Le baiser de la mort

A mostly gripping crime drama with a good script and a great cast. This is David Caruso's best movie by far as a leading man, the reason he left NYPD Blue, and it portended a good career to follow. Well, his movie career tanked but this is still a good character study and underrated neo noir entry. Cage is all breathy snarl and wonderful menace in the flashy sociopath role originated by Richard Widmark. Hard to imagine assembling a backup cast with Ving Rhames, Helen Hunt, Stanley Tucci, Michael Rapaport and Samuel L. Jackson these days on this budget, and they all put in nice turns.

Probably worth a shot if you are a fan of modern noir and gritty crime dramas, though it does peter out a bit with the too-convenient denouement. Cut from the same tough cloth as other sleeper modern noir movies like DEEP COVER and ROMEO IS BLEEDING.

"You F#&$ with the bull, you get the horns." 7.5 / 10 Would rate higher if not for the too-cute ending.

Everyone agrees that the casting was marque. And that it has great source material. But I feel it gets a bum rap with critics. And Nicolas Cage was exactly what the film needed. I thought so then and I think so now. Color, flash, and style. Something out of the ordinary to give it some desperately needed weight. And Cage makes weight. Literally. That is the strongest look I had seen since Stallone did "First Blood, Part II". Cage is a physical bull and it's impressive. I wouldn't have recognized him if I hadn't seen the trailer with his name on it beforehand. If you never saw this, see it. For no other reason than to be scared of Nic Cage. I was.

I think the best way to approach this movie is on its own terms rather than as a remake of the 1940s film. In any case, it merely follows the general story outline of the earlier picture. What makes it altogether new is Richard Price's screenplay, Barbet Schroeder's direction, a great lineup of actors, and location shooting in some of New York City's seediest and most squalid areas.

Along with the great locations, what really provides the atmosphere is Price's writing. Once again he shows his down to the ground knowledge of the characters, mannerisms, and lingo of the creeps and hoodlums in the big city underworld, and the law enforcement people who deal with them. And there is also Price's trademark offbeat humor.

While the earlier film gave us Richard Widmark as a really scary psycho, in this later film Richard Price has given us Little Junior Brown, a bulked-up killer with a child's mind and an abiding faith in the nostrums of New Age philosophy.

What a delight when Little Junior, fresh from committing murder, asks our hero to take the next day off so they can get together and "talk about life and stuff"! Or when he urges him to settle on an acronym that will give shape to his identity. (Little Junior's is B-A-D--for "Balls, Attitude, Direction.")

Nicholas Cage is often accused of playing over the top, but in the case of Little Junior, over the top is the way to go.

There are also good performances by Stanley Tucci and Samuel L. Jackson. Tucci excels in portraying charming snakes. When he leers and sneers, it is impossible to keep from watching him.

This movie was really very enjoyable.

Kiss of Death boasts an impressive cast, authentic locales, and a gritty, accessible storyline, but it still comes across as an asthmatic remake of the film noir classic. Nobody "stars" in KOD; rather, David Caruso, Helen Hunt, Nicholas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Ving Rhames, and Kathryn Erbe all put in good, workmanlike performances that just don't catch fire.

I enjoyed Kiss of Death ten years ago when I rented it. What made it enjoyable again was seeing people I had forgotten about--a young Hunt, commanding on screen, an obscure Jackson, Cage almost unrecognizable, and Caruso, long before he decided to trade in acting for the ridiculous posturing he does on the boneheaded CSI: Miami.

Yet, the movie never really jells. We know the story well so we expect something better to make KOD stand out. "Workmanlike" just isn't enough.

I'd still recommend it, though. The freshness of the talent might be enough for you. And Cage, ripped and psychotic is so different from his breezy action roles of the last half decade.

You may find a gem here!

I liked this movie and I am quite surprised by the low IMDb user voting for this film. It is certainly not Academy Award material. But the story, character development, and the acting performances are really above average. I am not a big fan of television dramas. I have never seen a single episode of CSI. I thought NYPD Blue was very overrated, except for Dennis Franz. However, I think that David Caruso is a much better movie actor than he gets credit for. This one is definitely worth seeing. It is not a stupid high-action movie like Armageddon. However, it does have some very intense and well staged scenes that will keep action movie fans happy.