hyped garbage

Great Film overall

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

A washed-up boxer, Davey Gordon, falls in love with his neighbour, Gloria Price, a dancer. They plan to leave town but unfortunately, her boss is infatuated with her and is determined that she not leave. He is not above using violence to achieve his aims and Gloria and Davey's lives are soon in danger.Stanley Kubrick's second movie (the first being the unacclaimed "Fear and Desire" of 1953). Written, directed, produced and edited by him, this is a movie of a man still learning the ropes. It's also the movie of a man without fame enough to get a decent budget. The fact that he has so many credits in this movie, especially producer, shows how he had to make do. The lack of a name actor/actress in the cast also shows this, and, to an extent, hurts the movie.Plot is decent, though quite basic. Seems pretty conventional but Kubrick ramps up the action and suspense towards the end, making it a fairly rewarding story in the end. Performances are the weakest aspect, largely due, as mentioned, to the no-name actors. Some pretty hammy performances, though, thankfully, the dialogue is quite limited.What prevents this from being just your average B-grade drama, and probably what ensured that Kubrick still had a career in film, is the cinematography. This is where you can see Kubrick's genius for film (his background was in photography, so not a surprise). Kubrick's camera work carries the movie.Was torn between giving a 6 or a 7. Went with a 7 in the end - the last few scenes kicked it up a notch.

While it is not among Kubricks' best (his masterpiece to me will always be 2001', though personally rate most of his films very highly indeed), 'Killer's Kiss' is a significant improvement over his previous film 'Fear and Desire' (by far his worst and the only film of his this reviewer deems bad).'Killer's Kiss' has problems. Aside from a suitably slimy turn from Frank Silvera as the villain, the acting is quite weak with a lot of going through the motions and lack of interest. The music is overly bombastic and inappropriately jaunty, instead of fitting with or adding to what's going on on screen it distracts heavily from it. The film also gets off to a rather slow and uninteresting start.Once 'Killer's Kiss' gets going though, it's quite good and solid. There is much more of Kubrick's trademark directing style and it's far more accomplished whereas in 'Fear and Desire' inexperience showed badly. For a very low-budget film, it also looks great, it's beautifully shot and there is some wonderful use of lighting, light and shadow.There is nothing confusing, self-indulgent or irritating about the writing, and aside from a slow start and a couple of moments too stretched out there is enough suspense and tension to keep being engrossed in the atmosphere-heavy story. The climax is just terrific and the ballet sequence is also memorable.All in all, quite good and improves significantly over the mistakes made previously. It's still not perfect and doesn't see Kubrick at his best, but it's still solid. 7/10 Bethany Cox

A severely underrated film-noir that turned out to be far more engaging than expected, Killer's Kiss is no masterpiece in my opinion but it did serve its purpose well as a warm up feature for director Stanley Kubrick's talents before he started churning out one masterpiece after another until the very end of his legendary film career & is as experimental as his other features.The story revolves around Davey Gordon; a 29-year old boxer well past his prime, who's waiting at the train station for his girl and in an extended flashback recounts the happenings of his recent past. Filmed on a shoe-string budget, it presents Stanley Kubrick in charge of the responsibilities of director, cinematographer & editor all by himself, at which he impresses greatly.The film employs many unconventional & new tricks of shooting a picture from start to finish and exhibits the remarkable eye for detail Kubrick has when it comes to camera placement & lighting. Editing also never lets the uncertainty go out of the story & music manages to fit its accompanying sequences rather well. Performance by the cast isn't anything special but every one chipped in fine in their given roles.On an overall scale, Killer's Kiss is a very well crafted & firmly composed film which over the years has influenced cinema in a number of ways with its narrative structure & inventive use of camera angles. But since Kubrick went on to achieve even greater prominence in his later films, Killer's Kiss seems to be faced with no choice but to accept a rank provided at the back. Don't miss it.

Film noir has always eluded me, but Killer's Kiss is one rare exception. Maybe it's because it's so short, or because the photography is so stylish, or because it has an excellent fight scene at the end. Drag is pretty minimal, as is the story, but what it lacks, the film makes up for in its visual prowess. In fact, with only limited dialogue and plot, the film is best seen as a visual experience: it's a story told with the images, rather than with words or narrative.I've shown this film off to a few folks, and they all find the plot to be pretty stupid and silly. I can't deny that there's not a whole lot to it. It's a very simple story with minimal character development. It is framed as a flashback story, lending some strength to the narrative.What I find most notable, however, is the filming. The photography is top-notch, with superb camera angles, lighting, and composition. Editing is solid. Acting is not too bad, and the writing gets the job done. This production uses very simple, but also very real-looking, sets, props, and costumes. Music is appropriate as well.I find this film to be a quick and easily-accessible dose of quality film noir entertainment. I recommend it.4/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Average | Film: Perfect)