Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (HD-DVD/DVD Combo Format)

 

Picture: B/B-     Sound: B/B-     Extras: C     Film: C-

 

 

When Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon (reviewed elsewhere on this site) and it was a big hit, it put him on the map and all the scripts he sold afterwards were supposed to create the next big franchise.  Without Dirty Harry and 48 HRS to pull from, it turned out that his style of writing was even quirkier and played more loosely with genre than it first seemed.  This led to a series of commercially unsuccessful films that all gained a cult following and with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), he made his directing debut, partly with the logic that maybe it would take helming one of his works to get another hit.

 

Well, that did not happen.  Instead, it has become yet another cult item at best like most of his previous scripts shot as films.  That includes Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout and The Long Kiss Goodnight.  Even his intervention at the last minute could not do the same for megabomb Last Action Hero.  In all cases, the problem essentially becomes Black deconstructing the genre(s) involved and then trying to build up the film enough to make it a functional narrative.  The problem is that it is still too deconstructed to function properly, so all you get are interesting failures that are never hits.  It is not even that he becomes smug, or that would be obvious and everyone would be turned off, but that he leaves too much empty space (cinematically and narratively) that cause all of his project to unnecessarily implode.  Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which shot under the working title L.A. P.I., is not exception.

 

This time, the story centers on criminal Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey, Jr. in great form) pretending to be a detective to get as close as humanly possible to a very sexy woman (Michelle Monaghan, more luscious and serious here than in Mission: Impossible III) yet gets stuck instead running around with a sophisticated gay detective (Val Kilmer it a tricky role he pulls off) involved in deadly intrigue of his own.  With that fine casting and those good performances, this should have been a homerun, but it again implodes.  Why?

 

This time, it is because Black is playing far too loosely with the Detective genre and allows the line to blur too much between that genre and what was Film Noir.  Many make the mistake that they are one and the same, but that is extremely wrong.  Black is savvier than this, but once again figures that the audience does not care or will not notice, and yet again the film fails.  What is most frustrating is that he directs his material better than most who have taken it on before, so this is maybe the biggest near-miss yet.  Yes, some of the jokes about dead bodies even work, but others do not.  Instead of being too smug, it just becomes to broad in the humor and that kills some of the suspension of disbelief.  However, if he ever expects to see another hit film and not just another big paycheck, he should try directing his next work.  Even a very narrow improvement is better than nothing.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 image on the DVD side is more in line with the expected standard quality of Firewall, instead of the problems Rumor Has It… had on its DVD side, both reviewed elsewhere on this site.  The 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is an improvement, but there are some refinement problems though colors and Video Black is better than the standard DVD side.  Michael Barrett’s cinematography goes out of its way to use colorful lighting to cut through darkness in the night scenes and tries to have quirky visuals to match the narrative, but all in all, it is not a memorable looking film.  The Dolby Digital 5.1 on the DVD side is a typical mix with some consistent surrounds, but it is John (Superman Returns, CD reviewed elsewhere on this site) Ottman’s score that is the highlight of the mix, all of which sounds a little better in the Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 mix on the HD-DVD side.  Extras include a trailer, Downey Jr./Kilmer/Black audio commentary that has its moments and a “gag reel” of amusing bloopers.  At least they had fun making it, even if you don’t have fun watching it.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo