of USA Today gave the film one-and-a-half stars out of four, saying, "By the time the movie reaches its protracted conclusion, it feels like a slog.

"[10] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave Righteous Kill one star out of four, saying, "Some people think Robert De Niro and Al Pacino would be a kick to watch just reading a phone book.

"[11] However, Tim Evans for Sky Movies remarked that the film was "... an effective whodunnit but—more importantly—it poses refined, complex questions about how the law operates in a so-called civilised society.