Cheap Kill Me Again (DVD) (John Dahl) Price

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Customer Reviews of Kill Me Again

Nouveau noir
This is one of a trilogy of Val Kilmer movies we've done recently: "The Saint" (1997), "Blind Horizon" (2004), and "Kill Me Again" (1989). We watched them in that order, so it was interesting to see the difference not only in his physical appearance but also in his acting style over a span of 15 years. <
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>"Kill Me Again" was just too brutal for me, and I made us stop watching it at the hotel rape scene. <
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>Graphic scenes include: (1) A medium-close shot of a guy getting his heart blown out right in the beginning, with lots of blood; (2) an up-close shot of a guy getting his little finger brutally torn back and broken, all that after he was brutally beaten; (3) a medium- to up-close shot of a guy getting his head bashed in by a rock, with blood; (4) a medium-close shot of mock female rape and murder in a hotel scene; (5) a medium- to close-up shot of a guy being brutally beaten in his office and then a second guy being brutally kicked while handcuffed to a desk; (6) a medium shot of a guy being shot in the chest multiple times, with a close-up shot of blood running out of his mouth; (7) a close-up shot of a guy being burned multiple times on his neck by lit cigarettes, after having been beaten with a bat, only to have a medium shot of his throat being cut; (8) a medium shot of a guy being threatened with a gun, while a woman is tied up on a bed being threatened with suffocation and a gun, and then he is tied up and stuffed into a closet while the woman is being raped. This is where we stopped, so I can't tell you how much more brutality there was, but I'm guessing there's at least one or two more pretty gruesome brutality scenes because the bad guy and the mob haven't been "disposed of" yet. <
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>My husband would have finished the movie if I would have been sleeping instead of watching, but he did say he found the overall story and action a little boring and predictable. Still it kept us awake at 2:00 a.m. <
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>We, too, found Val Kilmer's physical appearance to be a little too clean-cut, well-shaven, showered pretty boy for such a down-and-out guy with so much devastation going on in his life. That, probably, was a result of Hollywood, Kilmer and his agent trying to keep "the star" sexy and appealing. What we all know now is that the star can be grungy if the part demands it, and we'll all still love him. In fact, we'll love him more. <
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>I more thought Kilmer played rather well a young guy trying to get over the tragic death of his young wife, a tragedy which obviously devastated his life, forced him into a low-grade life of a private detective (which utilized his insurance investigation skills) who owed the mob a tidy sum of money, due to gambling debt, I guess. <
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>The first time I saw Michael Madsen in a movie was as the betraying loser- bnboyfriend of Louise in "Thelma and Louise." Personally I can't stand watching him--the guy can't act. He just keeps playing the same character over and over and over, no matter what movie he is in. And he always looks the same, too. <
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>As for Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, she does, in fact, play the "greedy, two-faced b*tch" rather well, as Kilmer's character, Jack Andrews, describes her. I'm not too fond of husband-wife teams in movies, but I guess this one worked okay. <
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>And lastly I have to gripe about what I consider to be just plain superiorly stupid moves on the parts of the Jack and especially Fay characters. They're in trouble with The Mob and have a psychotic killer boyfriend after her, and they stop to have sex instead of do more intelligent things like change their appearances, hide the money right away, etc. They just didn't get on that sort of stuff fast enough for my taste. But, not all men are created equal: Everybody is not smart. <
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>Overall, it's a decent enough film noir, with I suppose the requisite brutality these films dish out, worth watching but not worth owning. <
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>See also: Val Kilmer is pretty charming as the reluctant hero Madmartigan in the fantasy/action/adventure/comedy "Willow" (1988). Also starring a pre-Kilmer-bonded Joanne Whalley as Sorsha.

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Trippy!
What a sexy woman Joanne Whalley is. I can see why Kilmer grabbed her & married her. In this movie she's the antecedent of the Linda Fiorentino character in Last Seduction, another wondrously sexy wench. John Dahl has a unique & powerful knack for choosing strong actresses & bringing out the universal vixen in them. <
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>The plot's nothing terribly original but it plays its familiar theme with some nice changes & variations. It has that classic quality that the best "noir" films had: it moves right along & keeps you in the center of the action. <
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>One thing I find curious is that no one (to my knowledge) has ever linked the Michael Madsen throat-cutting scene in this film with the Michael Madsen ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs. Give credit where it's due!

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Dahl's thriller starts off strong
There's no other master of the modern film noir thriller than John Dahl. "Kill Me Again" has all the classic elements of the genre and Dahl's stylistic, sharp direction with strong performances from the cast. Although it starts off strong it does lose a bit of momentum towards the last third of the movie as the lovers go on the run. Private eye Jack Andrews (Val Kilmer)has fallen into a world of booze and loan sharks after the accidently death of his wife. He has three days to pay back a pair of loan sharks before they break his body to match his broken spirit. With no clients and little in the way of prospects it appears that Jack is doomed. <
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>That's when Fay (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer)walks through the door. Her ex-con boyfriend is out to get her because she made off with the money they stole. She's looking for a way out and she and Jack may be each other's salvation. She offers Jack $10,000 to help her fake her death so that her psycho boyfriend Vince (Michael Madsen)won't hunt her down and kill her. Jack does his job all too well. When Fay really disappears after her "faked" murder he becomes a suspect. Jack desperately searches for her in hopes getting his money and getting away with "murder". <
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>I'd definitely recommend getting this title before it disappears (it's not exactly in the top 10 much less the top 1000 popular titles)but have to caution viewers not to expect much in the way of extras. A well made film noir that will keep you interested with all its twists and turns, this isn't Dahl's best film nor is it MGM's best DVD. Presented pretty much bare bones in full screen(like Dahl's classic "The Last Seduction"), the film looks solid but is definite need of an overall and re-release on DVD. We do get the original theatrical trailer as the only extra but the fact that it isn't presented in widescreen (or at least in both full and widescreen like "Red Rock West")is a crime. <
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>Here's hoping that this one of the titles MGM/UA revamps for re-release soon. It certainly deserves a commentary track by Dahl (maybe even Kilmer will pipe in). It also deserves at the very least a featurette for fans of the film. This isn't a bad DVD (although it could look better); it just deserved a whole lot more than this bare bone presentation.