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Kill Me AgainRating:
Release Date: 19 December, 2000 Retail Price: $14.95 OUR Price: $13.46 You SAVE: $1.49! Cast: Complete Cast (7 total) |
Kill Me Again Reviews
Kilmer again
Well,they ain't exactly the Lunts, but the husband-and-wife acting team of Val and Joanne-Whalley Kilmer sure do make a purty pair in this irony-drenched thriller. "Kill Me Again" is 1/3 of a modern "neo-noir" triptych of sorts by director John Dahl, who seems to have a thing for brunettes who are very bad girls (a weakness I share with Mr. Dahl). Mrs. Kilmer is the brunette fatale in this outing, hiring down-on-his luck P.I. (are there any other kind in film noir?) Val to help her fake her own "death" for some typically complex reasons one often finds in this genre. The usual twists and turns ensue, with the expected Great American West backdrop. Michael Madsen tackles the role of the double-crossed boyfriend with his patented Psychotic Elvis routine. Arguably the weakest entry in Dahl's aforementioned triad ("Red Rock West" and "The Last Seduction" being the other two) but still quite entertaining if you're in a noirish mood.
Doesn't matter, I'm gonna kill you anyway
Considered from the "outer" point of view, this is a pretty good movie. Well-developed, uniquely-identified, memorable characters; excellent acting by all; crisp, often amusing, dialogue; well-plotted and paced with surprising twists and turns, and a surprising climax. The haunting background music (William Olvis) alone is worth the seeing the movie for.
But it is on the "inner" level that this movie really struck at me. It is set in Nevada (Winnemucca, Reno, Vegas, Overton - "Where's that?" "It's up by Lake Mead") where I lived for many years. [For those of you who have read much spiritual/metaphysical literature, it is no coincidence that the national mecca of "vice" is a "desert experience". This remark is NOT a put-down of Nevada - amidst such sharp natural beauty, our dilemma is sharply drawn there - and that's a plus.]
Somehow the dark, horrifically-empty aspect of modern American life - which is itself especially starkly on view in NV - is precisely nailed by this film. The film might aptly be subtitled - "The Illusion of Love in a Dead Culture like ours". Yes, outwardly, it's about the astonishing betrayals and cruelty everybody - good or bad - will go through to get their hands on the attache case with the mob's money. But inwardly it's about the search for a love that has sunk irretrievably below the surface of one of Nevada's beautiful lakes. If you think this fanciful, tell me this: why, as the winner finally leaves Nevada with the money, was "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" - so movingly sung, torch-style - selected for the final credits? It was, rather, tears that were getting in mine!
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