The vivid violent images, probably pushing the limits of the era, and the over-sized macho version of Mike Hammer, as interpreted by Ralph Meeker, fail to enliven "Kiss Me Deadly" enough to outweigh the poorly paced story.
Meeker has attitude galore, and pushes the hard-nosed tough-guy persona beyond what Humphrey Bogart showed us in similar films from a decade earlier. But plot remains an essential element to murder mysteries, and "Kiss Me Deadly" spools out its thread, string and rope -- to use an image from the film -- in a fashion so slow as to bore a kitten. These films work best when the viewer has to struggle to sort out who's done what, and what the implications are for each new development. All we get are questions, leading to more questions, with nothing tossed our way to chew on and experience an "A-ha!" moment or two along the way.
The "dames" are gorgeous, and remind me of the seemingly sex-starved Bond girls that would appear in films 10 years later. But we're not given enough character to decide for whom we should be rooting, so when one is not who she appears to be, it's hard to care.
The strong casting and acting are ultimately wasted on what is probably a poorly adapted screenplay.
Meeker has attitude galore, and pushes the hard-nosed tough-guy persona beyond what Humphrey Bogart showed us in similar films from a decade earlier. But plot remains an essential element to murder mysteries, and "Kiss Me Deadly" spools out its thread, string and rope -- to use an image from the film -- in a fashion so slow as to bore a kitten. These films work best when the viewer has to struggle to sort out who's done what, and what the implications are for each new development. All we get are questions, leading to more questions, with nothing tossed our way to chew on and experience an "A-ha!" moment or two along the way.
The "dames" are gorgeous, and remind me of the seemingly sex-starved Bond girls that would appear in films 10 years later. But we're not given enough character to decide for whom we should be rooting, so when one is not who she appears to be, it's hard to care.
The strong casting and acting are ultimately wasted on what is probably a poorly adapted screenplay.