Killer’s Kiss (1955)
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Killer’s Kiss Movie Review
Killer’s Kiss is a 1955 noir film directed by Stanley Kubrick in what was his second feature film. It’s an improvement upon the debut, but still not a great flick.
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“It’s a mistake to confuse pity with love“
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Davey Gordon, a New York City boxer aging out of his profession, meets dancer Gloria Price, and they begin a romance. However, their budding relationship is interrupted by Gloria’s violent boss, Vincent Rapallo, who has eyes for his employee. The two decide to skip town, but before they can, Vincent and his thugs abduct Gloria, and Davey is forced to search for her among the most squalid corners of the city, with his enemy hiding in the shadows.
And there in that premise lies the film’s main problem – its storyline. Whereas ‘Fear and Desire’ was overly complicated and ambitious, Killer’s Kiss is the opposite – it’s too simplistic and hollow in its plot. Both are thus problematic in the storytelling department, and both are great technically. I really wished for a more original, more interesting storyline as this one bored me which is a big problem when you get bored by a sixty-minute long movie.
The characters are also not the greatest. The central romance is fine, noirish and serviceable. But individually, the characters simply don’t offer a lot as they’re very forgettable and quite bland. The acting is actually better than in the previous movie, but the actors needed better material to make a bigger impact.
I found the beginning incredibly boring with boxing scenes taking almost the majority of that first act. I also found the third act overly action-oriented with the fight scene also lasting for way too long. The second act is clearly the best one as it offered actually intriguing flashbacks and very interesting structure to it. And the dialogue was solid there as were most of the plot points.
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Yes, Killer’s Kiss succeeds as a noir film solidly thanks to its very strong visuals, and a particularly fantastic, dangerous atmosphere to it. It’s so well scored as well, and some scenes are beautifully composed and shot that they are quite memorable. But ‘The Killing’ would definitely prove to be a much better genre film for Kubrick.
Killer’s Kiss, similar to Kubrick’s debut feature, is excellent technically speaking, but very weak in terms of plot and characters. This time around, the characters are bland and the story is simply overly simplistic and dull. The first act is boring, the third act could have been better, and only the second act is strong with its intriguing flashback structure. It’s so well shot and scored with a great atmosphere to it, but the script is lacking.
