Customer Reviews

Kiss of Death

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

When David Caruso made headlines by leaving the hit TV show "NYPD Blue," the question people were asking was "Is he making a mistake?" Looking back on his career the past few years, we have to say that he did. But you couldn't tell that from his performance in "Kiss of Death." He's actually quite good.

Caruso plays Jimmy Kilmartin, a reformed car thief with a wife and baby who is desperately trying to go straight. Before he does, though, he reluctantly agrees to help his worthless cousin Ronny (Michael Rapaport) on one last run. If he doesn't, then Little Junior (Nicholas Cage), a sadistic killer, will bury Ronny. Naturally, things go bad. A cop gets shot and Jimmy ends up taking the fall by himself.

True to his personal code of honor, Jimmy won't rat out the others no matter how hard the sleazy DA (Stanley Tucci) pushes him. Then Ronny starts to move in on Jimmy's wife (Helen Hunt) and things really go wrong. Jimmy agrees to make a deal and cunningly manipulates events so that Little Junior takes Ronny down.

Three years later, Jimmy finally gets out of prison. The DA's not about to let things drop, however. He wants Little Junior bad and he'll do what it take to get him, even if that means using Jimmy and his family.

The plot of "Kiss of Death" is loosely based on the 1947 original-a class film noir-which featured Victor Mature, and Richard Widmark in his star?making role. (Remember his maniacal giggle as he pushed the old lady down the stairs?)

The story's been updated and it is grittier, realer and even more gripping. Novelist Richard Price ("Clockers") wrote the screenplay and he is one of the very best writers working in movies today. He has a true affinity for the seedy side of life and the characters and situations that populate his films are always enthralling to watch.

The direction by Barbet Schroeder ("Reversal of Fortune") is tense, well?paced and energetic. The acting is very good, especially by Caruso and Cage. Caruso is a very subtle and contained actor, much like Robert Mitchum, a veteran of many films noir. Also like Mitchum, Caruso seems like a powder keg about to go off. He projects seething fire and intensity without overplaying his hand.

Cage is mostly known for his dimwitted nice guy, hero roles, but he shows here that he has some real chops, creating a maniacal thug with a hair?trigger temper. With his pumped?up body and goatee, he has a hard look that goes great with his intense persona. It would have been very easy to go over?the?top with this part, but Cage never does. This is a very good performance.

The ending is the weakest part of the movie. It seems that the filmmakers ran out of gas and had to settle for less than the picture deserves. This is not a great crime film like "Goodfellas" or "Pulp Fiction," but it still makes for an enjoyable viewing.

Frankly I enjoyed this film. I love Helen Hunt and Samuel L.Jackson. I thought that Nicholas Cage seemed a little bit amateur but as this film is 11 years old, perhaps he was at the time or perhaps it was just the psychotic role that he was interpreting. On the whole, I found it engrossing and quite exciting.

All right, so he's not the most convincing goon. It's still amusing to see him in this role. I'd say these nay-sayers need to lighten up. As a poor country boy unfamiliar with the urban crime cliches and plot twists, I can honestly say I enjoyed this movie. No, it's no masterpiece, but it is entertaining enough to be worth seeing, even buying at such a reasonable price. Caruso and (as they all admit) a fine supporting cast do very well with a now conventional plot that is at least not as droll as they say. This is probably the first time I've rated something higher than others. Strange.

Adequate reworking of the 1947 classic "Kiss of Death." David Caruso takes over for Victor Mature as the ex-con whose attempts to go straight are hindered when he does a favor for his cousin and winds up back in the slammer. Nicolas Cage hams it up as "Little Junior," an update of Tommy Udo, the role so memorably played by Richard Widmark in the original. This picture did not make Caruso, fresh from TV's "NYPD Blue," a movie star, but he is very good, more than holding his own against the showier Cage with a quiet but intense performance. The rest of the cast is fine, too, and "Kiss of Death" delivers the goods as promised, but doesn't linger in the mind the way the original tends to do. But then neither Cage nor Caruso get a scene as memorable as the one for which the 1947 edition continues to be known: Richard Widmark pushing an old woman tied into her wheelchair down a flight of stairs, laughing all the while.

A bulked up Nicholas Cage and David Caruso are complimented by Helen Hunt in this almost believable gangster story. The film is not great but I enjoy this cast and found the movie exciting and worth seeing.

There were no Academy Award winning performances but all are competent playing their customary roles.

kiss of death was ok not an award winner although nicolas cage was great as a villian.. get this if your just in the mood to watch something but remember it is not anything too great just above the entertainment level

At the time of it's release it was the best Mob movie since Goodfellas.But by no means can you even compare Kiss of Death to either Goodfellas , King of New York or Casino.It's a decent mob movie w/ great actors such as Nicholas Cage and Samuel L. Jackson who plays a cop that gets shot in the face by Dave Caruso in the opening minutes.If you haven't heard of this movie and if your a Nic Cage fan watch this movie you won't be disappointed and you can't beat the price.

Based on the colossal and unbeatable homonymous film of 1947, Schroeder seems to be more interested to remark the personal double tragedy experienced by Caruso, jailed and widow in the first the third part of the movie and his painful redemption to fight against the bureaucracy and try to convince the gang headed by Junior and Omar.

Helen Hunt despite her brief performance, gets involve us with her undeniable talent and charisma. Stanley Tucci shone as the implacable agent behind the traces of Kilmartin. This is the actor that (in my personal opinion would have reached the peak performance as Gerard Lieutenant in The Fugitive despite the fact Tommy Lee Jones won the Oscar). Tucci has been underestimated by most directors in films like this. Imagine a film with Tucci and Chezz Palmitieri together in a mob movie. Well there is still time to do it.

Nicholas Cage looked extremely overacted, Vig Rhames is far to convince too. These two performances demerit the dramatic balance of the film, pitifully. I know the comparisons are hateful but please, watch the gradual transformation of emotions experienced by Al Pacino in previous films such Godfather II , Carlito 's way or Donnie Brasco, for instance. The rage must emerge gradually through a wide number of emotion layers.

David Caruso is one of those actors you have to love the way he portrays characters in his movies.. His portrayal of "Jimmy Kilmartin", a mob thief just wanting to lead an honest life with his wife, the love of his life, (played by Helen Hunt) and their baby. BUT..HIS COUSIN "Ronny" played by Michael Rapaport perfectly fits the part that make you want to hate him for destroying "Jimmy's" life. You can't help but get emotionally involved with the characters, the story, and the struggles "Jimmy" has to go through. Buy it, pop some corn, open a soda, get some tissue and sit with your sweetheart while you watch it and I hope like me you watch it again at least twice for those rainy days to clear your emotions.

i am so completly satisified with this product and for the deal i got it for and it was delivered way siiner than expected thank you very much for you bussiness.