This blog entry is part of my "movie year countdown round #2". Read more about that here.
Kiss Me Deadly
The Mike Hammer of this film is one of the most selfish, sleaziest protagonists I've seen, even for film noir. I was kind of surprised and amused at the excessive use of violence. Not that things don't usually end up violent in film noir of this type, but Hammer fairly quickly in his series of investigations, progresses to the point where if someone doesn't give him the info he wants right away, he jumps almost straight to bribes. And if they don't accept the first offer he jumps straight into violence. There is little time wasted in escalating from verbal threats to violence if he doesn't get what he wants immediately. It makes him look a lot more like a brute but it sure does work!
The film jumps around from different genres of the period in ways I wasn't expecting either. From a detective film noir to an atomic age sci-fi film. In a ways the jump is exciting but in some ways also jarring. There are some very striking images here. I love the way the film is shot. Sometimes the progression of events or the motivations of the characters just seem so out of place or unbelievable from one scene to another that I can't quite rank it amongst my favorite film noirs.
The glowing briefcase must have been an inspiration for many other films though. It's impossible not to think Tarantino was picturing this film when making his briefcase in Pulp Fiction. In fact I'm sure this is a movie that Tarantino must love all around.
Rating: 8/10