KISS OF DEATH (REMAKE) (1995)

Directed By: Barbet Schroeder
Written By: Richard Price
Story By: Eleazer Lipsky
Based On The Original Film Written By: Ben Hecht & Charles Lederer
Cinematography By: Luciano Tovoli
Editor: Lee Percy

CAST: Samuel L. Jackson, David Caruso, Helen Hunt, Kathryn Erbe, Michael Rapaport, Nicholas Cage, Stanley Tucci, Ving Rhames, Paul Caledron, Jay O. Sanders, Philip Baker Hall, Anthony Heald, Kevin Corrigan, Anne Meara, Hope Davis

The film is about a ex-con who ends up going to jail for a crime he tried to help his cousin with. while in prison his wife is killed and he decides to help the feds by going undercover to catch the boss who he did the job for but as usual complications rise and a lot of dirty dealing and double crosses.

This was one of the most exciting trailers I had seen at the time. So I anxiously wanted to see this film though it didn’t live up to the trailer I enjoyed it none the less.

Coming on the heels of PULP FICTION at the time it came out it borrows heavily from that film. The quirks and at least three cast members that make it feel like a sort of Pulp fiction redux at times. Which beat many of the imposters that started to be made for years afterward.

None of the characters feel realistic in this film. They feel like movie characters, Normally this would be ok but when you are trying to look gritty and truthful it doesn’t at all it looks like a polished production. I would go as so far as to say it feels like a LAW & ORDER episode come to life the locations and the plot are reminiscent only this time it focuses more on the criminal side of the equation.

The cast is great with the characters and there quirks. Nicholas Cage gives one of his best performances as kind of a comic book villain sequel gangster in a realistic world with all his bulked up muscle. It shows a certain dedication to the role. David Caruso is a consummately good actor whose personal life and attitude may have cost him film roles before he got NYPD BLUE he was a dependable character actor then after he decided to leave the show at it’s height of popularity to be a movie theater. It was a bad decision that he seemed to keep getting punished for and hurt his career until he got another hit TV series. Before he would pop up here and there in various films this was one of his first starring roles that was a hit that made him decide to leave the show. But here he proves he has what it takes to play a lead.

This was the first Stanley Tucci Performance I remember vividly. It made me really notice and pay attention to him as an actor.

This film feels like a graphic novel version of a gritty pulp thriller. It’s too colorful and gloss to be a true down and dirty tale. Though it surprisingly funny in a lot of scenes intentionally. It has scenes of Nicholas cage bench pressing strippers and Samuel l. Jackson as a FBI agent with a constantly tearing eye. But it is a fun film that is never boring. Though he does get over his dead wife rather quick.

A Satisfying Rental

GRADE: C+