What's most effective about the new Kiss of Death is Tucci's marvelously slimy prosecutor.
Kiss of Death (1995)
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Reviews Counted:11
Fresh:8
Rotten:3
Average Rating:6.9/10
Runtime: 1 hr 41 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: KISS OF DEATH opens with ex-convict Jimmy Kilmartin (David Caruso) attempting to distance himself from his shady past. His cousin, Ronny (Michael Rapaport), shows up at his door begging for help... KISS OF DEATH opens with ex-convict Jimmy Kilmartin (David Caruso) attempting to distance himself from his shady past. His cousin, Ronny (Michael Rapaport), shows up at his door begging for help with one more heist, and Jimmy agrees to participate against his better judgment. Things go sour when a detective is shot, and Jimmy is left to take the fall. As Jimmy's hopes for a normal life with his wife (Helen Hunt) and daughter fade, he becomes a pawn of the police in their attempts to bring down a psychotic gangster named Little Junior (Nicolas Cage). Caruso and a pumped-up, supremely menacing Cage highlight a spectacular cast that also features Samuel L. Jackson as the cop who becomes Jimmy's solitary ally and Stanley Tucci as a Machiavellian district attorney. Novelist Richard Price supplies the screenplay, and director Barber Schroeder (SINGLE WHITE FEMALE) ensures that KISS OF DEATH, based loosely on the 1947 film of the same name, unfolds with the grooved precision of a well-made watch while bristling at every turn with the volatile life of a vividly imagined criminal underworld. [More]
Starring: David Caruso, Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathryn Erbe
Starring: David Caruso, Nicolas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Kathryn Erbe, Helen Hunt, Michael Rapaport, Ving Rhames, Stanley Tucci
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Director: Barbet Schroeder
Composer: Trevor Jones
Screenwriter: Richard Price
Producer: Barbet Schroeder, Susan Hoffman
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Reviews for Kiss of Death
A crackling thriller that feels unusually attuned to its lowlife characters.
Cage and Caruso strike sparks in this riveting piece of pulp fiction, but it's that first Kiss you'll remember.
It's a sleek, muscular thriller played by a terrific ensemble cast...
Cage, one of the few American actors who gets more interesting from film to film, comes close to kidnaping the picture as Little Junior, a pumped-up but asthmatic thug who, like King Kong, is a gorilla with a wistful air about him.
Cage dominates the camera, stealing scenes by the sheer intensity of his inimitable strangeness.
The picture is watchable, but nothing about it will linger, except perhaps the feeling that, with a more polished script, it might have been significantly better.
Caruso's acting is vivid, but amazingly quiet and internal, and it's fascinating to watch the kaleidoscopically conflicted emotions battle beneath his controlled surface.
If you savor movies about sleazy plea bargains and other lawyer hardballing, Death has its moments. Otherwise the latest from director Barbet Schroeder is only a movie of moments.
Latest News for Kiss of Death
October 20, 2005:
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From director Joe Roth and screenwriter Richard Price comes "Freedomland," an apparently racially-charged kidnapping thriller that stars Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne... More...
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