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I'm not sure what people are looking for nowadays, but from reading the reviews of this excellent movie, I fear it is some sort of escapist garbage: Killing Them Softly was one of those crime movies that just seems like a slice of real life just slightly above the gutter. I didn't know it was based on a George Higgans novel, either, and I was thinking while watching it that I hadn't seen a crime movie this good since 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle,' only to find out that both movies were based on books by the same author.

I just got sucked in, the tension was great and interrupted periodically by the dark humor that is so typical of lowlife criminals and junkies. I hope we start getting more like this, more realism in our crime movies, as this one grabbed me from start to finish.

I was a bit stunned by just how much *better* this movie was than the previous Matt Damon movie. This one held me in suspense throughout. And Malkovich pretty much owned the role. He played such a great, icey- stared killer throughout.

I had just gotten through seeing another couple of fine movies--well, one was a series, the 'The Bridge', and the other was the original version of 'The Killing', both such great flicks that I was looking for another 'crime' series, and somehow reminded myself of 'Ripley's Game,' and wondered how come it never seems to make any of these 'lists.'

Without doing the spoiler, I can just say that this one has it all, from Ray Winstone, playing an old crimey pal from Ripley's 'bad old days,' to Russian Mobsters being all violent and mercieless, to the 'good guy' and neighbor who ticked Ripley off, but who he came to befriend....luckily for the neighbor.

Ripley is throughout a very competent man, completely in control, while the neighbor just sort of stumbles through his tasks until Ripley, well, I can't say more, but even watching this for the 3rd or 4th time, I put this movie up there with a couple of my other American favorites: 'The Departed', and 'Heat.'

So if you like those two, and want a movie that you might have missed....well, see 'Ripley's Game' with John Malkovich and Ray Winstone, and you'll be glad you did!