Adam 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2005 It opened here Thursday. I could have downloaded it months ago, and I'm so glad I waited. It was fucking fantastic. Mickey Rourke and Bruce Willis were both amazing, Jessica Alba was gorgeous, and very good. Carla Gugino was a top rack. ****1/2 for me. Just incredible, I'll buy it on DVD and I'll try and track down some of the comics. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
spiny norman 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2005 I saw it this afternoon. It was visually fantastic, but the storyline/dialogue was God-awful. I'd need to see it a second time to appreciate it visually and know to ignore the cliche of a lot of the action. Josh Hartnett's part was, in my opinion, ridiculous and unecessary. The only use of it was giving that fantastic zooming out on the opening scene through the city that led to the opening title. I have no problem with him as an actor, but I don't see why so many people raved about him in here. He had all of, what, six lines? All of the supporting comic relief characters (namely those with the illusions of eloquence and the Arrow Guy) were fantastic. Mickey Rourke was surprisingly quite good too, considering how terrible he always is. It was his best moment in film, I would say. It did feel overly long. Knowing that there were three stories, I thought it would all be over with Owen's story done, looked at my watch and realised we were only 70 minutes in and they were going to continue with Willis'. I think had they expanded two storylines rather than cram in three it would not have felt as long as it did. Anyway, regardless of my criticism, it is one of the most visually fantastic films I have ever seen and is the best cinematography I've seen in a film all year. Though not the best movie (that would go to the German film The Downfall which was utterly amazing). Very good but flawed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ArkhamGlobe 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2005 It opened about two weeks ago in Sweden, so I went and saw it then. Lots of fun, though by no means flawless. What I found most interesting was the way it treated the genre, I believe Frank Miller has stated that he feels film noir is less a genre than a state of mind, which I'd actually be inclined to agree with. It felt like every minute detail of every shot was rigorously designed to enhance the doom-laden fatalism inherent in most film noir, almost rendering the more stock-like situations into near abstracts. Well cast too, Mickey Rourke and Clive Owen in particular (Owen was born to play noir antiheroes). As for the negatives, I agree with spiny norman that the film felt overextended, and besides that, something just felt off. Despite all the work to capture the essentials of the mood of film noir, it felt too... I don't know... laboured? In any event, it failed to capture the genuine sadness and danger in films like You Only Live Once, Kiss Me Deadly or the first couple of episodes from the first season of 24 for that matter. Again, a lot of fun, but I felt somewhat disappointed as I felt the film could have been so much more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cabbageboy 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2005 Kiss Me Deadly is a movie that Europeans must like more than Americans. I remember seeing it a couple times and wondering what all the fuss was about. Just wondering but how could these stories be expanded? The 3 stories were filmed almost page for page, so there really isn't much from the books that could be added. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ted the Poster 0 Report post Posted July 17, 2005 It really is nearly impossible to truly appreciate the film without reading the books. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest JMA Report post Posted July 17, 2005 I can't wait to buy this on DVD. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
