Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (Widescreen Edition)

I was hesitant to take on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) primarily because I was unsure if it would be any good based on some of the more prominent cast members, specifically Robert Downey Jr., who seems pretty flaky due to his continual problems with the drugs (he couldn't get enough!) and Val Kilmer, who's had more misses than hits, in my opinion (the last really good feature I saw him in was 1995's Heat). Based partly on Brett Halliday's novel "Bodies Are Where You Find Them", adapted and directed by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, The Long Kiss Goodnight), the film stars, as I've mentioned, Robert Downey Jr. (Chaplin, Natural Born Killers) and Val Kilmer (Real Genius, Top Gun, Willow), along with Michelle Monaghan (The Bourne Supremacy, Mission: Impossible III). Also appearing is Corbin Bernsen (The Dentist) and Larry Miller (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind).Robert Downey Jr. plays the character Harry Lockhart, a small time New York criminal who falls bassackward into an acting gig after bungling a burglary and soon finds himself in the land of superficiality aka L.A., up for a role in a film as a private eye...well, sort of, but for more on that you'll have to watch the film. Anyway, along the way the producer that `discovered' Harry hooks him up with a real private eye and flaming homersexual named Gay Perry (Kilmer), who, when not doing his normal gumshoe routine or chasing sausage provides technical expertise to actors with regards to his profession. Soon after arriving Harry runs into a woman named Harmony Faith Lane (Monaghan), someone he grew up with in the Midwest and has now come west like so many others to be a star. Here's the thing, Harry had it bad for Harmony since way back when and seeing her again he finds his desire hasn't diminished over the years. Anyway, soon after meeting up with Harmony, things get seriously complicated as Harmony, believing Harry's a private detective (I guess telling a woman you've got the hots for you're a private eye sounds a lot better than telling her you're a two bit crook), hires Harry to find her little sister, who's come west for reasons revealed in the film. What follows is Harry, Harmony, and Perry becoming entangled in a completely outlandish series of events involving a homicide, gunplay, torture (electrical shocks to the genitals no less), an attempted frame-up, a severed finger, more gunplay, more homicides, a suicide, a wealthy heiress, some henchmen, some romance, bubble headed blondes, an errant corpse or two, a car chase, a flying coffin, police, various weirdoes, and so on...seriously, so much stuff happens it'd be a ridiculously poor effort on my part to provide an more detailed summary.As I mentioned earlier I was hesitant to take on this film, but I'm really glad I did, as this is probably one of the best black comedy/action/mystery thrillers I've seen in awhile. Writer and first time director Shane Black manages wonderfully to take the essence of those pulpy fiction detective novels (which literally figure into the actual story) and fuse it with some modernly icky sensibilities in a kooky amalgam that never takes itself too seriously, the result being some kind of weird fusion that works and works well, for myself at least. Black does an outstanding job directing, especially given the amount of things thrown at the viewer in terms of twists and turns. Not only that, but the pacing seems to be stuck on warp speed, as viewers barely have time to catch their breathe. The only downside I could see where a couple of minor plot holes (how did Harry manage to shoot so well near the end of the film? It's not like he had extensive experience with firearms) and a few, menial continuity errors, but given the fact the feature kept me thoroughly engaged and entertained throughout, it was easy for me to overlook this aspects. I thought Downey, who supposedly cleaned up his personal issues, did a remarkable job in the main role, and I especially liked his narration, which, at times, became self aware as his character would make critical comments on the film itself. Could I have pictured someone else in his role? Yes, but I think few would have brought the controlled, manic energy he possessed. I also thought Kilmer did an excellent job as the gay, streetwise detective, and the pairing of him and Downey provided a weird and interesting chemistry that worked surprisingly well. I though the exchange below, which occurred after a stakeout that ended miserably and Perry's dropping Harry off at his apartment, adequately defines their sketchy hate/hate relationship...Perry: Go. Sleep badly. Any questions, hesitate to call.Harry: Bad.Perry: Excuse me?Harry: Sleep bad. Otherwise it makes it seem like the mechanism that allows you to sleep...Perry: What, f***head? Badly's an adverb. Who taught you grammar? Get out. Vanish.The rapid-fire dialog throughout the films snaps, crackles, and pops although if you're adverse to the excessive usage of profanity, you'll probably have a real problem with this film. I did find the final ending (there were a few) kind of sappy and unnecessary (it features the confrontation of a sickly, bed ridden man responsible, in a roundabout way, for a good deal of what happens in the story), but all in all I thought this a very sharp, entertaining, darkly humorous film that should have probably done better than it did when originally released, but will most certainly find it's audience now that it's been released to DVD. Given Black's obvious talent for direction, I hope he's planning on helming some more features in the future.The picture, presented in widescreen (2.35:1) anamorphic, is sharp and clean, and the Dolby Digital Surround 5.1 audio, available in English, French, and Spanish, comes across strong and crisp. Special features include a gag reel, an entertaining commentary track with Downey, Kilmer, and writer/director Black, a theatrical trailer, and subtitles in English, French and Spanish.Cookieman108

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang appears to be a spoof of film noir, Raymond Chandler conventions, specifically the narration which informs early on in no uncertain terms the viewer is just ‘watching a movie…’ complete with the movie rewinding by demand of narrator, et cetera.I thought more than once while watching the rather complicated storyline and plenty of modern (film noir) quipping dialogue that Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang is not as clever as it thinks it is. Or, maybe, trying too hard to be original—and clever. Then, again, I feel/felt the same way about Bogie and Bacall in the classic The Big Sleep. Why do people consider The Big Sleep so good. It’s good but…Anyways,Val Kilmer has the cool part as the macho gay detective in KK, BB.Robert Downey Jr is a natural at verbalizing the quick, snappy dialogue that is prevalent including the narration (although he is not a real detective…part of the joke/twist, I guess).Some have noted Michelle Monaghan has never looked lovelier: ‘insanely attractive(?)’. Ok. I am not disagreeing.Monaghan is a vision in her fuzzy red, short skirt, Christmas elf outfit.The movie sets up an outrageous finale where nothing is realistic; and why should it be (realistic)? It’s just a movie. We’ve been reminded a few times ‘don’t you just hate when movies…?’Yeah, sometimes.4.2 stars for Kiss Kiss Bang Banggoodbye (for now).

Truly, from day one of marketing this movie, through its theatrical release, and now DVD release - nothing normal is done. It wasn't hyped up. It didn't last long in the theatres. It also took forever to reach DVD in a time when it seems like some DVDs are released a month or so after leaving the theatres. Even the additional bizarreness of having it air on Pay Per View before the DVD came out (as opposed to airing 2 months after the DVD), adds to the quirkiness.Maybe it's because the movie itself is so unexpectedly quirky from beginning to end, full of characters your gut tells you aren't that likable, but nonetheless you like them. They grow on you quickly from a botched burglary to an accidentally spectacular movie audition, all in the first 5 minutes.So goes the rest of the movie at a breakneck speed, with the occasional rewind as the narrating burglar, Downey, berating himself for failing to tell an important point of the story. The gist of the story is this: Harry (Downey) is flown out to Los Angeles to supposedly begin research for his inadvertantly won role, tutored by a gay private detective (Val Kilmer) who works part time for the studios. There Harry meets, Harmony, the girl he grew up with, precariously perched on the edge of a small town girl gone wrong in her running away to Hollywood. From that point on begins the impossibly fast downhill roll of murder, plots, confusion, love, and so on.The thing that makes this formulaic sounding idea completely different in its spit in the wind take on cliches. Kilmer's detective, known as Gay Perry, is not a gay stereotype. When Harry wakes up the morning after meeting his old girlfriend, the girl in his bed isn't her, it's her obnoxious friend. All seemingly good plans go wrong, both by the criminal element and the quasi-good guy Harry, et al. Just as you think you're getting a handle on what's going on, it takes another twisting turn. The ending isn't picture perfect, though some characters lives have improved, they aren't exactly where they wanted to be.The acting is spectacular, particularly Downey. You cannot watch this movie and be unimpressed by his craft. Kilmer is solid and restrained, making his character believably gay yet masculine. You believe his Hollywood nickname of Gay Perry as more than a play on words; it might just be to remind everybody that his character IS gay and it's a non-issue for the most part. The supporting characters all have perfect dark comedic timing. It's one great big slap at all the overdone cliches, some of which were developed by the Lethal Weapon movies that writer and director Shane Black made. It takes a brave director to take whacks at himself.All in all, a terrifically dark humored movie with no delusions of grandeur. Plus there are little 'in' jokes, such as Indio Downey, Robert Downey's look-alike son playing young Harry. Or an old clip of Corbin Bernson pre-L.A. Law used to identify his present time character with the convoluted past of Harmony and a movie shoot in their hometown when she was young. Most subtle was Harry having a rather nasty injury requiring him to be prescribed a heavy duty painkiller... and the character of Harry slurringly stating that he was fine, just a little woozy, and would be completely okay after two more pills.

In the special features of 'Source Code' the director said that he was impressed with Michelle Monaghan in 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' so I bought and watched the film. I thought it was a great film being both interesting and different. Perhaps it was meant to be funny in places but if so those instances passed me by - though I found the scene with the spider funny. The film starts off low key but gets more interested as it develops. While you do get to see a low more of Michelle Monaghan, and as beautiful as she is/that is, I think I preferred her in source code.

Shane Blacks slapstickhafte Neo-Noir Variante "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" aus dem Jahr 2005 war kein kommerzieller Erfolg für die Macher. Er spielte zwar 16 Millionen Dollar ein, doch der Umsatz lag nicht viel höher als das Budget des Films. Aber immerhin waren die Kritiken ausgezeichnet und auch das Publikum schätzte den Film - die Figuren des Films sind verwandt mit Tarantinos Filmfiguren, also teilweise sogar etwas oberflächlich gezeichnete konstruierte Comichelden. Und der Humor des Films kann man sicherlich eher grobschlächtig empfinden.Der Noir Filmheld in "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" ist ein Harry Lockhart, gespielt von Robert Downey jr,. Downey versteht es seine Rollen stets sehr cool zu spielen und dies gelingt ihm auch in Blacks Film.Am Anfang des Films steht eine Rückblende, die Harry in seiner Kindheit zeigt. Der kleine Knirps (er wird als Junge von Indio Falconer Downey gespielt, den Teenager Harry spielt Richard Allen Brown) hat ein Faible für Zaubereien und so unterhält er eine ganze Gesellschaft mit der seiner Präsentation. Die kleine Harmony Faith Lane (als Kind: Ariel Winter, als Teen: Stephanie Pearson; als Erwachsene Michelle Monaghan) soll von ihm zersägt werden. Der kleine Junge nimmt die Säge und plötzlich fängt die Kleine fürchterlich an zu schreien...läuft da was gewaltig schief ? Das Publikum ist schockiert und alle rennen zur Kiste, weil sie glauben, dass Harmony sich verletzt hat. Als sie die Kiste öffnet, fängt das Mädchen an zu lachen und meint "Ich will Schauspielerin werden".Und Schauspielerin wird man in den USA am ehesten in Hollywood....dort ist der inzwischen erwachsene Harry als Gauner unterwegs. Doch die letzte Diebestour geht schief. Sein Freund Ritchie (Josh Richman) wird auf der Flucht von einer Frau erschossen und Harry kann der Polizei gerade noch entkommen, weil er in ein Haus flieht, wo ein Vorsprechen für einen neuen Film stattfindet. Und Harry absolviert in seiner Not dieses Casting und soll dann tatsächlich für den Film gecastet werden. Er besucht eine dieser angesagten Partys in Los Angeles und lernt dort neben dem Gastgeber Harlan Dexter (Corbin Bernsen) auch den schwulen Privatdetektiv Perry van Shrike (Val Kilmer) kennen. Letzterer soll ihm bei seiner Filmrolle wertvolle Tipps geben. Unter den Partygästen ist auch eine unheimlich gut aussehende Frau - erst spät bemerkt Harry, dass er seine Jugendliebe Harmony versucht anzubaggern.Am nächsten Morgen ist Harry mit Perry unterwegs und schon überrascht der Tag mit einer toten Frau im See. Das ist erst der Anfang von turbulenten Ereignissen...Der Film hat sicherlich gute Momente, aber der derbe Witz zieht leider auch nicht immer. Etwas seltsam mutet dann auch der gezeigte Kindesmissbrauch an, der ebenfalls thematisch eingebettet in die brachiale Komik ist. Das Mädchen mit den rosa Haaren wird von Shannyn Sossamon gespielt - die Tote entpuppt sich im Film als Schwester von Harmony. Die Handlung ist in fünf kapitel unterteilt, die jeweils den Namen von Büchern des Autors Raymond Chandler tragen. Es war die erste Regiearbeit von Shane Black, der zuvor für Filme wie "Lethal Weapon" oder "Last Boy Scout" das Drehbuch verfasste.

Voto al film, divertente commedia noir dell'ottimo Shane Black, sceneggiatore di Die Hard e Arma Letale, qui alla sua prima opera in qualità di regista, con un Robert Downey Jr in gran forma. Peccato per il fatto che il venditore non abbia segnalato trattarsi della versione tedesca, senza audio e sottotitoli in italiano; il consiglio, non essendoci a catalogo versione italiana, è quello di acquistare la versione francese, peraltro anche migliore esteticamente.

Acquistato per simpatia, per vedere altri lavori di Robert Downey Jr. dopo aver visto Iron Man e Sherlock Holmes, mi chiedo come possa essere stato un fiasco al botteghino.Probabilmente se fosse uscito dopo Iron Man avrebbe fatto un ben diverso tipo di incassi.Lo considero infatti due gradini sopra a Due Date (Parto col folle) per originalità ed interpretazione.E' divertente, veloce, ottimamente interpretato e assolutamente degno di essere inserito in una cineteca casalinga.Ottimi anche gli extra, sia la gag reel che il commento al film dei due protagonisti e del regista (che è lo sceneggiatore di Arma Letale se non lo sapeste).Nel commento al film non ci sono i sottotitoli in inglese quindi è un po' complicato seguirlo, ma una volta afferrato il modo di parlare dei protagonisti vale la pena ascoltarlo.

Ich sehe Robert Downey Jr ganz gerne, zumal er seine Charaktere immer gut umsetzt. In diesem Film glänzen aber auch alle anderen Charaktere, allen voran auch Val Kilmer. Zum Inhalt will ich nichts weiter schreiben, denn das haben schon andere vor mir. Der Film ist schnell, witzig, aber auch unverhersehbar und teilweise auch anders als viele Filme, die ich kenne. Unbedingt anschauen.