Kill Me Again
directed by John Dahl
directed by John Dahl
In the late eighties early nineties there was a brief revival of noir movies. Some of these films were just unapologetic vehicles for bosomy actresses such as Shannon Whirry or Shannon Tweed to strut their stuff. Nothing wrong with that.
Others had more serious artistic intention though they still usually had a sexy femme fatale. It's unusual, though not impossible, for a good film noir to get by without a femme fatale.
Films of that era like Blood Simple, One False Move, Devil In A Blue Dress, and Dahl's later film Red Rock West among others, all updated the noir style for the modern era while still honoring tradition.
Kill Me Again is a 1989 neo-noir film that falls somewhere in the middle of the pack as far as quality and pacing. The acting was decent but I felt that something was occasionally a little off. I didn't completely disappear into the film the way that I will for a truly great movie.
This was probably a movie that could have used an extra ten or fifteen minutes to its run time in order to flesh out its characters, both lead and supporting, a little more.