The really merits more of 2 and 3/4 stars, for the most part, it is adequately proficient for a low budget made for TV (with problems such as the exceedingly slow car chase, the equally exceedingly limited amount of action for an 'action/thriller' genre film) and is only hurt further by the very predictable elements thrown in (an entire spy agency takes forever - and fails to trace a phone, but the bad guy in the bad frosted hair job finds the phone in a bathhouse almost instantaneously?) further weaken the willingness to give credit for the cast and crew being somewhat game.
There's no chemistry between the actors and the performances, even from a known elements such as Rhys-Davies, are perfunctory at best. Ian Roberts is a very attractive man, but is wasted as a heavy, in a role typically given to stunt men who want to act, as an example of where the performances fail. The low budget elements (such as the makeup job on the lead's lover after the darkroom attack by the bad guys) are seriously, albeit unintentionally laughable.
This might have been more successful if they gone for a camp and fun spy conception, as Clive Owen did for his part in the Steve Martin version of the Pink Panther, or the David Niven (Bond) version of Casino Royale. Instead, this looks and feels like a TV pilot that a network spent some money on and then realized it didn't deserve to be picked up for a full season.
Kiss Me Deadly
2008
Action / Crime / Thriller
Kiss Me Deadly
2008
Action / Crime / Thriller
Keywords: espionage
Plot summary
Ex-spy Jacob Keane is drawn back into the shadowy world of international espionage when his former partner Marta reappears after seventeen years, her memory erased, on the run from a pair of deadly, psychopathic assassins.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Tech specs
720p.BLU 1080p.BLUMovie Reviews
Foreseeably Fatal Film
Kiss Me Deadly / The Delphi Effect
2 titles that don't suit the film...while The Delphi Effect is slightly better for a title, it doesn't hold much to it.
A far better title would be "Mind Rape" or something more appealing tot he story.
Anyway, it's not a bad film - a little cheesy on the action and some scenes - but it entertains.
No huge intense story here, no massive action fight scenes - which would have helped.
This is the film's first review and quite possibly it's only one and it could have been a bit more mysterious - but it's far better than many I've seen this week.
The last job of the Cold War before the wall went down
Found this film under the title "Deadly Secrets" which is a more fitting title than any of the others. It's a standard espionage thriller all about the mad chase for money, which gives it a rather trivial character. There is however the interesting plot about the truth serum that is so efficient that the victim can but speak the truth for thirty minutes after which he irrepairably loses all his memory. This doesn't sound very realistic nor convincing, but as an idea for a thriller it is interesting. The girl in the film who is affected thus carries on as usual anyway, and when she is asked how she could act so professionally without a memory she blames it on her instinct. Robert Gant, the retired spy who is dragged back down into business, actually at one instant suspects her of just faking amnesia, and she does not respond quite satisfactorily. There is no psychological depth or interest here, the plot is stranded on the mad money chase, the brutal unnecessary murders also drag the film down to a sordid level, but there is action and suspense enough. The best scene is the introduction and the historical panorama that follows as the years pass.